39 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Sony
rapid and radical changes taking place in the industry. “We are entering a whole new world of microservices,” explains Almond. “People really want open technology that allows them to pick and choose best of breed. And when people look at Sony, they see we’re both focused and open, pioneering and absolutely partner-led in what we do. So it felt right in this world of microservices to let everyone know that we do actually have our own portfolio, and one that is tried and tested.” The new landscape includes many more niche players and content providers who, until ubiquitous streaming video came along, were often marginalised. These include everything from corporates to niche sports to education, as well as more mainstream VOD entertainment providers. Many of these are looking for technologies that are going to amplify what may be limited resources. “Some small production companies may be a team of up to three or four people who want to capture content, produce that content and get it either streamed or played out,” explains Almond. “Our Virtual Production, for example, allows that market to do a lot more. Virtual Production is, at the simplest level, a virtualised switcher, but you could effectively have any number of fixed wireless cameras that you’re connected to through Wi-Fi, and
your switcher could be located anywhere in the world. “The service means I can actually see my live cameras feed, no matter where they’re from, and I can switch like a professional. I can add graphics, I can add social media over the top, I can add in files to play out as part of my broadcast. And that is via a €350 monthly starting package. The doors are open for this kind of smaller company, too.” Media Backbone NavigatorX is the portfolio’s media asset management tool, which has also been competitively priced. It offers multiple creative teams or just a few individuals to have a single interface for accessing, searching, retrieving and preparing for edit video content. It features a simplified workflow engine that allows users to easily share links to content, or add QC or encoding. “You literally can do a nice and simple drag and drop, as if you’re playing with a graphics tool,” says Almond. “You’re building a workflow, and you don’t have to be an engineer to do that. You just need to know where your content’s coming in and where it’s going out. It allows teams to build those workflows to suit their needs.” BEYOND THE TECH But Sony’s Intelligent Media Services extends beyond pure technology. The services join up with Sony’s decades
of experience consulting and partnering with customers. “We have a consulting architect who will normally go to meet one of our customers who is thinking about business transformation,” says Almond. “Maybe they’re taking their entire operation to the cloud in the next five years. So we have teams and specialists who sit around the customer’s table, find what we need to do, how we’re going to do it and then take them on that journey. “There is a massive amount of development capability in the organisation. As well as a massive amount of delivery and system integration speed, as well as support teams that work around the clock, giving support for the various customers that we have globally. “There are a bunch of other companies out there – cloud services companies and other microservices companies – but they won’t have had that long term, multi- decade experience that Sony has had in the broadcasting video industry,” says Almond. He concludes: “Last year, the question put to customers was ‘where will you be in five years’ time?’ But I don’t think
the question is where will you be. I think it’s who do you want to go on the journey with?”
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