CNBC Arabiya goes live with Omneon Spectrum media server system

"Reliability and playout stability were critical factors in our choice of playout server, and the Omneon Spectrum system met this standard at an attractive price point," said Aaron Shaw, director of broadcast operations and engineering for CNBC Arabiya.

"The Spectrum system also integrates very well with third-party systems, a capability that will enable streamlined editing via our Avid editing platform."

The Spectrum server system is built on an open architecture that allows it to support a broad variety of third-party applications for control and transmission, media management, archiving, and collaborative production.

With the support of Marquis software, the Spectrum system integrates easily with CNBC Arabiya's Avid nonlinear editing systems.

The Spectrum servers and Avid editing stations form a unified working environment with bidirectional, faster-than-real-time media transfers over standard data networks. Lists of material stored on the Omneon servers can be browsed from the Avid workstations and selected for editing using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Because the majority of the network's promos are constructed on the Avid system, the tight integration of server and edit systems delivers significant efficiency that results in both time and cost savings.

The Spectrum systems plays out CNBC Arabiya programming -- comprising 15 hours of live and real-time coverage of regional and international stock markets and business news throughout the day -- under the control of IBIS LandScape automation, which provides the robust functionality and responsiveness required for live news and event coverage. The modular design of the Spectrum media server brings redundancy to playout operations and helps to ensure uninterrupted on-air operations. As CNBC Arabiya grows, the new server system can be expanded incrementally to meet the network's storage and channel count needs. The Omneon system was brought online at the beginning of November 2005.