Sundance Digital, in cooperation with nine other well-established firms involved in broadcast automation, traffic, digital delivery and program management systems, founded an ad hoc committee last year to develop standards for data exchange between their respective software systems. The group has now been sanctioned with formal “working group” status by SMPTE and operates as the S-22 Committee. The group has grown to include more than 100 industry participants and observers.
Topping the committee's list of objectives is the design of a comprehensive data dictionary rich enough to allow any software system to fit their data into the schema. In addition, efforts include defining a messaging structure and XML-based methodology that will allow vendors to implement the exchange between their systems, as well as defining an array of message types to contain the data. The 17 current message types include: metadata update and modify, playlist schedule, dub, record and digital content transfer orders, as-run records, purge, playlist update and modify, system data query and reply, and new content notification.
To demonstrate the possibilities of such data exchange, at NAB2005, Sundance Digital demonstrated bi-directional messaging and integration between traffic and automation, in partnership with Video Communications and Myers Information Systems.
For more information, visit www.sundancedigital.com.
