Omneon Spectrum Systems Boosts BBC Persian TV

A leading provider of media server and active storage systems, Omneon, has announced that Omneon Spectrum media servers are being used for ingest and playout for BBC Persian TV, a new service launched in January 2009 by BBC World Service.
Installed in BBC facilities in London, the Omneon server systems support an efficient and reliable tapeless workflow for BBC Persian TV, which currently broadcasts eight hours of daily current affairs and features news content for Persian speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and around the world, complementing the BBC's existing radio and online news offerings in Persian.
Mike Cronk, Controller for Future Media, Technology and Distribution at BBC Global News, said: "The integration of different systems to create a streamlined workflow in a fully digital file-based environment is among the most critical parts of an effective installation.
"Our past experience with the interoperability and known performance of Omneon Spectrum systems in a fast-paced news environment gave us confidence in deploying the servers again in a mission-critical application."
The installation for BBC Persian TV is based on the same tapeless workflow model used successfully for the launch of BBC Arabic TV in 2008. Employing Spectrum servers at the heart of the BBC Persian TV project, the BBC again leverages the systems' open architecture to enable tight integration with other leading broadcast systems for optimal workflow efficiency.
The Spectrum systems feature a modular design that enables easy scaling of capacity and functionality without disruption of news delivery.
The Omneon systems are integrated with the DaletPlus News Suite media asset management (MAM) platform and production tool, along with IBIS playout control, to provide a streamlined news production workflow for BBC Persian TV. Content ingested to the Omneon Spectrum ingest servers under the control of DaletPlus is identified and registered by the MAM system and made available for editing on journalist workstations.
Once news clips are finished, they are registered in the MAM system and transferred to redundant Omneon Spectrum playout servers. IBIS ServerPlay, integrated with the facility's ENPS, cues up clips based on a continually updated rundown and triggers playout from the Spectrum system accordingly.
Geoff Stedman, Omneon Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, said: "The BBC has developed an efficient file-based news environment that supports high-quality news production for the company's growing international broadcast services.
"As the BBC continues to roll out news services worldwide, the Spectrum media server provides the reliability and flexibility vital to timely news delivery."
(KMcA/BMcC)