“We are honored that NTC has been invited to present information on these rapidly advancing topics, which are critical to the future of the broadcast and media business,” states NTC Managing Partner Eliot Graham. “John Footen is NTC's senior representative to the industry on these vital initiatives and an acknowledged expert in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Business Process Management (BPM), Web Services, and File-Based Production Workflow Solutions. All provide business agility for addressing new-revenue opportunities present in the new generation of digital content-delivery devices.”
“SOA and BPM have been used by IT departments in banking and other fields for more than a decade,” Footen elaborates. “They are stable and mature IT approaches that are now being leveraged to facilitate the broadcast television and digital media industry‘s transition from ‘physical‘ to ‘file-based‘ media technologies and workflows. SOA is an ‘architectural‘ approach that improves file-based workflow. It‘s an IT-based design methodology for efficient integration of multiple software and hardware applications within a facility. BPM, meanwhile, is a set of ‘best practices‘ that simplify, automate, and optimize workflows in an SOA. And Web services are an underlying technology that provides standards used to support SOA architecture. The move to file-based technologies for program production and delivery makes the integration of SOA, BPM, and Web services essential for broadcasters and media companies. This is because SOA, BPM, and Web services greatly improve workflow efficiencies and the ability to integrate future technology advances.”
As part of its commitment to SOA, BPM, and Web services, NTC supports the work of organizations such as the AMWA, which advocates open and accessible worldwide industry standards and specifications (such as MXF, or the “Material Exchange Format”) for the seamless integration of file-based workflows. NTC is a Principal Member of AMWA, with Footen serving on its Board of Directors. Also aimed at industry education on these topics is the forthcoming Focal Press Books‘ edition titled Service-Oriented Media Enterprise, written by Footen and NTC Systems Engineer Joey Faust.
Footen‘s presentation at the Digital Hollywood conference will be part of a panel titled “The Revolutionized Digital Workflow Experience: Understanding How Information Technology, Broadcast, Entertainment Production Merge.” For more information, log on to: www.digitalhollywood.com/07DHFall/DHFl07Tues10.html.
For more details on the Nov. 13th AMWA/Digital TV Group MXF Summit and the Nov. 14th AMWA/European Broadcast Union SOA Training and Users Meeting, point your Web browser to www.amwa.tv.
Held annually on the Saturday prior to the opening of the NAB Convention and Exhibition, the Broadcast Engineering Conference is produced in partnership with the Society of Broadcast Engineers and other organizations. Footen‘s presentation will cover SOA and BPM as well as BPA (Business Process Analysis), a structured methodology for defining workflow. Preliminary information appears at www.nabshow.com/2008/education/conferences.asp.
About National TeleConsultants: National TeleConsultants (NTC) is the world‘s largest independent media systems consulting, design, and implementation firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York. NTC specializes in strategic technology consulting, media-related facility design and engineering, and systems integration. For more information, visit www.ntc.com.