News

Avid Empowers Smaller-Market Broadcasters with Avid News Station (20/10/2006)

New offering extends end-to-end nonlinear news production to broadcasters operating in smaller markets

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today unveiled Avid(r) News Station - a new all-in-one solution that empowers broadcasters in smaller markets to make an affordable and smooth transition to all-digital news production. Avid News Station combines the same Avid systems used in larger broadcast environments, including the Avid AirSpeed(r) ingest and playout server, NewsCutter(r) craft-news editing software, and the Avid Unity(r) LANshare media network, in a single integrated package. It also includes Avid Interplay(tm) - the world's first nonlinear workflow engine, which fuses integrated asset management, workflow automation, and security control into a single system - streamlining news production.

"The needs of smaller market broadcast stations are similar to those of their larger counterparts," said David Schleifer, vice president of Avid Broadcast and Workgroups. "With Avid News Station, broadcast stations of any size will now be able to easily replace old tape-based systems with a seamless workflow for end-to-end digital news production. They will be able to use Avid News Station to acquire media with ease, have instant facility-wide access to high res media and complete packages, and go to air with the same speed and efficiency that larger stations have enjoyed."

The Avid News Station solution allows customers to create news content once and share it anywhere - even across stations. The package also includes a range of Avid Total Services including project management, installation assistance, on-air support, a nonlinear training curriculum, and one year of 24x7 technical assistance. In addition, Avid News Station offers two ingest channels, five news editing seats, four playback channels (two are redundant) and 300 hours of protected DV25 storage, all of which provide broadcasters with the ability to create a wide array of news packages in a more timely manner, and deliver them through traditional on-air broadcasts as well as to the Web and mobile phones. Equally important, broadcasters can easily upgrade their Avid News Station systems to achieve a comprehensive HD news production workflow.

The Avid News Station package includes the following:

* 1 Avid Unity LANshare LP - delivers a reliable media network that enables simultaneous sharing of 8 terabytes (TB) of high-resolution media, with UnityRAID media protection and dual 4Gb Fibre Channel HBA;
* 4 AirSpeed I/O servers - replaces VTRs with streamlined acquisition of DV25, DV50, and IMX30/50 media directly to and playout from the Avid Unity LANshare LP media network;
* 1 AirSpeed CountDown - provides drag-and-drop playlist management and editing, as well as control of 4 channels for reliable play-to-air;
* 5 NewsCutter XP software seats - delivers full-featured editing software for producing finished news packages, with support for tapeless P2 and XDCAM cameras, as well as MPEG-2 (Long-GOP) and HDV media;
* 5 Avid Mojo(r) SDI devices - converts NewsCutter systems into acquisition stations, with digital and analog video connections and simultaneous output to client monitors;
* 1 Avid Interplay Engine - works with the LANshare LP media network to provide instant access to any type of media asset or data file, transparently, from any Interplay Access client;
* 2 Interplay Access software seats - provides integrated media management, secure file check-out/check-in, and revision control for desktops or laptops on the network;
* 2 Interplay Assist software seats - allows assistants, producers, and managers to review and play video, select shots, and add comments on standard desktop or laptops.

Pricing and Availability

Avid News Station is available immediately in the U.S, directly from Avid, and is priced at $198,000 USMSRP.

www.avid.com

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