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NAB 2019: New Workflow Offerings on Hand From MESA Members

By Jeff Berman and Chris Tribbey –

This is the first of three stories previewing some of the workflow solutions being showcased at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Members of the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) representing the workflow solutions space at the 2019 NAB Show discussed here include 5th Kind, Akamai, Applicaster, Avid, AWS, Caringo, Comcast Technology Solutions, Deluxe, Digital Bedrock and FilmTrack.

Here’s a quick look at what each company is bringing to the show:

5th Kind

“5th Kind will be focusing on how studios, productions, departments and individuals can get the most out of a secure asset management and workflow orchestration tool,” 5th Kind CEO Steve Cronan said. “We’ve unified all of the different data components into a single platform allowing studios to have the most efficient and secure digital backbone available today. We’re also highliting our dailies tool that we’ve just rolled out across Universal, Lionsgate and Starz.” SL1623

Akamai

To deliver the best digital experiences to every single viewer, across every device, companies need flawless video, immersive engagements and scale. Akamai pioneered the “edge” two decades ago, and has been the competitive edge for the industry to build and evolve businesses since. At NAB, visitors to Akamai’s booth will discover how the company’s intelligent edge platform delivers quality experiences at scale, with live production demonstrations of AkamaiTV, featuring the company’s OTT solutions. SL3324

Applicaster

Applicaster will be demonstrating its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based app platform Zapp, an open-ended platform that Mark Cokes, VP of marketing, said “includes everything you need to prototype, develop, and maintain direct-to-consumer apps across phones, tablets, and connected TVs.”

During the show, Applicaster will also be highlighting the depth of its partner ecosystem and will have representation from Cleeng, Comcast and other ecosystem members at its booth. SU11114

Avid

Avid Technology gets the NAB Show started with its co-located Avid Connect gathering, taking place April 6-7 at the ARIA Las Vegas. The annual events offers a glimpse at what’s ahead for media and entertainment technology, offering insights into shifts in viewer behavior and the increased competition in content creation and distribution.

Additionally, Avid at NAB itself will show off its post-production editing solutions, with its Avid Everywhere, offering on hand. The media platform connects content creation with collaboration, asset protection, distribution and consumption.

Shailendra Mathur, VP and chief architect of products and technology for Avid, will take part in two post panels: “Scaling Collaborations for Post Production Workflows” on April 6 and “Leveraging SRT and Cloud Broadcast Services to Accelerate Production in the Azure Cloud” on April 9. SU801

AWS Elemental

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will be among the bigger players at NAB, with demonstrations covering AWS Elemental, AWS Thinkbox, Amazon Machine Learning, and Amazon Content Delivery services.

AWS will also host members of the Amazon Partner Network (APN) in its booth, including Accedo, Arc Publishing, Accurate Player powered by Codemill, Deluxe, Grabyo, GrayMeta, Meta, Overcast, Piksel, Reach Engine by Levels Beyond, Veset, and Vidispine. AWS’s media solutions include AWS Elemental, which allows media companies to deliver live and on-demand video to any device. Alex Dunlap, GM of Elemental, will take part in the April 9 panel “Video Storytelling as a Service: How Cloud Helps Broadcasters Streamline and Become Go-to Digital Destinations,” while Hector Leano, industry marketing lead of M&E for AWS, will take part in the April 8 panel “The Future of Transportation.”

On April 9-10 at the Westgate, Amazon Web Services will hold a brand new AWS Workshop event, offering two days of hands-on labs and workshops, geared directly toward the media and entertainment crowd. SU2202

Caringo

At the NAB Show, Caringo will showcase the latest with its content-focused storage platform Swarm, which provides organizations secure access, distribution and long-term retention. With both S3 and NFS access to the same content, Swarm protects files at exabyte scale and enables streaming and longtail video-on-demand, centralized backup, distribution for collaboration and tape replacement, the company said.

Since last year’s NAB, Caringo has introduced a simple way for organizations to get started using Swarm by offering it on the Swarm Single Server Appliance. This new solution was designed to meet the needs of small- to medium-sized content-driven organizations, according to the company. The on-prem, S3-accessible, object-based storage device contains all the hardware and software organizations needed to keep archived content online, searchable, web-accessible and secure, it said. The device requires only one-quarter of the hardware of a typical object storage deployment and organizations can easily scale and add capacity as needed by simply plugging in another appliance, Caringo said.

With several storage experts planning to be on-hand at NAB, the Caringo team will showcase how Swarm can streamline workflows by enabling on-demand access from the archive, it said. The Caringo team will also show integration with widely used asset and content managers including CatDV, Masstech, Pixit Pixstor, Vidispine, Cantemo, Marquis and ReachEngine.

Caringo will also be featured at the JB&A Pre-NAB Technology Event on Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7, which it said will be a must-stop event on everyone’s NAB itinerary for a jump-start on the new technologies that will be seen on the NAB Show floor. SL13310

Comcast Technology Solutions

Advertisers, content providers, global operators and tech providers, all are serviced by Comcast Technology Solutions, a division of Comcast Cable, which brings innovations and technology aimed at simplifying campaign workflows, delivering and monetizing content, helping operators grow market share with minimal capital investments, and by cost-effectively improving voice and IP transit performance. CTS’ various platforms — for ads, video, wholesale and syndication — will all be on display. Encore Hospitality Suites

Deluxe

Every solution for every corner of post-production — animation and VFX, mastering and duplication, subtitling and closed captioning, and workflow solutions — will be on display at Deluxe Entertainment Services Group’s suites. The company will share how it’s one of the world’s leading video creation-to-distribution firms, offering global, end-to-end services and technology, helping content creators bring their creative visions to life. Encore Hospitality Suites

Digital Bedrock

“Digital Bedrock will showcase how its system intelligently preserves big data, combining object storage methodologies to unstructured data while securely storing assets offline,” Linda Tadic, its CEO and founder, said by email. The company is now “offering a secure, fast direct connection to major cloud storage providers, so clients’ data can also be pushed to/from their cloud storage provider,” she noted, adding: “Clients get the best of both worlds: managed, secure offline preservation with immediate access to files through their cloud storage.” SL10130

FilmTrack

For more than two decades, FilmTrack has made its business collecting, handling, and analyzing media and entertainment, covering everything from content management to advanced financials. At NAB, the company will show off all-encompassing IP management SaaS solution, and share how its cloud-based platform offers tools to manage mission-critical data, allowing clients to get a clear handle on their contracts, rights, royalties, and asset management, all in one place. Encore Hospitality Suites