RTL and CBC select Abit for Ingest Solution

RTL and its production and service organisation Cologne Broadcasting Center (part of the RTL Television) has selected Abit to provide a new ingest solution to link up two of its facilities in Cologne, Germany.
The ingest software solution will be loaded onto CBC’s existing Show-it platform and an upgraded version of RTL’s existing Powerbox platform, both provided by Abit and previously utilised for transmission purposes. Both systems will be configured to interface with peripheral systems including an IBM storage solution to ingest more than 130,000 hours of material for RTL Television, VOX and Super RTL.
“As a number of Abit automation systems were already installed at both RTL and CBC’s premises, when the two organisations decided to integrate operations more closely, utilising the existing Show-it and upgrading the existing Powerbox was the logical choice for both,” confirms Richard Thomas software development director, Abit. “Powerbox and Show-it offer high-quality, reliable software and hardware options and are tailored to the precise needs of the customer, in this case a dependable ingest solution for critical broadcast processes combining maximum efficiency with minimum cost.”
Both the Abit systems at CBC and RTL will ingest material independently for digital transfer to the IBM storage area network (SAN) utilising IBM ADMIRA archive management software. The assets and metadata associated with the digitised file will be automatically retrieved from the SMART asset database by the ingest system.
Designed to automate all essential broadcast processes to keep running costs low, Abit’s suite of products based on an Industrial computer architecture running on a Real Time Operating system, interoperate with a wide range of broadcast equipment. Resilience and reliability are fundamental to the range proven over 15 years’ of experience. In addition, Abit is the only automation company to supply source codes with all its products.
"Over the years we have provided both RTL and CBC automation systems for de-centralised broadcast operations,” confirmed Thomas. "Now with the two organisations working more closely together we are delighted to continue to be able to supply the high quality output and reliability that these leading German broadcasters demand.”
(DS)