Globecast Running Eight Channels of Aveco’s Cloud-Enabled ASTRA Master Control Automation and Media Asset Management

Globecast is using Aveco’s cloud-enabled Master Control Automation and Media Asset Management — ASTRA MCR and ASTRA MAM — for eight on-air TV channels. Globecast is one of the world’s leading service providers of TV network origination.
Using the cloud-enabled version of ASTRA MCR and ASTRA MAM, each customer has an interface allowing authorized users to view their content, view their playlist, and easily make last minute changes.

“Aveco supports our rather complex business model which requires remote access for each customer through the cloud, with strict security for each customer’s content and playlist. It’s a highly reliable playout system,” says David Maistre, Project Manager at Globecast. “We have been up and running for almost two years now without any major problems and our customers are happy with the solution.”

The cloud-enabled version of ASTRA MCR and ASTRA MAM provide customers a virtual control room. ASTRA MAM copies clips according to the playlist from Globecast’s NAS to a Thomson Video Networks’ Sapphire MPEG Stream Server and deletes old clips when they expire. ASTRA interfaces with traffic and implements schedules to air for each playout channel.

The cloud-enabled version of ASTRA MAM can be extended to support a multi-site cloud where each site may have various functions such as ingest, archive, browsing, playout, etc. This enables customers to manage content stored at different locations. ASTRA’s workflow manager automatically moves the cloud-based files to the appropriate location(s) for playout, and using Aveco’s client-server architecture, operates the channel remotely without any compromise in features, reliability, or responsiveness.

Aveco’s security infrastructure enables cloud-based content to be protected using a variety of different criteria. It can be segmented based on a vast range of characteristics and rights, including segregation by owner, group, content type, individual group rights, location rights, user rights etc.

“Globecast gave us an opportunity to demonstrate our cloud support for playout and media asset management,” said Pavel Potuzak, Managing Director of Aveco. “We are well known for our reliability and we have been providing multi-location IT networked systems for 22 years — we had cloud support long before it was called ‘the cloud.'”

Aveco’s reputation for reliability stems from its use of QNX — a real-time operating system, and from its software architecture built for mission critical applications. QNX provides immunity from viruses, allows system updates without taking the system off air, and prohibits a badly behaving application or device from affecting the rest of the system — all potential problems with Windows based systems.