The agency’s new EVS workflow means each location can ingest live feeds, browse, edit and share news packages from a central storage system and directly playout news as events unfold.
International news organization Al Jazeera Media Network operates from over 70 bureaus around the globe. The organization is in the process of installing a new unified workflow designed to efficiently manage and edit live and near-live news content at five of its key locations – Doha, London, Washington DC, New York and Sarajevo. For the teams at all of these bureaux, the new system will simplify and improve on the existing news production workflows.
Based on the EVS content management solution, MediaCeption, the new workflow gives the staff at each location the ability to ingest multiple live feeds, browse, edit and share news packages from a centralised storage system and directly playout news as events unfold and content is prepared.
The combined EVS system includes XS-VIA servers, their new media asset platform VIA MAP, and a high-performance storage system, XStore. To complete the environment according to the Al Jazeera’s requirements, it also covers certified integration with tools from technology partners including Avid Interplay and Media Composer, and Vizrt’s Viz Mosart.
As well as their wide compatibility, the servers operate in workflows of resolutions up to UHD. They remain interoperable with existing EVS workflows, taking advantage of updates EVS makes to the VIA platform when transitioning to upcoming production infrastructures. XS-VIA allows productions to extend to UHD-4K and 1080p operations, with high UHD-4K channel density, and can be deployed in both IP-connected and SDI environments.
VIA MAP connects Al Jazeera’s live production content with editorial users, making efficient use of resources and content to meet distribution and monetization requirements downstream. Built on open architecture, VIA MAP integrates with EVS and third-party tools so that editors and journalists can apply their skills immediately to live material.
Its own metadata enrichment, AI tools and search features help users find and use the best content. User rights management is also in place for control and secured access. Fully virtualized and software-based on containerized microservices, VIA MAP can be deployed in multiple environments yielding scalable production infrastructure, secured across high-availability clusters.
XStore has a distributed scale-out architecture that increases in performance as further storage nodes are added to expand the user’s system. Bandwidth and capacity increase linearly, improving access speed to content already existing on the system.
VIA MAP media asset platform
As a result, Al Jazeera looks forward to faster content turnaround, reliable operations and multi-site collaboration. Ahmad Al Fahad, Executive Director of Technology & Network Operations Media Network, said, “EVS’s proven track record of delivering fast and reliable solutions, combined with their global technical support presence, gives us the confidence that MediaCeption will ably meet the challenges of modern news delivery.
“The deployment of MediaCeption will not only enhance our operational efficiency but also our ability to deliver high-quality, timely content to viewers around the world.” evs.com
