Encompass Digital Media, the new business that is providing transmission facilities for more than 400 television channels, has extended its European playout centre in London with the Signiant file delivery service. This will ensure content is received for playout securely and in adequate time from its global client base. “We involved Signiant very early in the planning stages of this expansion, initially working with them on technical design. Completing this in advance enabled us to go forward quickly after we were able to ‘green light’ the project,” said Gary Finnerty, head of solutions and architecture for Encompass UK. “The installation process was fast, efficient and most importantly, painless. The workflow designer in Signiant Manager+Agents gives us an automated and consistent solution for new channels, and removes reliance on our engineers for bespoke scripts.” The Signiant Managers+Agents software handles the administration and execution of all file movement activity – including workflow modeling – in a single platform. The automation engine supports the creation of flexible workflow templates whether it is simply moving a file from one agent to another, or as sophisticated as directing a package for transcoding and watermarking before playout. Grass Valley has also won a significant order from Encompass for its London facility. Broadcast playout for 26 channels will be from Grass Valley K2 Edge channel-in-a-box systems with full redundancy.
