Avid Technology Case Studies Al Jazeera English: Enhancing Global Connectivity and Collaboration

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	Al Jazeera English: Enhancing Global Connectivity and Collaboration Avid Technology

Al Jazeera English: Enhancing Global Connectivity and Collaboration

Avid Technology

Technology Category	Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms Sensors - Environmental Sensors
Applicable Industries	Buildings Cement
Applicable Functions	Product Research & Development
Use Cases	Building Automation & Control Smart Campus
Challenge	Al Jazeera English, the European headquarters of Al Jazeera Media Network, faced a unique challenge when they moved their operations to the 16th floor of The Shard, London's iconic skyscraper. The challenge was to connect Al Jazeera English to Al Jazeera Media Network’s hubs spread across three continents, enabling each site to access, share, and distribute assets collaboratively and efficiently. Broadcasting from the tallest building in the European Union, with an audience reach of 270 million households in 35 countries, brought a unique set of challenges. The broadcasting site, primarily built for offices, required intricate planning and meticulous site tests to ensure optimal broadcasting conditions. A crucial part of the planning phase was assessing the angle that the sun entered the 16th floor during all seasons to ensure that the two TV studios wouldn’t be compromised by glaring sunlight while on air. Read More
About Customer	Al Jazeera English is the European headquarters of Al Jazeera Media Network, one of the world's leading news organizations. With an audience reach of 270 million households in 35 countries, Al Jazeera English broadcasts up to eight hours of news, current affairs, documentaries, and children’s programming each day. The company is known for its innovative approach to broadcasting, being the first broadcaster in the world to adopt a full file-based HD workflow back in November 2006. Al Jazeera English is based in The Shard, London's iconic skyscraper, and is one of the building's anchor tenants. Read More
Solution	To address these challenges, Al Jazeera English decided to embrace Avid Everywhere and the Avid MediaCentral platform by utilizing industry-leading solutions to enable networked connectivity between its broadcast sites. The move gave the network an opportunity to assess how they would share, access, store, and distribute assets across their geographical regions. A definitive decision was made to put access to global assets and collaboration at the forefront of this project. By realizing the benefits of Avid Everywhere through the adoption of the Avid MediaCentral platform, Al Jazeera English achieved a networked operation based on standardized metadata protocols. This made the company’s global archive of assets streamlined and visible for everyone, from ‘everywhere’. The design and delivery of the connected workflow were achieved in a tight turnaround time of 18 months. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Sensors - Environmental Sensors

Applicable Industries

Buildings

Cement

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Building Automation & Control

Smart Campus

Challenge

Al Jazeera English, the European headquarters of Al Jazeera Media Network, faced a unique challenge when they moved their operations to the 16th floor of The Shard, London's iconic skyscraper. The challenge was to connect Al Jazeera English to Al Jazeera Media Network’s hubs spread across three continents, enabling each site to access, share, and distribute assets collaboratively and efficiently. Broadcasting from the tallest building in the European Union, with an audience reach of 270 million households in 35 countries, brought a unique set of challenges. The broadcasting site, primarily built for offices, required intricate planning and meticulous site tests to ensure optimal broadcasting conditions. A crucial part of the planning phase was assessing the angle that the sun entered the 16th floor during all seasons to ensure that the two TV studios wouldn’t be compromised by glaring sunlight while on air.

About Customer

Al Jazeera English is the European headquarters of Al Jazeera Media Network, one of the world's leading news organizations. With an audience reach of 270 million households in 35 countries, Al Jazeera English broadcasts up to eight hours of news, current affairs, documentaries, and children’s programming each day. The company is known for its innovative approach to broadcasting, being the first broadcaster in the world to adopt a full file-based HD workflow back in November 2006. Al Jazeera English is based in The Shard, London's iconic skyscraper, and is one of the building's anchor tenants.

Solution

To address these challenges, Al Jazeera English decided to embrace Avid Everywhere and the Avid MediaCentral platform by utilizing industry-leading solutions to enable networked connectivity between its broadcast sites. The move gave the network an opportunity to assess how they would share, access, store, and distribute assets across their geographical regions. A definitive decision was made to put access to global assets and collaboration at the forefront of this project. By realizing the benefits of Avid Everywhere through the adoption of the Avid MediaCentral platform, Al Jazeera English achieved a networked operation based on standardized metadata protocols. This made the company’s global archive of assets streamlined and visible for everyone, from ‘everywhere’. The design and delivery of the connected workflow were achieved in a tight turnaround time of 18 months.

Impact #1	The adoption of the Avid MediaCentral platform has significantly improved Al Jazeera English's operational efficiency. The platform allows the company to better access, repurpose, and distribute their pool of global content. For instance, if a story to be broadcast from London has already been covered in another territory, they simply use Avid Interplay \| Production to pull the assets from their Avid \| ISIS shared storage system, make any editorial and audio changes in Avid Media Composer, Avid Pro Tools and Avid S6—M10, and get the piece to air. A replica control room and playout suite in The Shard also acts as the disaster recovery hub for the company’s Doha headquarters and keeps its channels on air should they go offline. This has led to significant efficiency savings and productivity levels have met their expectations.

Impact #1

The adoption of the Avid MediaCentral platform has significantly improved Al Jazeera English's operational efficiency. The platform allows the company to better access, repurpose, and distribute their pool of global content. For instance, if a story to be broadcast from London has already been covered in another territory, they simply use Avid Interplay | Production to pull the assets from their Avid | ISIS shared storage system, make any editorial and audio changes in Avid Media Composer, Avid Pro Tools and Avid S6—M10, and get the piece to air. A replica control room and playout suite in The Shard also acts as the disaster recovery hub for the company’s Doha headquarters and keeps its channels on air should they go offline. This has led to significant efficiency savings and productivity levels have met their expectations.

Benefit #1	Al Jazeera English now has networked connectivity between its broadcast sites spread across three continents.
Benefit #2	The company’s global archive of assets is now streamlined and visible for everyone, from ‘everywhere’.
Benefit #3	The design and delivery of the connected workflow were achieved in a tight turnaround time of 18 months.

Benefit #1

Al Jazeera English now has networked connectivity between its broadcast sites spread across three continents.

Benefit #2

The company’s global archive of assets is now streamlined and visible for everyone, from ‘everywhere’.

Benefit #3

The design and delivery of the connected workflow were achieved in a tight turnaround time of 18 months.

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Overview

Al Jazeera English: Enhancing Global Connectivity and Collaboration

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit