Lawo’s head of marketing content Chris Scheck urges broadcasters to embrace flexibility, collaboration and case studies FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION
more with less is key – questions about interoperability when several brands are involved have become crucial. The ability to quickly scale for sporadic peak requirements without over-investing in hardware or software tools just to be on the safe side is also far more important. Platform power Similarly, the ability to choose between two alternatives for a growing number of processing solutions means that several roads now lead to Rome. Lawo’s A__UHD Core, for instance, will remain a current hardware product for the foreseeable future, even though the HOME mc² DSP app, its microservice companion, was just released in the fall of 2024. And stay tuned for more exciting platform news. Operators today have more options than before, so requesting one (hardware) rather than the other (app) outright without knowing the implications might prove limiting at some point. Similarly, using a mix of a private generic-server cluster and a public cloud service can be highly beneficial for your operation’s processing heft and budget. The ideal app architecture should be able to run on both, and preferably even on compute platforms where apps from different vendors not only run side by side, but also exchange processing results directly, without any streaming. Be unspecific… Clearly, even a new type of call for tender will never fit on one page. However, to get the most out of your new solution, it might be better to focus on expected outcomes rather than specifics like the number of screws a server should have. Ask the vendors you contact to act as true partners who want you to be fully satisfied with your solution for years to come. If you are, it might make it easier for Lawo to ask you for a case study.
S ome broadcasters, tech companies, production service providers, banks and other entities hesitate when a vendor or system integrator asks them for permission to produce a case study about their new infrastructure. Common reasons for this range from an understandable lack of willingness to give competitors a prospective blueprint for their upcoming refurbishment or greenfield project, to the fear that their product choices might be mistaken for an endorsement. There’s also the feeling that the vendor only wants the customer’s clout and brand image to shine on its own brand, all the way to the conviction that silence is golden. There are some outfits proud to show what they have architected and how it makes their lives easier, with some of them even happily sharing custom code, software routines and detailed documents with their peers.
Solving problems Most case studies follow a
problem/solution template: what was the problem and how was it solved? While the first part may seem somewhat harsh to some, this approach is effective in the early stages of a new project, when suppliers are invited to brainstorm with the media outfit. This is the perfect occasion for a prospective supplier to ask the most important question: ‘What do you want to achieve?’ In today’s media landscape, there will likely be several answers because most entities already produce a variety of deliverables via different channels. Any high-level details with respect to how a given outcome needs to be achieved are most welcome. At this stage – and even further down the road – minute technical specifications of individual devices should be left for what they are until they become critical to the envisaged deliverable. In today’s media world – where producing
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