The DIVArchive CSM system will serve as the heart of the Yankees' editing and production environment, managing the team's digital assets and making it possible to repurpose the content to enhance productions. Learn about Front Porch Digital's DIVArchive, SAMMA migration and more from Jeff Matulich, Director of Sales and Business Development.
*** What is it about the DIVArchive that makes it a great resource for the Yankees?**
Much of the New York Yankees’ rich history was sitting on decaying videotape, and it had become apparent that they needed a solution that would allow them to migrate their valuable content to the digital realm. In addition, they needed a solution that would store, manage, and protect their valuable media assets in an industry-proven environment. Finally, the solution would have to integrate tightly with their Avid nonlinear edit suites in a way that would allow them to leverage their content in new and unique ways.
To meet all of those requirements, the Yankees engaged Front Porch Digital to deploy both our SAMMA migration system and DIVArchive solution. By leveraging our technology, the Yankees can now elevate their production capabilities and creatively monetize both their current and historical content, thereby protecting their legacy well into the future.
*** How did Front Porch Digital get approached by the Yankees in regards to using their technology?**
Front Porch Digital first engaged with the Yankees at the IDEA Conference in 2012, where we have long been a sponsor and contributor. We were showcasing our solutions as part of this conference and struck up a conversation with the Yankees’ senior management team in charge of broadcast and in-game production. The result was the development of an ongoing collaborative partnership to support the team’s efforts and goals.
*** What demographic was Front Porch Digital technology built for?**
Front Porch Digital’s sweet spot is at the core of the media and entertainment community. Our solutions are built for the rigors of this demanding environment. Over time, though, Front Porch Digital solutions have proven valuable in other markets as well. In particular, we have seen a rise in the adoption of Front Porch Digital solutions in the sports industry, the government sector, and corporate enterprise. Any organization that relies heavily on archived footage (e.g., The New York Yankees, NASCAR, the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration) benefits from migrating its archived media to digital formats. As archived footage sits on the shelves, it continues to deteriorate to the point of being unusable. Migrating that content to digital formats ensures its longevity and continuance of use.
Additionally, through Front Porch Digital’s cloud-based LYNX solution, organizations can move their content storage management workflows to a secure, cloud-based environment. By moving media off site, organizations can realize a decrease in their infrastructure expenses and other fixed costs associated with content management, yet they still get the security and peace of mind that an on-premises solution provides.
*** What trend in technology do you see on the horizon?**
More and more industries are shifting to cloud-based storage. Cloud-based content storage management allows organizations to move their physical storage off premises, which reduces capital expenditures and shifts those costs to the operating side of the ledger. We have heard firsthand from organizations that must continually change their locations — not because their workforce is growing, but because the amount of space needed to house their storage libraries continues to expand. By migrating data to the cloud, organizations benefit from having 24/7 access to their content in a secure private cloud while reducing physical-storage costs and mitigating the high cost of constant technology refresh cycles.
** * Does Front Porch Digital have any other fun clients that use its technology?**
In the sports market alone, Front Porch Digital’s penetration is near-prolific. We count several major organizations among our sports-related clients. For example:
- Major League Baseball leverages DIVArchive to manage all content captured from all cameras at every stadium for every game. In addition, the league employs a SAMMMA robot to help with the migration of all legacy tape-based content from around the league.
- NASCAR is similar. DIVArchive manages all of its content and provides the backbone for its production workflows on premises.
- Golf Channel is a typical production/broadcast customer that relies on Front Porch Digital solutions to manage and preserve valuable content in a stringent broadcast environment.
- National Hockey League leverages Front Porch Digital products in similar ways to MLB. All of the league’s extremely valuable content is trusted to Front Porch Digital technology.
- NFL Films is another key customer who has just recently deployed Front Porch Digital technology to manage content in the context of its production environment.
Outside of sports, another "fun" account is Sesame Workshop, the organization behind the long-running “Sesame Street” children’s program. Sesame Workshop has deployed Front Porch Digital products to support its production and archive requirements. Of note, the organization is using DIVApublish to deliver content automatically to Sesame Workshop websites and other Web-based media outlets such as Hulu, iTunes, YouTube, etc. Sesame Workshop also uses DIVAdirector as its primary media asset management system for archived content.
*** Anything else you would like to share?**
We have some exciting technology developments coming soon, but I can’t share them publicly yet. Stay tuned!
More information about Front Porch Digital is available at fpdigital.com*.
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