Agence France-Presse (AFP) has inked a deal with Quantel, which will provide the international news agency with a global news production system thought to be worth several million Euros.
Scheduled to go into service in January, the AFP system brings together Quantel Enterprise sQ, QTube and revolutionQ technologies to provide a ‘Production Everywhere’ workflow.
AFP typically produces 100 video stories a day, with localised versions for six different markets, all in TV and web formats, making a total output of around 1,200 unique pieces daily. The new workflow is expected to archive up to 3,000 hours of media every year. A fundamental requirement of the new system is to give users anywhere in the world easy, fast access to all archive media alongside current footage.
The system will combine an Enterprise sQ production system at AFP’s Paris headquarters with support for 11 international bureaux and 60-plus roving journalists via Quantel’s QTube technology. The archive will be handled via Quantel’s revolutionQ software.
The workflow also uses Alchemist standards converters from Snell, which Quantel acquired earlier this year.
“We knew this was a very challenging project and, having researched some of the manufacturers in the marketplace, the only company that had the technology actually capable of delivering it without a major software development effort was Quantel,” said Philippe Sensi, AFP’s VP of technology.
