Imagine Communications, an advertising management and video infrastructure
solutions provider has completed a major upgrade of the playout and asset
management facilities at Rotana TV in Cairo, Egypt, which currently broadcasts 14
channels.
The upgrade allowed Rotana TV to migrate all of its channels to HD, enabling the
playout centre to operate completely in the file domain. Simplifying internal
operations, the enhancements enable Rotana TV to deliver output via a data stream
for satellite providers Arabsat and Nilesat, and to other broadcast facilities in
Europe and the USA. Rotana TV plans to move IP delivery to outlets in Canada and
South America in the future.
Naser Refaat, technical services executive manager of Rotana TV said, “When we
installed our original automated playout and asset management architecture in
2009, we knew it was one step in our continuing growth and that we would need to
expand it in due course. That system has proved extremely robust and reliable, and
it is very pleasing that we do not have to lose any of that capital investment as part
of our upgrade.’
At the heart of this upgrade are Imagine Communications Nexio® Volt™ servers
and Nexio® Farad™ scalable online storage systems to enable the HD capabilities.
Rotana TV already had Imagine Communications’ ADC playout automation and Nexio
Motion digital media management, both of which were HD-ready. The Nexio Motion
media management platform in place provided extensive functionality to manage
and move media assets. For the HD upgrade, the platform provided a file-based
environment that included ingest stations both within Rotana TV and remotely at the
broadcaster’s facilities in Cairo’s Media Production City. Other Imagine
Communications’ equipment, including Nexio IconMaster modular master control
switchers, graphics and Platinum routers with integrated multiviewers, was simply
upgraded to handle HD signals.
“Imagine Communications proposed a seamless upgrade to enable us to broadcast
in HD and to streamline our operations by moving away from tapes completely,’
Naser added. “Coupled with the excellent support we received from Systems
Design, the Cairo-based dealer, and from the Imagine Communications regional
centre in Dubai, this was an easy choice to make.’
Mathias Eckert, Vice President of Europe, Middle East and Africa at Imagine
Communications commented, “Our broadcast customers are navigating various
states of transition, whether migrating from tape to file, from SD to HD and
beyond, or from traditional infrastructures to software-defined networks. We strive
to provide solutions that are tailored for these transitions wherever our customers
are in the process. Rotana TV, which five years ago implemented an end-to-end
solution for SD playout, demonstrates this clearly. Today, we have upgraded it for
file-based HD without compromising their existing investments in equipment and
skills, and we have delivered a solution that remains future-proofed, whenever
Rotana TV wants to take that next step.’
The upgrade project, with new HD channels and file-based workflows, was designed
and delivered by the Imagine Communications regional specialist centre in Dubai,
supported by Systems Design.
