GOVERNMENT

IBM has announced that three major independent Latin American broadcasting companies: TC Television, Gamavision, and Cablevision, based in Ecuador, will deploy IBM open standard technology with supercomputing capabilities to implement a first of a kind shared video and storage system which is centralized to help increase production by forty percent. By utilizing powerful storage and digital video file systems based on IBM's work in supercomputing and Thomson Grass Valley's production clients, the Ecuador-based independent television companies can manage video and digital content more efficiently while reducing installation costs by over fifty percent from this shared model. The IBM Digital Media Center (DMC) system, designed to support the creation, management and distribution of digital content, will help transform broadcasting production environments from today's analog and videotape-based formats to a centralized, digital operation that provides users access to video on demand. "Streamlining our broadcasting production facitilites is essential in order to deliver the news and programming our customers demand," said Jorge Kronfle, President of TC Television. "By working with IBM and using open standards technology, we now have the flexibility to share, access and edit content faster and easier and reduce our costs around maintaining a video tape infrastructure in each of our operations." Using IBM hardware, storage, and software and specialized video production clients from Thomson Grass Valley, the three Latin American broadcasting companies are able to store and archive news programming on an all digital, centralized storage system without the wear and tear of traditional storage systems (videotape). All three television networks can now easily search, retrieve and edit content on a high-speed digital network replacing the need for paper and videotapes. In addition, the IBM DMC facilitates connectivity between broadcasting technologies and helps eliminate the need to physically "move" files from one functional area to the next. "IBM's innovative technology, coupled with our business insight, is helping leading companies such as TC Television, Gamavision and Cablevision easily transition to the next digital age," said Dick Anderson, general manager, IBM Global Digital Media Industry. "IBM is able to deliver the solutions and services to help broadcasters reduce costs and operations as they implement an open, flexible environment to better serve their audiences." Benefits of the IBM Digital Media Center include the ability to support installed video production operations, including Thomson Grass Valley's ingest and encoding systems, non-linear editing systems, and playout systems, using specialized hierarchical storage management software. The system addresses real-time access to incoming video, ease of sharing content among users, improve workflow, and allows content to be accessed by multiple clients as soon as the first bytes of content are being recorded on disk. The system also offers interoperability, huge capacity, simultaneous realtime read/write of files, and simultaneous access to files. The IBM Digital Media Center (DMC) includes IBM FAStT 600 Storage, IBM eServer pSeries severs, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS), and IBM Global Services Integration services to install and manage new digital broadcasting environments. TC Television is the leading broadcaster in national and international production, with 35 years in the Ecuadorian market. It provides nationwide coverage with varied programming, ranging from daily and weekly news to local sports and movie productions, and is placed at the top of the Guayaquil ratings. Television del Pacífico Teledos S.A., known as Gamavision, is part of a major business corporation in Ecuador, with 27 years of experience and positioning in the TV and advertising industry. Gamavisión has always remained at the top of the audience ratings, and is an unquestionable leader in information technology at the national and continental levels. For additional information, visit www.gamavision.com. Cablevisión is Ecuador's leading Cable TV operator. IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM works with companies of all sizes around the world to deploy a full range of IBM technologies. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.