
IBC 2019 Reflections: EcoDigital's David Gonce and Geoff Tognetti on how they're re-energising the DIVA Product Suite By Jason Dachman, Managing Editor
Friday, September 20, 2019 - 05:11
Print This Story
Back in June, EcoDigital was formed in order to acquire the DIVA content-storage-management product suite from Oracle (which it had acquired in 2014 as part of its acquisition of Front Porch Digital). IBC 2019 served as the coming-out show for EcoDigital, which is now ramping up development, sales, and support of DIVA solutions.
EcoDigital CTO Geoff Tognetti (left) and Chief Revenue Officer David Gonce
Since its founding in June, the company has launched an R&D division in the United States and created a new solutions group dedicated to integrated global support and development. At IBC 2019, EcoDigital debuted new features in the DIVA software, including dynamic support for AWS cloud storage (making the software suite cloud-agnostic) and a new partial-file restore (PFR) from cloud-storage capability.
SVG sat down with EcoDigital Chief Revenue Officer David Gonce and CTO Geoff Tognetti to discuss why EcoDigital opted to buy the DIVA portfolio, the major in-house changes they have made since the acquisition, and what the future technology roadmap has in store for DIVA clients.
Why did you make the decision to acquire DIVA from Oracle?
Gonce: [EcoDigital CEO] Justin Ririe and I went through the process of evaluating the opportunity to buy DIVA. And what we found was that the product was still the industry-leading software in its space. When we talked to the clients, they were totally thrilled [at the prospect of us buying DIVA]. And then we met the employees, who are phenomenal. Justin and I, along with our investment partners, decided to make the investment to buy the company.
What changes have you made since finalizing the acquisition?
Gonce: First and foremost, in the first 90 days, we've tripled the size of the sales team. Every single client across the globe as well as every single partner will have a dedicated sales executive, which is extremely important.
Secondly, we have significantly enhanced support. We kept the same people in place that were providing great support to our clients, but we also added developers and engineers to that group so that when an issue or a customization comes in, everything could be done within a single group. There will be no escalating to different groups. So now, if you call with a request, it doesn't go to a level one support representative and then escalated to level two or level three support - it's all one group.
Third, Geoff [Tognetti] has put a roadmap together to totally innovate the product. A lot of maintenance within DIVA had occurred over the past five years, but not a ton of innovation. So, as of this month, we are cloud agnostic. While we will continue to support Oracle Cloud [as DIVA did exclusively under Oracle ownership], we now also fully support AWS and will support Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure before the end of the year. We're also changing the user interface, adding some machine-learning functionality, and we have a lot of really cool innovations coming soon in Version 8 that will roll out ahead of NAB.
And finally, we're looking at other acquisitions and looking to potentially buy other companies that complement what we do. And, so far, the market has really received us well. The clients are thrilled that there's new energy and fresh investment being put back into the product. So we're very excited.
Geoff - can you tell me a bit more about the reenergized R&D efforts for DIVA and what it might mean to the sports and M&E markets?
Tognetti: Coming right out of the gate, we've formed a new, dedicated R&D team specifically focused on innovating the product. I'm working with them directly to look around and find what are we missing, where do we need to be, where are our customers going - and make sure that we're bringing that into [the product]. Some of that is already on the roadmap, some of it we'll keep in our back pocket, and some we'll discard. But having that R&D team just gives us better awareness of the market and our customers, which we've lacked a bit over the past few years.
What are some the near-term technology advances DIVA customers can expect in the next year?
Tognetti: In the near term, we have a really robust 18-month schedule and that runs until the end of 2020, including a brand-new user experience. We will also have a lot more in-depth analytics and reporting because our users are telling us that they need more intelligence about what's going on in their assets.
We're also adding an Amazon S3-like API for DIVA. Today, our DIVA API is proprietary API, so it's like learning an entirely new language that not a lot of people know and you have to spend time to study it. However, S3 has grown into the de facto storage and it's almost like a universal language at this point. So essentially, we're teaching DIVA to speak S3 and that's just going to make it a lot easier to integrate. There's a lot of applications out there that support S3 today, including pretty much every MAM vendor. So really this is about making it easier to integrate new applications to DIVA, which is going to expand our reach.
The other big highlight is we'll be doing a much more efficient job of collecting and assessing metadata. And then we will make further reporting available to our customers [regarding] that metadata. What we're hearing today in the market is that a lot of MAM systems will collect a lot of metadata, but it's often a proprietary format or it's metadata that's more specific to the MAM that doesn't really benefit customer outside of the MAM. So we have a lot of customers who want to collect technical
North America Stories
13/12/2025
In a move that will help it offer more flexible and less costly programming options, YouTube TV has announced that it will be launching YouTube TV Plans with mo...
13/12/2025
SINGAPORE Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore medi...
12/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Everything You Need to Know for Next Week's Big Sho...
12/12/2025
Hailey Gates at the Atropia premiere (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
12/12/2025
CONWAY, Ark. In a notable example of how the elimination of Federal federal funding is forcing public stations to make massive cuts and changes in the way they...
12/12/2025
Wisycom and DPA Microphones announce the appointment of Ren Moerch as Group Product Director, Wireless, a strategic leadership role that will guide the combine...
12/12/2025
SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, in conjuncture with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Entertainment Technolog...
12/12/2025
Keepit, the vendor-independent, cloud-native data protection provider, today announced a strategic go-to-market relationship in Poland with Ingram Micro, a lead...
12/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking Open Gate 48P RAW recording w...
12/12/2025
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS) once again played a critical role in delivering flawless wireless coordination and support at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards a...
12/12/2025
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), together with the Video Services Forum (VSF), the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadc...
12/12/2025
DHD audio will demonstrate the latest additions to its range of digital audio production solutions on Booth 321 in Hall B6 at Hamburg Open 2026. The show will b...
12/12/2025
Chaos today announces the release of V-Ray for Blender, update 2, bringing its award-winning rendering technology to even more Blender users by adding support f...
12/12/2025
Lighting specialist UltraLEDs has launched Precision LED Tape, a high-CRI lighting solution designed specifically for professional film, TV, and studio use.
P...
12/12/2025
Zixi, the Emmy Award-winning leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that Roi Sasson has joined the company as Vice President, Engineer...
12/12/2025
BitFire (bitfire.tv), the leader in software-defined live production and IP transmission, today announced a strategic partnership with Appear, a leader in high-...
12/12/2025
LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today said futurist Robert Tercek, creative technologist Jessie Hughes from Leonardo.AI and Emmy-winnin...
12/12/2025
HUDSON, Mass. BitFire and Appear have struck a strategic partnership aimed at offering broadcasters, sports leagues and streaming platforms a faster, more flexi...
12/12/2025
The broadcast industry is evolving faster than ever. #IPWorkflows #remoteproduction, and next-gen audio systems are reshaping how teams design, deliver, and sca...
12/12/2025
LOS ANGELES The payroll and production accounting platform Wrapbook has announced the acquisition of Cinapse, a modern scheduling platform for film and televisi...
12/12/2025
DEHLI Ross Video has announced that it is expanding and restructuring its commercial and technical teams in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation...
12/12/2025
LONDON Following the success of its UK launch in January 2025, Rise AV, the global not-for-profit initiative dedicated to supporting and advancing women in the ...
12/12/2025
SAN FRANCISCO Ad-supported streaming service Tubi next week will launch Matter Casting, a new casting standard that will enable seamless mobile-to-TV viewing di...
12/12/2025
LOS ANGELES The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today said futurist Robert Tercek, creative technologist Jessie Hughes from Leonardo.AI and Emmy-winnin...
12/12/2025
In Las Vegas's T-Mobile Arena, fans of the Golden Knights are getting more than just hockey - they're getting a taste of the future. ADAM, a robot devel...
12/12/2025
Scripps Research team pioneers an efficient way to stereoselectively add fluorine to drug-like molecules A new method uses a novel catalyst and inexpensive fluo...
11/12/2025
ESPN's Aims for Spectacular With Heisman Trophy ShowEvent firsts include 1080p HDR production airing on both national broadcast and cableBy Dan Daley, Audio...
11/12/2025
SVG Students To Watch: Frankie Patton, University of ColoradoThe 2025 grad is hitting the ground running as a PA on national broadcastsBy Brandon Costa, Directo...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Technology Exhibits Preview, Part 3By SVG Staff
Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 7:24 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The 2...
11/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: What Makes Gen Z, X, and Y Fans Tick? Dave Gavant of WSC Sports Go...
11/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: 5G, MXL, Spectrum Loss, and Outerspace on Tap for Tues...
11/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of Al...
11/12/2025
SVG Launches Follow the Money' Podcast: Go Inside the Sports Media Biz with...
11/12/2025
A Deep Dive Inside Game Creek Video's Bird and Magic Mobile Units, Home to A...
11/12/2025
How Sound Effects for Monsters Funday Football' Emulated the Sonic Soul of ...
11/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: CSP Mobile Productions' Len Chase on Upgrading Tr...
11/12/2025
New satellites for the SDA Tranche 1 Tracking program in production at L3Harris&...
11/12/2025
The Meadowlands system, a compact and mobile version of the CCS, uses ground-based radio frequency units to disrupt satellite communications....
11/12/2025
The L3Harris demonstration united tactical communications devices, counter-UAS c...
11/12/2025
Throughout 2025, L3Harris delivered innovative solutions to U.S. and allied warfighters across every domain.
With an unrelenting commitment to excellence, our...
11/12/2025
A Majority of the World's Population (51%) Identify As Soccer Fans
The 2025 MLB postseason notched 58.2 billion viewing minutes, up +24% from the prior y...
11/12/2025
WALTHAM, Mass. Video-over-IP software provider Zixi said Roi Sasson has joined the company as vice president, engineering....
11/12/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. In a move that highlights the growing competition between broadcasters and CTV platforms for local advertising, LG Ad Solutions has announ...
11/12/2025
Boston Conservatory Earns Several Best of Accolades in 2025 Highlights include a faculty Grammy win, a seventh consecutive year on Playbill's list of co...
11/12/2025
RASTATT, Germany Lawo and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) have partnered to launch the SMPTE ST 2110 Practical Lab, an immersive ...
11/12/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcasts Xfinity operating brand has announced the launch of new national video plans with all-in pricing that the operator said will provide custo...
11/12/2025
After eight years of declines, MoffettNathansons new Cord Cutting Monitor for Q3 2025 shows that pay TV subscribers to linear TV packages rose by 303,000, the f...
11/12/2025
Happy Holidays from Berklee Enjoy this years holiday student-performance video.
December 10, 2025
By
Office of the President
Dear Berklee community,
As w...
11/12/2025
Back to All News
The Teaser Trailer and the Key Art of Motorvalley, the New Ser...