SYSTEMS

NBC Universal Deploys Isilon IQ to Archive and Access Growing Stores of Digital Media During Period of Profound Change in Media and Entertainment Industry: NBC Deploys Isilon IQ as Part of Its Broadcast Infrastructure for the 2008 Olympic Games: Isilon Systems today announced that NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies, has chosen Isilon IQ to archive and access growing stores of media programming including entertainment TV and production, movies, news, and sports. Under the multi-year agreement with Isilon, NBC Universal plans to deploy multiple Petabytes of Isilon IQ clustered storage in its main production and broadcast operations to maximize the value of their media assets across NBC Universal's media properties. Isilon also announced today that NBC is deploying Isilon IQ to facilitate its coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Additionally, Isilon announced today that NBC Olympics Vice President of Information Technology, Craig Lau, will deliver a main stage address at Storage Networking World (SNW) entitled, "Delivering the Unprecedented: How NBC Uses Clustered Storage To Help Transform Its Broadcast Coverage of the Olympic Games." NBC used Isilon IQ to create new breakthroughs in its coverage of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. "With the rapid move to digital media and broadband connections, the broadcast industry has forever changed," said David Evans, Director, Storage Solutions, Global Operations NBC Universal. "This shift in the broadcast paradigm - multiple distribution channels, formats, and consumption models - has resulted in massive increases in the amount and importance of archived media. It is not enough to simply store this content; it must also be always on-line and instantly accessible. Isilon IQ is uniquely architected to address the business needs of NBC Universal, enabling us to transform our digital media assets into new breakthroughs in the creation, management and delivery of high-quality programming." Isilon is being deployed to complement and, in some cases, replace traditional tape based technology which allows for faster access times and increased reliability. With major deployments of Isilon IQ, NBC Universal's multiple broadcast and production units now have instant access to the vast libraries of media programming regardless of physical location, enabling NBC Universal to enhance live broadcasts or create new breakthroughs in the delivery of programming through NBC Universal's multiple media distribution networks. Next summer in Beijing, NBC is primed to deliver the first-ever television broadcast of the Olympic Games available completely in High Definition. Following NBC's successful use of Isilon IQ for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, NBC is storing the majority of the 2008 Beijing Games proxy and broadband content on Isilon clustered storage, providing NBC producers with unprecedented, highly reliable access to critical content for rapid review, identification and selection operations necessary to quickly produce and deliver groundbreaking coverage of Beijing Olympics in the United States. "The Olympic Games are the single biggest event on earth, necessitating coverage that effectively captures the passion and unscripted drama of the Olympics to our millions of viewers," said Craig Lau, VP of Information Technology, NBC Olympics. "In order to deliver the unprecedented coverage of the Beijing Olympics, we need a storage solution that can reliably deliver unparalleled access to content for our broadcast team, both on-site in Beijing and at our multiple broadcast centers in the United States. Having used Isilon IQ for each of the past two Olympic Games, we know it will once again provide all we need to successfully execute our broadcast in Beijing." "As the formats and delivery channels for media content continue to proliferate, so do the opportunities to maximize the value of these assets and create new revenue streams in parallel with the evolution of the media and entertainment delivery model," said Brett Goodwin, VP of Marketing & Business Development, Isilon Systems. "From traditional television broadcast and syndication, to High Definition and broadband delivery, NBC is a perfect example of how the shift to multiple delivery channels and digital formats can enable media and entertainment companies to maximize the value of their digital assets and grow their business."