Projects

HBO Asia announced that it has selected Omneon Inc. and Pharos for upgrading its Singapore facility to a fully file based system. According to Vicent Teo, Senior Vice President, Technology and Operations, HBO Asia has entered into the deal aiming a cost-effective and easy expansion of its operations to 31 million subscribers across 22 countries.

Project Specifications
HBO has planned to add in a 60TB Mediagrid active storage system from Omneon to work as its central storage platform. Further, the Playtime automation and Mediator content management systems from Pharos will assist in airing its 12 SD channels. HBO Asia will also bring in a ProXchange transcoding system to support the media repurposing operations of the company.

Transition to a 3-D presentation style demands more efficient content management systems and simultaneously, an automation solution is required for better managing complex secondary events, subtitles, multiple languages and advertisement breaks. HBO authorities believe that the combined package will be successful in meeting the demands of such operations.

The Mediator content management system will reorganise HBO’s workflow and at the same time provide media logistics for traffic, library and ingest operations. It will manage transfers between the storage subsystems and also help assimilate the existing data tape library for providing end-to-end media lifecycle management. Mediator is able to carry on operations like screening, compliance editing, approvals and handle HD and VoD services.

The entire system will be operational from the last quarter of 2008.