Omneon

Omneon introduced ProCast CDN, a high-performance content distribution platform. It’s kind of hard to describe, but basically it optimizes file transfers over any IP network providing dramatically increased efficiency over great distances.

Incorporating advanced WAN acceleration technology, network management, and bandwidth prioritization, ProCast CDN enables broadcasters and content distributors to easily initiate, monitor, and manage transfers of large files between multiple geographic locations.

ProCast CDN is a suite of software products that create a transparent, content-aware application layer on top of an existing enterprise network, enabling efficient, cost-effective, secure publication, distribution, and broadcast of content. Advanced management capabilities give the user complete control of the network and transfers, and include: dynamic bandwidth reservation, which allows allocation of bandwidth to specific files or based on pre-set rules; transfer prioritization to assure that more important content can be given priority; and the ability to schedule transfers for the most efficient utilization of the network.

The core technology behind ProCast CDN was obtained by Omneon in its acquisition of Castify Networks last December.

The second key announcement was the development of Omneon’s Media Services Framework (MSF). MSF is an integrated web services platform that enables more efficient, best-of-breed file-based workflows by easing third-party integration with Omneon products. MSF enables a common view into content that may be stored across multiple file systems, and allows partner applications to manage complex workflows more easily through a single programming interface.

Based on the principles of Service Orientated Architecture (SOA), the MSF platform simplifies application interfaces, encapsulating and exposing key functionality of existing Omneon APIs and open protocols to a wide variety of tasks. At the same time it extends functionality to include additional services, including generating proxies, transcoding media, and accelerating and managing content delivery. It also provides a system database for tracking content and storing rules and metadata, and a messaging bus for ease of integration.

For those stations wanting their solutions to all work with Omneon technology, this will greatly facilitate those vendors’ development of easy-to-use applications.

Olympics

While some have tread lightly in support of the Olympics, Omneon has been able to talk openly about its role as a key provider to NBC for Olympic content production technology.

One goal of NBC was to reduce costs by keeping staff back in the states, yet enabling them to seamlessly produce live content with the same precision and speed they could do if located on site. Omneon has been instrumental in developing a dual path production workflow, which uses both full rez and proxy content between remote site and the NBC studio. The NBC editors make creative decisions using low-rez proxies developing final EDLs. The system then ships the EDL back to the remote site, where the proper high rez files are then transmitted back to the US creating a completed, edited program. Only the needed content therefore needs to be transmitted, saving bandwidth and costs.

Twenty MediaDeck servers are located in China to digitize and ingest both SD and HD content. Both full rez and low rez files are created in the MediaGrid. ProCast CDN then handles transfer of the content to a second MediaGrid in the US.

Sunday

Nuff for today. Things really get moving tomorrow at 8am with the Chyron press conference.

Watch a video on the Omneon’s ProCast CDN on Broadcast Engineering TV.