UAE-based telecommunications company Etisalat has commissioned systems integrator Qvest Media to undertake the construction of a multi-format playout centre for the production and transmission of nine playout channels. With this move the telecoms operator, which owns a cellular network and one of the largest internet and IPTV networks in the Middle East, is leading its […]
UAE-based telecommunications company Etisalat has commissioned systems integrator Qvest Media to undertake the construction of a multi-format playout centre for the production and transmission of nine playout channels. With this move the telecoms operator, which owns a cellular network and one of the largest internet and IPTV networks in the Middle East, is leading its triple play strategy in the TV sector.
With the expansion of its service spectrum, Etisalat will offer national and international TV stations as well as feed suppliers a fully equipped infrastructure for handling their broadcast management.
The company will also reserve part of its SD/HD playout channels for customers who not only want to distribute their signals but also want to edit their content. To achieve this, Etisalat will offer a fully equipped production and editing platform comprising quality check for audio and video and on-air graphics together with transcoding and archiving systems.
Qvest Media as general contractor will be responsible for the planning, construction, commissioning and support of the on-air phase of the entire project.
Key parts of the workflow will include a recording centre for ingest control, processing and monitoring together with automated Baton content verification; a fully redundant Omneon video server system and a Pebble Beach automation for playout; media asset management system VPMS from S4M; WhatsON from MediaGeniX for channel management and scheduling; Apple Final Cut systems for non-linear editing; on-air graphics systems from Miranda and Vizrt; an Isilon archiving system with 10,000 hours of XDCAM HD storage capacity; a router system comprising Evertz EQX and Xenon cross-rails and Evertz VIP-range multi-viewers; a Rhozet transcoding system for the up/down conversion of various formats; a clustered IT architecture from Hewlett Packard (HP) plus a fully redundant IT backbone for IP switching with Cisco core switches.
