Imagine Communications Makes NAB 2014 Debut

Visitors to Imagine Communications’ booths experienced advanced demonstrations of service-oriented, IP-based and software-defined networking frameworks that fundamentally improve the way media companies manage their workflows and monetize their media assets. The company also showcased an enhanced TV Everywhere portfolio that includes the recently acquired software-based workflow management and transcoding solutions from Digital Rapids.

“We are investing rapidly in our business – driving innovation toward our vision for an industry defined by IP, software, multiscreen viewing and the cloud, and rounding out our portfolio through strategic acquisitions,” said Charlie Vogt, CEO of Imagine Communications. “NAB is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our pillars of innovation and the new solutions that support them. We look forward to joining the world’s leading media companies and thought leaders to discuss the rapid transformations happening across our industry.”

The following solution updates, new products and advanced technology demonstrations were showcased at the Imagine Communications:
 
Playout in the Cloud:  For the first time in broadcast history, Imagine Communications will demonstrate breakthroughs that redefine how video content will be originated, managed, and delivered via IP and the cloud. The demonstration shows playout in the cloud, coupled with IP transcoding of contribution sources including baseband. Network programming will originate from the public cloud where it will be regionalized within Imagine Communications’ NAB private cloud with local content, including live uncompressed IP sources. The resulting regional feeds will be distributed in compressed, Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR), and uncompressed IP and SDI baseband formats for traditional linear and TV Everywhere viewing.

LandmarkOSI Cloud™: Under the MediaCentral framework, LandmarkOSI Cloud works in a Microsoft Azure environment to create orders, work inventory, run reports and create invoices in the cloud.

Landmark™ Advanced Advertising: Leveraging the modular approach of the MediaCentral service-oriented framework, Imagine Communications will showcase dynamic ad insertion for streamed and nonlinear content. This impression-based approach enables the management and utilization of available inventory across a range of devices and platforms including linear TV, mobile devices, video on demand and OTT, to easily create cross-platform campaigns and monetize content opportunities across traditional and new media.

MultiService SDN™: This unique software-defined networking (SDN) framework simplifies the network architecture of media companies operating in hybrid environments of both baseband and IP workflows by enabling the video bit flow to be software-mapped, creating a fully virtualized network fabric for deploying advanced services.

TV Everywhere: This new, highly optimized adaptive bit rate (ABR) technology and state-of-the-art content delivery network (CDN) software combine to create a highly scalable transcoding and video headend solution for live video stream distribution and real-time HD HEVC encoding.

Selenio X100™: The latest enhancement to the company’s world-class line of facility signal processors and mobile production solutions, the new Selenio X100 1RU processor offers a unique architecture future-proofed for IP and UltraHD that easily integrates into the signal workflow of any broadcast environment.
 
Selenio™ MCP Enhancements: A key component of Imagine Communications’ MultiService SDN framework, the Selenio MCP now provides a high-performance contribution solution for live events via new JPEG2000 capability for best-in-class compression over IP, and a highly efficient satellite distribution solution via a built-in dual-channel DVB-S/S2 demodulator.

Software-Defined Workflow Management: Imagine Communications will demonstrate solutions from its recent acquisition of Digital Rapids, with software-based workflow management and transcoding capabilities that strategically align with Imagine Communications’ current portfolio of processing and compression platforms, to create a comprehensive set of end-to-end TV Everywhere solutions for file-based and live video distribution.

About Imagine Communications
Leveraging more than five decades of innovation, Imagine Communications Corp. is a global leader of software and networking solutions to more than 3,000 media, broadcast, service provider, government and enterprise customers spanning 185 countries. Today, nearly half of the world’s video channels traverse through more than 3 million of our products deployed around the world. With a bold vision and commitment to IP and cloud-based, software-defined networks and workflows, Imagine Communications is delivering billions of moments around the world anywhere, anytime and on any device.