IBM Introduces Enhancements to Media Hub

By Debra Kaufman

IBM unveiled enhancements to its Media Hub, an
open-standards–based solution for managing media companies’ work
processes that is based on the IBM Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
and Business Process Management platforms.

“We’re showing ways
for broadcasters to become a lot more efficient at the way they produce
and distribute content,” says Steve Canepa, general manager, global
media and entertainment industry. “Whether it’s news, sports, or
entertainment, you have to be able to manage those digital end-to-end
workflows and have them available to whatever platforms or devices
you’re outputting to.”

The enhancements include standards-based
methods for connecting applications and Web services (including digital
asset management, encoding, and publishing) to Media Hub and the
publication of technical guidelines to assist software developers
looking to build these connectors. Inlet Technologies, ScheduALL, and
Metaglue currently offer support of media services connected to the
Media Hub.

“You have to understand the transaction, metadata,
and content,” says Canepa. “This platform allows all those media
functions to tie together in a way that’s easier to change.”

IBM’s
Cross-Platform Advertising Analytics is aimed at enabling the station
to monetize that environment, be it broadcast, broadband, or mobile.
“With Cross-Platform Ad Analytics,” says Canepa, “we can let executives
see how they’re performing, and, since we can tie the analytics with
the production hub, they can make more timely decisions.”

The
company also showed a technology preview integrating cloud computing
with its Media Hub solution. Of greatest interest to broadcasters, the
demo showed augmentation of transcoding resources. Broadcasters often
face transcoding challenges when servers are maxed out or there’s a
rush job. The demo used a standards-based interface to integrate
transcoding work processes with mPOINT, a public cloud
transcoding-solution provider.