The flexibility and cost-effectiveness that IP delivery offers cannot be overstated. With upfront planning it enables launching a new television channel in Africa tomorrow, originated and managed from an office in New York City. This would never be possible with older delivery technology.

However, this flexibility to serve multiple delivery platforms from a single or multiple locations requires careful system planning and an understanding of collaborative media production. Managing and producing content from one central repository, where operators can produce files for broadcast, mobile and web in one seamless workflow is the future everyone is trying to get to. That’s because it makes a staff more efficient and increases productivity – so you can deliver competitive content to an ever-increasing number of channels and viewer types.

Integrated web-based technologies allow asset delivery to any platform in one workflow, enabling content packaging and optimized delivery speeds (and adjustable bit rates) supported by on-screen branding and graphics. It includes the use of technologies that allow content updating right up to the point of transmission, empowering journalists' creativity and speeding time to air.

Smarter workflows dramatically increase a facility’s productivity. An example is the ability to store an edit decision list (EDL) and related graphics information as metadata, along with the video and graphics playlist. This is then sent to the control room, where the final story is assembled and played back in real time on-air—automatically sized and distributed to TVs, online and to mobile devices.

The key to efficient media production is providing access to the right assets at the right time. To achieve this, one needs a reliable central repository where assets are stored, searched for and retrieved, sometimes by numerous members of the staff at the same time.

Traditionally, this central storage was located within the facility. Today, that same capability can be expanded to the cloud, enabling professionals located anywhere in the world to access files and collaborate in real time. Indeed, cloud-based storage will be key to keeping up with the ever-increasing demand for more content.

This type of file-based production environment must support a wide variety of important tasks—from tape ingest and video editing to branding and multi-platform delivery. The solution must also seamlessly integrate with systems for non-linear editing, scheduling, newsroom computers, playout, traffic, automation, analytics, and content delivery networks. Several mechanisms, such as APIs, industry-standard protocols and event-based architectures are needed to ensure robust integration with existing third-party systems.

If we’ve learned anything as an industry over the past ten years, it’s that truly effective media asset management (MAM) is more than just a database with a web front end. The goal today is to make all the daily tasks of media management, from ingest to editing and playout, not only easier, but also more efficient in order to increase productivity. “Doing more with less” or the same resources is the mantra of virtually every media organization today. That won’t change going forward.

Desktop enabled

For instance, working with web-based tools, users can check the availability and status of media files directly from their desktop—whether a few hundred or many thousands—across multiple departments and sites. This, combined with specific task lists and workflow orchestration, gives the user greater visibility and control of media production across the business. They can instantly see if media files are being used in other contexts, when a file was last used, and if special restrictions apply. After finding the desired file, users can rough-cut it right at their desktop. There is no need to assign subtasks to other departments.

The core of an ideal virtualized production solution should be designed to meet a broad variety of uses, ranging from typical broadcast usage like fast-paced news production, to specific usage in other markets such as playout to multiple devices, or long-term asset preservation. Specialized, often software-based, product capabilities and integration points are a common requirement.

At the end of the day, efficiency is about how you orchestrate workflow. The smarter workflow is to manage assets in unison with one another – as opposed to as separate silos. Truly efficient and reliable multi-platform video production and delivery requires it.

This workflow also can be leveraged to intuitively manage story creation and rundown lists. Rundowns created in newsroom computer systems can be interpreted by the central IP render engine to create a rundown that will be automatically executed, mixing external video and audio inputs with internal video and graphics to create a broadcast-ready HD SDI/IP output.

Today, the name of the game is production efficiency and fast, hiccup-free delivery to any device. To accomplish that, content providers large and small must devise a method for better allocation of resources, increased productivity and improved staff collaboration—all integrated into a single robust and reliable package that fits any type of production environment. The consumer appetite for ever-more video is there; we as an industry have to get smarter about how we leverage new IP-based technologies to satisfy that demand.

Therefore, any such IP-based system deployment should significantly reduce production costs and bring a fast return on investment (ROI); both key issues when addressing the economic realities that call for continuous improvement of workflow processes. The idea is to simplify production for all involved.