Hive Unified Content Platform
Hive’s omni-media content platform takes care of the storage, management and sharing of content. Using the most appropriate tools this unified content environment is key to generating efficient, productive and streamlined workflows.
With the latest HTML5 editing tools and the ability to integrate other best of breed toolsets onto the platform, Hive delivers an unparalleled user experience to rapidly process any content for any medium and deliver it whenever, where ever and how ever it is needed.
It is no longer enough to just build solutions that work on the cloud or are technologically advanced, they need to be designed from the beginning to be cloud native and deliver a responsive, agile and resilient infrastructure which scales to suit business needs, flexes with changing workloads and maintains commercial efficiency.
HIVE has been built on a cloud native distributed services architecture, therefore it is quick to deploy, easy to maintain and cost-effective to provision as workloads change. HIVE can be deployed on premise, in private or public cloud, or as a hybrid mix of all three, enabling ultimate commercial flexibility in the business.
Changing the rules
Uniquely for a broadcast production system HIVE has been architected, from the ground up, on data centre class technologies that are not yet capitalised on in the media broadcast industry.
HIVE utilises the advantages of data centre focused and open source technologies (object storage, containers, NoSQL) as opposed to traditional industry configurations of dedicated systems running resources in silos. Thanks to this HIVE leverages internet methodologies to deliver a dynamically scalable, highly scalable and highly available system which can be deployed either on premise or in off-site data centres. See figure 1 to show the architectural differences and key benefits.
Figure 1: Hive Architecture
Hyper Convergent Node technology enables HIVE to grow (or shrink) with the business performance required. Complex broadcast systems can, for the first time, be designed for a customer’s current level of performance, secure in the knowledge that additional storage and processing can be added at any time in the future whilst the system is live. No down time. No significant project expenditure. No investment in under-utilised assets.
Future expansion of the system into new production areas with different applications is also supported through the use of a common Platform/Toolset architecture with a highly scalable core and industry standard APIs.
With these core technologies embedded in the Network Production platform it is not difficult to see the opportunities:
• Acceleration of the Capex to Opex trends
• Outsource of commodity IT practises – data centres or on premise service
• Centralsiation of multi tenanted platforms
• Either as a SAAS model
• Or a National Broadcaster providing a platform as a service to local broadcasters
When only the Story Matters
As an omni-media network production system, HIVE, supports the fast and efficient creation of content for Internet, VoD and Broadcast applications. Key integrations with a number of market leading Newsroom Computer Systems and Graphics Platforms ensure that the journalists and operators work within the tools they are used to.
Coupled with the ability to deploy a system for “now”, knowing it can be expanded in operation to cater for additional planned, and unplanned, events means the business can maximise the operational benefit of any investment made.
Key customer benefits include:
• Streamlined camera-to-archive production workflow
• Fully Integrated solution to support efficient planning to publish operation
• Internet/mobile first workflows that flex with digital trends
• Common content management platform with the ability to optimize the repurposing of assets through a single system
• A recognized toolset designed for journalists/users
• Proven and future proofed ROI with tested, delivered and improved workflows following ten years of experience
• Dynamic “pay-as-you-go” system for scaling and functionality
• Ability to flex with the business requirements - scales down as well as up
• Adaptable and Open solution that can be expanded into new production areas
In addition, being data centre ready it delivers massive resilience and outstanding performance, allowing expansion and software upgrades to happen without stopping the system, reducing the total cost of ownership whilst providing the latest versions and toolsets.
“Evolutionising” the Broadcast Production Industry
Reducing the total cost of ownership by delivering on the promise of easy to evolve solutions.
HIVE offers media producers the opportunity to reduce cost, time and effort by:
• Delivering a fast and efficient “internet first” operation
• Integrating their entire end-to-end news operations
• The automation of tasks with user centric designed workflows
• Providing a dynamic provisioning model supporting a “pay as you go” investment model
• Enabling the ability to make informed decisions with the visibility of your operation through a number of performance dashboards
• Supporting simplified upgrade processes on a live system
• Reducing down time
• Ensuring latest versions of software are available
• Supporting multiple versions of the same toolsets [reduced training costs]
• Allowing systems to be upgraded regularly, ensuring lower support costs
• Supporting asymmetric node performance allowing compute and storage platforms to be upgraded more easily
The system is designed around standardized compute/storage nodes not only for cost effectiveness in the short run, but to enable the latest technologies to be utilized as the IT industry progresses. These nodes can be purchased and deployed on premise just like current broadcast software systems.
However the key driver for the architecture is the ability to place the back-end HIVE platform into off premise data centres, in exactly the same way that other non-broadcast applications are already deployed. Since the management of commodity IT platforms became a commodity in it’s own right broadcasters have been looking at how to utilise these services and maintain broadcast continuity. HIVE finally allows this to happen.
Ultimately, the ability for the industry to change through adopting such technologies as HIVE is unavoidable. Small, emerging story tellers through to large broadcast operations alike will find an equal ability to establish their media operation and produce and broadcast their content.
It is about the content. It is about the story. Not the technology. Technology needs to be an enabler. HIVE utilizes technology to deliver efficient operation and the opportunity for a significant reduction in the total cost of ownership.
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Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, P.R.China