At NAB2007, Harris Broadcast Communications Division will be promoting its ONE initiative, a marketing campaign that touts its broad array of products and services to broadcasters and the production community.
"As media business becomes increasingly complex, broadcasters are focused on streamlining their everyday operations, while also looking for a single, flexible and integrated approach that allows them to capitalize on the numerous benefits of IT," said Tim Thorsteinsen, president of the division. "By providing integration across the entire Harris product portfolio--and across the entire broadcast delivery chain--we give broadcast customers integrated technology solutions that improve their workflows, save them money and enable new revenue streams from emerging media markets."
As recently as three years ago, Harris was known primarily to broadcasters for its transmission and automation product lines, but a number of acquisitions--including the purchase of Inscriber, Videotek, Leitch and OSi--have greatly broadened the company's technology offerings to the point that it can provide almost everything in the production chain (except cameras).
Characteristic of this new approach, at NAB, the company will launch "NewsForce," which integrates editors from the former DPS (which was acquired by Leitch in 2000), graphics from Inscriber (another Leitch acquisition from 2005) and Nexio servers from Leitch (which Harris acquired in 2005) to create a complete, file-based newsroom system based on the Nexio XS shared storage server architecture. After acquiring Leitch, Harris decided to refocus its Velocity editing platform to broadcasters, optimizing the editors for the fast cutting, voicing and airing of news.
On the test and measurement front, Harris' Videotek division will introduce the latest version of its QuiC media analysis server. Launched in its Phase One release last year, QuiC provides broadcasters with an efficient, consistent method of analyzing file-based, compressed digital content faster than real time. The new version more than doubles the number of available parameters that, based on user specifications, will be identified as faults during the analysis. The new version also includes file-correction tolls that use the Videotek legalization, processing amplification (proc amp) and audio correction technology.
Broadcasters expanding their facilities to HD are looking at new 3 Gbps-based products and Harris is expanding its support for this standard across its product line. The company will demonstrate 3 Gbps capability thoughout the core processing workflow, including in the company's X75 HD multiple-path converter/synchronizer, an all-in-one 1 RU solution for adaptable ingest and emission applications; distribution amplifiers in the 6800+ modular core processing platform; the Panacea routing switcher for small routing applications; and the Platinum and Platinum MX routing switchers.
Harris is also focusing its attention to alternative distribution methods beyond broadcast, such as IPTV and mobile TV by demonstrating H.264 (MPEG-4, Part 10) compression products in its NetVX video networking platform and the DTP digital turnaround processor in its booth.
