Corporate learning specialist AMP Creative Migrates Workflows to the Cloud with EditShare FLEX
Curating Innovative Story-Telling
AMP Creative is an independent agency, based in Dallas, that aims to bring a fresh approach to corporate learning and communications. Recognizing that simply putting a lecture on video is not going to engage anyone, they develop unique, tailored solutions that use the latest techniques to create packages that are immersive, attractive and compelling – while also getting across important messages.
The company’s roots lie in video production, with that experience and excellence drives much of their work. Their role is to find the compelling narratives and convey them in the most appropriate way.
As a successful business, AMP Creative has generated a lot of content over the years, and managing and maintaining work in progress and archives has been important. From early in the business’s lifetime it has relied on EditShare hardware to provide secure storage and archiving, along with content management using FLOW software.
Into The Cloud
Then along came COVID. AMP Creative moved its own operations into the cloud, allowing its large team to work remotely. With its clients also being forced into new working practices, the need for communications was greater than ever so AMP had to find a way to keep providing their signature services.
While it was simple to move AMP Creative business functions to the cloud, it became clear that they need to move their production capabilities, too. They turned to EditShare to see how their proven editorial workflows could be modified for the new environment.
The response, they were happy to find, was that EditShare was already there, and had a fully developed and ready to run cloud environment. FLEX provides the same comfortable, familiar environment of EFS storage and FLOW media management, with the same ability to manage content and projects so the creative teams can concentrate on delivering great material.
FLEX provides all this functionality as a cloud-native package. It goes further than that, by supporting editing in the cloud – where the familiar software tools run in the same remote environment as the content storage – and by automating all the necessary transfers.
AMP uses Adobe® Premiere® Pro as its preferred edit platform. FLOW fully integrates with Premiere Pro, putting project cloud storage into pre-prepared bin structures so editors are working just as they always have, with no need to learn complex communications and interconnectivity.
Remote Working
To optimize for cost, AMP Creative opted for a hybrid option of Proxy Editing using local workstations and conforming to the high resolution with using virtual GPU-powered workstations deployed in AWS. This allows remote editors to utilize their existing workstations for editing against lightweight proxy video and then use power rendering capabilities in the cloud. Proxies are automatically generated by intelligence within FLEX, which ensures each editor’s workstation is ready to go with high quality, frame accurate proxies. Projects and additional material can be easily uploaded to the cloud using CloudDat file acceleration from EditShare partners Data Expedition.
This has proved to be highly effective: editors are working in exactly the way they always have; producers have excellent oversight of projects; and clients receive excellent materials in a timely manner.
Transformation
For AMP Creative, the transformation is that it has closed down its traditional server room. This is a big saving in equipment, maintenance and real estate which is a major boost to the business. The company was already an experienced AWS cloud user, so the need for training for IT staff was minimal, as was the training requirement for creative staff who were seeing the same environment as before. EditShare was pleased to provide the necessary support to get AMP up and running.
The effects of the pandemic were transformational for many individuals and businesses. AMP Creative recognized it as an opportunity to take a major step forward in the way their creative storytelling was facilitated. EditShare FLEX made it simple and practical to move completely to a hybrid and remote operation.
The Royal National Theatre – more usually referred to as the National Theatre, the National or just the NT – is one of the UK’s best known theatre venues. Founded in 1963, the reach and influence of the National has extended over the last 15 years beyond its concrete building on London’s South Bank. This is in part due to NT Live, the cinema programme of multi-camera captures of productions, distributed by satellite or DCP, to over 700 UK sites and more globally. Making the arts more accessible to a wider audience.
During the covid pandemic the National Theatre’s live performances were suspended but they adapted by creating the NT at Home streaming service. Initially it started as a program of free streams on YouTube with the full NT at Home SVOD service launching in December 2020. During this time the National Theatre discovered inefficiencies in the infrastructure when faced with a large increase in captured content, so they needed to look at the addition of post production storage. Central to this was the installation of an EditShare EFS 300 storage system, which was designed and implemented by Tyrell.
“When the pandemic hit, we were no longer able to capture new material and the cinemas were closed as well,” comments Jim Cross, Senior Post Production Manager, National Theatre. “But part of our Arts Council remit as a publicly funded organization is to bring theatre to our audiences. Because of this we started putting out productions free on YouTube, which became the NT At Home platform. To support that we went from a team of 15 to now nearly 60 people, who now work on the dual delivery of NT Live for cinema and purpose capture for NT at Home.”
Cross explains that these services along with the requirement to promote shows in the theatre, as well as the rise in the volume of work for the internal learning department meant their workload increased significantly. As a result, both the production/post-production and archiving departments realised the three legacy servers that had been used since the mid-2010s were no longer suitable for the increased demands being put on them. “It was very hard drive-based, with IT ‘non-video’ servers that weren’t specifically for media,” he says. “And these days we do less live satellite, we do more full post-production workflows in house, including editing, mixing and grading, so we needed a more dynamic, powerful and robust solution.”
This has meant there is a lot more media moving around and being worked on by the edit team, which has doubled in size in the last three years. Cross explains that by the end of 2021 the increased workload meant the NT was beginning to run out of storage. “During the covid pandemic everyone was working from home and shuttling hard drives back and forth,” he says. “We knew we were going to come back into the building, but it became very obvious we needed near-line, hot storage. A NT Live show takes on average 4 terabytes of storage and it would take three, four or five hours to ingest that. Now with EditShare EFS we can do it in just 45 minutes.”
The NT’s digital content is archived using the Preservica cloud-based platform and although that is a self-contained operation, it needed to connect to any new near-line storage set-up in a more efficient way than previously. “Historically there wasn’t such a smooth workflow process around getting material from the digital media team into the archive involved a lot of local knowledge on the part of the editors, producers and me,” comments Post-Production Archive Manager Zoe Bowers, who describes herself as sitting between the digital media team and the archive. “The move towards the new EditShare system came in tandem with thinking we all needed to know where content is so we can find it, particularly as so much more is being created.” Tyrell’s sales and marketing director, Dan Muchmore adds, “it’s a common issue that every facility hits as they grow and it’s our speciality as a technical partner to help migrate workflows away from a single source or knowledge to a way of working that benefits the business, regardless of team size and structure”.
The NT previously did not have a digital asset management system but worked on a SMB file share arrangement, with folders for short-term and long-term storage. With both Tier 1 and Tier 2 server systems nearing the end of their operational lives, Jim Cross and Zoe Bowers instigated a request for proposal (RFP) process, with EditShare being their primary choice for a new system.
“I worked with Tyrell on the installation of the system into our server room, which involved the networking and commissioning of the 256TB EditShare hardware,” Tom Rhodes, Head of IT Infrastructure explains. “But really it was all quite self-contained within the EditShare technology. It’s now utilized on our 10Gb infrastructure, which allows us to ingest material a lot quicker than before. EditShare also has its FLOW media asset management software and although we haven’t fully implemented this yet, it is something we looked at when selecting the system.”
The National Theatre has been using EditShare for 18 months and in that time, Jim Cross concludes, the new storage installation has changed the way the post-production process for the NT. “Previously the team would take material from the SANs and save content locally and on drives,” he says. “Now, the machines themselves are clear of data and we don’t use hard drives in that way anymore because of how fast it is. This means anyone can pick up a project at any point because everything is in EditShare. It has revolutionized the way we work.”
The NT has always led the way in representing the arts in the UK. Constantly evolving to find ways to make productions more accessible to wider audiences, both geographically and financially. NT Live began as a fantastic initiative and become a leader in the event cinema industry. What we love most about their hunger to evolve is that the NT team worked hard to not only maintain the value of the arts to its patrons but also the actors and production teams, who would have been impacted by the loss of work.
This evolution continues to this day, with Jim, Zoe and Tom not only identifying their post production inefficiency but also the importance of their roles as stewards of the NT archive. Inefficiencies often result in additional expenditure, which could instead be used by the arts and as we know the NT archive is important for future generations. EditShare solves both these problems whilst giving the team another opportunity to evolve again.
Brings order to the complex demands of golf coverage
Boston, MA, December 11, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, has delivered a shared storage system, with integrated asset management, to Singapore-based Asian Tour Media. The company provides coverage and content distribution for the Asian Golf Tour, the only recognized pan-Asian professional golf tour in Asia.
Asian Tour Media had an existing shared storage network, but its operation was severely limited by its lack of practical production asset management functionality. Editors searching for material were using OS searches, which was slow and inconvenient. As well as good asset management, the new storage system also had to provide comprehensive support for 4k Ultra HD, including the ability to move material as proxies when bandwidth was limited.
The Media Village, EditShare’s partner in Singapore, set up a comprehensive demonstration built on EFS storage nodes and FLOW production asset management. The proof of concept also showed that the EditShare architecture provides ample bandwidth for multiple I/O and concurrent users in 4k.
In capturing all the coverage of a professional golf tournament, the production generates a huge amount of content. The new EditShare installation allows media managers to put markers on all the action points afteringest, so editors can instantly access the clips they need. The system is used on the road at tournaments, and also in Asian Tour Media’s headquarters to prepare packages in advance to make the live coverage more engaging.
“We knew that we wanted to replace our aging video servers,” said Peter White, Senior Head of Production,at Asian Tour Media. “We wanted good asset management, and excellent bandwidth for multiple users and remote access. The Media Village arranged a demonstration, and the rest is history.
“At Asian Tour Media, our content and our staff are the assets.” Whitecontinued. “With EditShare we have found a better way of managing and monetizing our content. We are developing new workflows which will allow us to become more efficient. Time saved means more time to be creative – and more work/life balance for the staff.”
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare commented “With our local partner The Media Village we could show Asian Tour Media how they could transform their workflows with EFS and FLOW, and give them the confidence to develop efficient workflows and operational practices they need. That is because the technology is designed for production professionals, making it logical and intuitive to use and absolutely reliable when there is no second chance.”
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
Helping users and administrators get up to speed quickly
Boston, MA, December 7, 2023 – Jigsaw24 Media, a leading UK media systems integrator and EditShare® partner, has developed two online training courses to help users and system administrators get the best out of the technology. The EditShare 101 courses have been developed and are delivered by David Bourke, who has worked at EditShare and brings in-depth knowledge and a unique perspective to the programme.
The courses give a quick start to users of EFS storage and FLOW asset management. The sessions for users and for admins each run for three hours, and are timed to make it practical for delegates in any time zone around the world to join.
“EditShare is a very powerful platform, and it is designed to be intuitive to use and to manage,” said David Skeggs, Technical & Operations Director at Jigsaw24 Media. “But with any new system there is a natural learning curve. What we are doing is taking delegates through that curve, helping them understand the underlying principles so that they will be able to run with all the functionality, tools and tricks that EditShare brings to post.”
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare commented “David has worked as an engineer at EditShare, so he knows what is going on under the hood. This programme is designed as a general introduction and understanding to get users and admins up and running with confidence.
“We know that systems sales around the world often involve application-specific training,” Bacho continued. “Think of this as the starter kit, to get users into the EditShare way of thinking so they can quickly develop their own processes, workflows and structures.”
The first courses offered by Jigsaw will be run in January 2024. For more information see: https://media.jigsaw24.com/editshare-101-training.
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
About Jigsaw24 Media
Jigsaw24 Media is a specialist division of Jigsaw24 and provides services and technology solutions to the media and entertainment, education and corporate sectors. It’s the only UK-based company of its kind that has in-house system integration capabilities. Jigsaw24 Media’s team of industry-recognised experts design, deliver, integrate and support end-to-end solutions for some of the nation’s biggest broadcasters and facilities, underpinned by partnerships with over 30 leading technology vendors including Avid, Adobe, AWS, Nutanix and EditShare. With headquarters in Nottingham, an office and demo space at the heart of London’s post-production community, and a nationwide support team, Jigsaw24 Media provides local services on a national scale. For more information visit https://media.jigsaw24.com/
In my last blog, I introduced the thinking behind our new workflow management layer, EditShare One. If you have not read that yet, you can find it here. In this blog I’ll explain how it is used in a real-world production.
Footage is shot, in a studio or on location. Those files are ingested into the shared storage, along with the metadata. That may include information from a production assistant on set, about good or bad takes and other details.
Depending on the nature of the production, a producer or director may want to make another decision on preferred takes, or an edit assistant will need to build bins making it clear to the editor which is likely to be the best material.
The editor then cuts the scene and hands it on for review. That may lead to rework later, or the scene may be locked ready for final assembly and finishing. In parallel, the sound designer will be mixing and sweetening the audio to match the cut.
The producer will be monitoring progress at all times and will be commenting on scenes as they are cut, giving notes to the editor and sound designer. The final cut will be passed to the colorist, and again the producer and director will make comments on the grade.
There may be other people taking note of the progress too. For marketing, there may be a second editorial team creating trailers and teasers, for example. Where an independent company is making programmes for a broadcaster, the executive producer will want to check progress.
The huge advantage of collaborative file-based workflows is that every stage is non-destructive. You can go back and tweak any stage of the post production until everyone is happy, because all of the material is still available in the shared storage.
EditShare One and the Produce Tool provide access to the material throughout the process. There is a single sign-on to all the content and metadata, but each user has different requirements, and will be presented with different tools, different media and metadata, and different capabilities.
A producer could be alerted to new cuts that need to be reviewed and signed off. The user interface would simply offer the new material, a player, and a text tool for comments. No need to know how the underlying technology works, or even where the content is at that moment: just focus on the job at hand.
More generally, the Produce tool is a simple dashboard that saves time and potential confusion in searching through media spaces and folders. It is completely independent of all the other tools, so users simply see what is relevant to them.
For the editor, the EditShare One intuitive interface appears as a panel within the edit software itself. Editors are, of course, free to choose whichever software package works best for them, but within the Adobe or DaVinci user interface is a panel or integration tool which is linked to EditShare FLOW asset management and its management tools.
Producers can highlight interest points in transcriptions through EditShare One’s web-based UI, which editors can then import using the FLOW panel. Services, like AI speech-to-text transcriptions, can also be seen in the FLOW panel to speed up work even further. This automated process creates rough cuts or integrates selected clips into Adobe Premiere sequences, enhancing overall efficiency in the editing process.
Once the sequence or program is completed, the same simple user interface exports it as new material in the shared storage and drives it to other EditShare One users who need to see it.
The goal is to make it simple to create and expedite collaborative workflows, wherever the individuals are, by offering just the functionality and material each needs, at the time they need it. By simplifying everyone’s working environment, more time is available to concentrate on making great content.
Creative marketing agency works with Tyrell to develop future-ready solution
Boston, MA, November 9, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, has provided a comprehensive storage and asset management platform for creative marketing agency Linney. The system was designed and implemented by UK reseller Tyrell.
Linney, based in Mansfield in central England, is a leading developer of marketing content for commercial clients. Those clients include some of the most well-known global brands, who rely on Linney for innovative approaches to engage customers, including material for social media, in-store displays and out-of-home digital signage.
The company had an existing central storage system which was a proprietary platform, and had reached the end of its supported life. It had a very clear idea of its needs for content storage and management, which included the ability to access material from multiple locations, as well as hosting in-house editing, grading and finishing suites.
Linney worked with specialist reseller and systems integrator Tyrell on defining the requirements, and developing the system. Tyrell in turn specified EditShare storage, and an architecture that includes three 20 TB SSD nodes, two 128 TB EFS-300 online storage servers, and a 300 TB EFS-40NL nearline storage system, together with the software required to manage the content and the flows between devices. The nearline storage node is in a separate building, providing resilience to the installation.
Critical to the success of the Linney installation is the ability to directly connect post-production tools. The facility includes multiple editing, grading and finishing suites running Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve. Producer/directors also access the shared storage from their laptops, over the office network, so can clip up content in preparation for the craft editors. The ability of the EditShare environment to support all these functions is vital for Linney.
“Our business is about creating and delivering exciting content which enhances the brand values of our clients,” said Andy Dawson, Lead Editor at Linney. “We really need our technology platform to just be there and do just what we need, so our people can focus all their energies on telling stories. This is very clearly EditShare’s brand value, and Tyrell showed how we could implement the technology that would serve us well as we continue to develop our business over the coming years.”
Simon Wocka, Account Manager for Cloud and Solution Sales at Tyrell, noted “Our first role in this was to listen to what the customer was really saying. We knew they didn’t need a like-for-life replacement for their old shared storage, and by understanding what Linney’s business goals are, we could propose a solution that puts them in a really good place.
Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare, added. “The complete solution is very adaptable and easily configured to the way you want to work. It provides a lot of practical tools, like transcoding on the platform as well as direct access for post production tools. Linney wanted simplicity in operation, efficiency and speed, and this EditShare installation provides all of that and more.”
Linney has appointed Port-P to manage all of its IT services. Tyrell sold the EditShare system to Port-P, who will manage it on Linney’s behalf. The contract includes five years of hardware and software support by Tyrell on behalf of EditShare.
The first phase of the system was installed and handed over in mid-2023. Linney and Tyrell continue to work together to implement additional functionality to meet client demand.
EditShare is an Emmy award-winning technology leader supporting storytellers through collaborative media workflows across on-premise, cloud and hybrid architectures. The market-leading open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration, third-party integrations and content sharing across the entire production chain. Designed specifically for media applications, the high performance line-up provides shared storage, archiving and backup, and intelligent media asset management.
Through a merger with Shift Media, EditShare also now integrates tools for content review and distribution, the creation of customized, branded pitch reels, and secure preview of high-value pre-release content.
About Tyrell
For 24 years Tyrell has been providing video, audio, graphics and storage solutions to the Irish and UK broadcast, post, production, corporate and education markets. In this time, we have become the leading provider of technology and service solutions both on-premise and in the cloud. Tyrell has an excellent understanding of the fast pace and unique pressures facing the media and entertainment industry; developing solutions for complex workflows. Allowing our clients to concentrate on the creative process and business development. From our two locations we offer a comprehensive range of professional services from consultancy to system design and integration, technical support and maintenance. www.tyrellcct.com
Production workflows have become way more complicated than they used to for all sorts of reasons, but there are ways to keep the complexity under control.
The move from film or tape to files has had the incidental effect of massively increasing shooting ratios. It is simply easier to do more takes with more cameras, and keep them all, when they are “just” digital files.
It wasn’t that long ago when holiday-makers had to take one or maybe two rolls of 36-exposure film on a vacation and carefully choose the moments they wanted to capture. Now our cameras and phones get filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures which we later need to sort out. The same has happened for the movie and television industry.
While shooting ratios have gone up, timescales have often been reduced. The goal is to get from set to screen as quickly as possible, especially to start recouping production costs.
More material; less time. We have to find a better way to work.
Many production workflows are still rooted in old, linear methods. Which is understandable: if you are trying to complete a project, then having proven and comfortable practices can be very reassuring. But it is definitely time to rethink the way we work.
The idea of having a central place for all the assets that make up a production is not new. All the material comes into a single server, and everyone who needs to access it can log in. Completed work gets written back to the same server, making the process convenient and streamlined.
This is great. But the challenge is that this “single server” might actually be a distributed set of storage nodes, on location, in a post house, at the production company, or in the cloud. The system that is tracking all the material needs a single database that covers all these locations.
Also, the content might come in different formats: the camera resolution (and there may be more than one camera type); the edit format (perhaps with a proxy for remote editing); and the delivery packages. Metadata needs to track not only formats and resolutions, but also the points at which value judgements are applied: quality control; editorial decisions.
But our main goal is to create the best possible television programme or movie, which means everyone, at every stage, needs to devote their energies on their part of the production without getting bogged down in the complexities of the underlying media management system.
The goal, then, is to have a high functionality, agile storage infrastructure that can handle multiple formats (and converting between them), is geographically diverse, and can manage metadata. That is exactly what EditShare FLOW was designed for.
But on top of that you need a simple, intuitive, role-appropriate user interface, so that each person in the creative team sees the information and content they need: no more; no less.
That is why we have developed EditShare One: the next generation of workflow management. One single sign-on; one place for capture, edit, review and deliver; one platform for production collaboration.
What makes this possible is a single user interface concept that is infinitely customizable. Every user has their own dashboard, showing them just the content and features they need. These dashboards are dynamic, so tasks can be assigned as needed, with all resources available.
We think EditShare One is a transformative leap forward in workflow management. It makes collaborative production environments practical and productive, and leaves creative people free to get on with creative tasks.
In my next blog I’ll look at a typical workflow, using the Produce Tool within EditShare One.
All-in-one storage and asset management package for leading Brazilian broadcaster
Boston, MA, October 26, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, has provided an EFS 300 storage node to TV Cultura. The system was negotiated, supported and installed by EditShare’s Brazilian partner, CIS Group.
TV Cultura is a very highly regarded public television network, based in São Paulo in Brazil. Part of the Fundação Padre Anchieta (Father Anchieta Foundation) and funded by the regional government, it focuses on educational and cultural subjects, but also produces and broadcasts sport and entertainment.
The production requirements of a new programme demanded collaborative workflows, with multiple users accessing the same project for editing with Adobe Premiere Pro. TV Cultura needed to provide comprehensive and secure production asset management, along with supporting direct editing on the storage device.
The EditShare EFS 300 is a compact, all-in-one storage appliance that provides high capacity storage – 128 TB in this installation – with transparent access for Windows, MacOS and Linux clients, and integrated production asset management software. In a 2U cabinet it holds 16 enterprise-grade disk drives, fully protected through RAID-6, and hot-swappable from the front. Storage can be increased at any time, either by fitting larger-capacity drives or by adding further nodes.
“We needed to create a new environment, where we could organize and categorize the media as well as provide secure storage,” said Nelson Faria, Director of Engineering at TV Cultura. “The key challenge was for a large production team to be able to work on the same project simultaneously: editors, colorists, graphics and producers. “The EditShare solution allows us to connect workstations and storage on a single network,” Faria said. “Users are still working in the software they are familiar with, but now have access to the organized material they need to finish the programmes quickly and accurately.”
Felipe Andrade, VP of Sales for EditShare’s Brazilian channel partner CIS Group, added “The application at TV Cultura is a perfect match for the EditShare design philosophy. We were able to demonstrate clearly how simple it is to integrate EFS storage, FLOW asset management and third-party tools like Premiere Pro. And, of course, we have a support team based in São Paulo so we were able to quickly configure and install the storage device, and provide training and guidance on workflows.”
“We are delighted to partner with CIS Group to provide TV Cultura with a storage and asset management solution that will enable them to collaborate more effectively and continue to produce high-quality content.” commented Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare. “CIS Group has a deep understanding of the Brazilian market and has been instrumental in helping us to provide TV Cultura with the best possible solution. This partnership underscores our commitment to the Latin American market, ensuring that our innovative solutions continue to empower media professionals in this key region.”
The new storage and asset management system at TV Cultura went online in August 2023.
EditShare is a technology leader that enables collaborative media workflows on-premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid configuration. With customer and partner success at the heart of EditShare’s core values, our open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration and third-party integrations across the entire production chain, ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none. The high-performance software lineup includes media optimized shared storage management, archiving and backup, and media management, all supported with open APIs for extensible integration.
EditShare’s cloud-enabled remote editing and project management technology was recently recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) with a prestigious 2021 Emmy® Award for Technology and Engineering.
About CIS Group
Since 1988, CIS Group has been a Media Technology solutions provider & systems integrator with core competencies across the professional services spectrum. Over the years our scope has evolved to include: Consulting & Workflow Design, Integration, Full System Commissioning & Installation, Technical & Operational Training, Maintenance & Support, DevOps, and Managed Services. Focused exclusively on the MediaTech space, CIS has delivered countless solutions aimed at a variety of use cases throughout the Content Supply Chain – including live production, post-production, archiving, and distribution. In relying on CIS’s expertise, our clients have been able to outsource a lot of their technical challenges, and focus their energy and resources on how the technology we implement ultimately delivers business value and creative value to their organizations. Enabling our customers to achieve their desired business goals and operational goals by effectively implementing our solutions is what we mean when we say that customer success is in our DNA. Learn more at www.cisgroup.tv
Towards the end of the show, a few folks asked me to sum up how it felt to see our team in action so soon after joining the company. The word I chose was “inspired.” I’ve come to appreciate the rich legacy of empowering storytellers that EditShare upholds, and seeing first-hand our team, products, and plan-of-attack coming together at such an important event, it’s hard not to feel wildly optimistic about what the future holds.
Where AI Is Headed
IBC 2023 also brought with it more and more conversation around the most compelling trend in our space today: the emergence of AI. In particular, we noticed an explosion of smaller AI-enabled companies aiming to streamline critical workflows within the content creation processes, from video editing to transcription and beyond. However, there’s a common challenge – harmonizing those workflows within one intuitive interface. I’m proud to say this is an area where EditShare is positioned to shine with the introduction of our new solution, EditShare One, which we unveiled at IBC 2023.
EditShare One, Transcription View
It’s been fun to hear the early feedback from customers and partners who have had a chance to see what EditShare One can do. We heard from more than a few people how useful the AI-integrated Transcription View will be to their producers – and the seamless integration we’ve built through FLOW into Premier Pro and Resolve also stood out at the show.
At EditShare, we’ve already made waves in post-production with innovations like Universal Projects, which lets teams work with whichever editing software they prefer. We’re pushing that idea of openness even further with EditShare One. My commitment to our customers is to keep building products that meet them where they are, and helping them balance the tension that comes with creating exceptional content within tight, demanding timelines. EditShare One is a natural next step in delivering on that promise, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of more of our customers.
A Powerful Combination
As I look at our combined portfolio of products, I’m especially thrilled about the integration of the MediaSilo product into the EditShare ecosystem. We built MediaSilo to bridge the gap between creatives and non-creatives. It provides a platform where content can be effortlessly shared, organized, reviewed, and approved, unsticking collaboration between teams, with the security features such as watermarking and DRM to provide confidence that when media is shared, it is only being shared to the right eyes and ears.
This merger not only bolsters our commitment to providing comprehensive solutions but also opens up new horizons for creative professionals and organizations seeking to streamline their media workflows. It’s an exciting chapter in EditShare’s journey, and one I’m so excited to help shape in my first few months as CEO.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by to see us at IBC, and looking forward to meeting many more of you before we close out 2023.
Ramu Potarazu
Montréal-based production company moves to latest hardware for increased flexibility
Boston, MA, September 27, 2023 – EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, and Canadian Channel Partner, DXM, have installed a large network of EFS storage devices at Pixcom, a leading Canadian production company. Pixcom, based in Montréal, has a permanent team of over 50, employs over 5,000 freelance artists, technicians and production teams and has relied on EditShare storage for more than a decade.
The new installation at Pixcom will provide a centralized workflow hub. With all media in one spot, engineers can ensure that producers and editors always have the right material at the right time. The company’s in-house post facilities use Avid and DaVinci Resolve editing, which is tightly integrated into the storage network meaning editors always have the right material on their workstations when they need it.
“We are very comfortable and familiar with the EditShare eco-system,” said Charles Laflamme, Technical Supervisor at Pixcom. “It was time to refresh the hardware, and EditShare and their local partners DXM Technologie showed us the benefits in connectivity and security with the latest EFS devices. It will make our workflows even simpler and more productive, while ensuring that we have complete control over all the material for our productions.”
Charles Laflamme, Technical Supervisor at Pixcom
This installation is built around six EF450 scalable shared storage appliances, each with 392TB of disk storage, plus two MDC metadata controllers, giving Pixcom both high availability plus all the benefits of the FLOW production asset management software. The network also includes four EFS 40NL nearline storage nodes totalling 1.5PB of storage, plus two backup 672TB EFS 40NL nodes.
The nearline storage provides working storage for media which is in current production but not needing the same levels of throughput as the online storage. Workflow tools built into the EditShare suite ensure material is moved between online and nearline storage as required. The new network also includes EditShare Ark LTO tape drives for permanent archiving, again automated through FLOW.
“Charles and his colleagues are very familiar with all the benefits of high-performance shared storage from EditShare, which means we could talk about the latest techniques in boosting workflows and delivering productivity benefits, like the tight integration between storage and edit software, and the ability to prepare material in FLOW, in advance of the edit.” said Adam Giraudias of DXM Technologie.
“EditShare’s commitment to enabling collaborative media workflows aligns perfectly with Pixcom’s mission to deliver exceptional content efficiently,” commented Said Bacho, Chief Revenue Officer at EditShare. “With this significant installation of EFS storage, in collaboration with our valued Canadian Channel Partner, DXM, Pixcom’s creative teams now have a centralized workflow hub with immediate access to the right material. We are proud to support their journey of simplifying and enhancing production workflows while maintaining complete control over their valuable assets.”
The new storage network was installed over the summer of 2023.
EditShare is a technology leader that enables collaborative media workflows on-premise, in the cloud, or in a hybrid configuration. With customer and partner success at the heart of EditShare’s core values, our open software solutions and robust APIs improve workflow collaboration and third-party integrations across the entire production chain, ensuring a world-class experience that is second to none. The high-performance software lineup includes media optimized shared storage management, archiving and backup, and media management, all supported with open APIs for extensible integration.
EditShare’s cloud-enabled remote editing and project management technology was recently recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) with a prestigious 2021 Emmy® Award for Technology and Engineering.
About DXM
DXM Technology offers fast and effective services that can solve the problems and challenges faced in all fields of video content production, whether you are a broadcaster, producer, post-production house, blogger or other.
The digital age has completely altered the television and film worlds. With easier and more affordable access to technologies we can now build specific workflow infrastructures that will eliminate major headaches, which in turn allows producers to generate more effective content within established budgets and deadlines.
