
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
26/03/2026
Extron and Audio-Technica have announced that their Design Solutions devices, Ce...
26/03/2026
SPORTEL Asia took place March 24-25 at the Orchard Hotel Singapore, drawing 370 participants representing more than 220 companies from 35 countries. Approximate...
26/03/2026
LTN will demonstrate satellite-to-IP migration solutions for broadcasters, cable networks, MVPDs, and station groups at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2100).
The C-Ban...
26/03/2026
The Seattle Mariners have partnered with Daktronics to install an upgraded outfi...
26/03/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) has awarded National Team Partner status to organizations and individuals across more than 100 countries and territories for the Esp...
26/03/2026
Telestream has announced expanded integration between its Vantage workflow platf...
26/03/2026
FOR-A Corporation has announced a partnership with Nippon TV and NVIDIA to distr...
26/03/2026
CBS Sports and the WNBA have expanded their partnership through a new long-term, multiplatform rights agreement. CBS Sports will feature up to 20 regular-season...
26/03/2026
Zac Brown Band will star in the Sunday Night Baseball show open on NBC and Peacock, NBC Sports announced. The open was filmed at American Family Field, home of ...
26/03/2026
Major League Baseball opens the 2026 season with nationally televised games across multiple media partners. Fans can visit MLB.com/Watch for a complete schedule...
26/03/2026
DIRECTV has announced an agreement to carry nine new MLB-operated team channels, covering the Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers (Detroit SportsNet), Kansas City R...
26/03/2026
Nationals.TV, the Washington Nationals' local broadcast channel, is now avai...
26/03/2026
Starting Thursday, March 26, MLB.TV will be available on the ESPN App, giving fans access to more than 2,000 out-of-market regular season games. Fans can also r...
26/03/2026
By Matt Klein
Hello to everyone reading this - whether you're a current YEP, HPA member, or just YEP-curious. I'm Matt Klein, one of the co-chairs of t...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
28 participating companies, from start-ups to blue-chips, lead the UK Group as part of the GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland presence across all the Halls at N...
26/03/2026
Arkona Unveils BLADE//planner and Major Usability Enhancements at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
New graphical configuration tool and...
26/03/2026
Bitfocus showcases complete control at NAB Show 2026
Brie Clayton March 26, 2026
0 Comments
Continuing development drives advances in security, availa...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
26/03/2026
Nevion introduces powerful new Panel Builder to enhance VideoIPath broadcast con...
26/03/2026
2026 Oscar Nominated Films Powered by Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton March 25, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio used on 27 of this year's no...
26/03/2026
Leader to present full suite of advanced Test & Measurement solutions at NAB Sho...
26/03/2026
Boston Conservatory to Present New England and Collegiate Premiere of Groundbrea...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
Have a Wish Worth Dying For? Netflix's First Korean YA Hor...
26/03/2026
Back to All News
The Truthers, Starring Jose Coronado and St phanie Magnin, Pre...
26/03/2026
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
26/03/2026
That gaming backlog won't clear itself - GeForce NOW is here to help. Stream the latest titles straight from the cloud across a variety of devices.
This we...
25/03/2026
Live match directors Sarah Cheadle (Sky Sports), Rob Levi (TNT Sports), and Andrew Swift (BBC Sport) sit down with the Premier League's Rachel Nightingale t...
25/03/2026
The senior from Upstate New York is manning the mic while also interning for the athletic department's sports-information team
In the live-sports-video ind...
25/03/2026
Synamedia has announced ContentArmor Edge Watermarking, a server-side solution t...
25/03/2026
SES has announced meoSphere, a medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite network targeted for operation by 2030. The first phase will pair SES-developed software-defin...
25/03/2026
TVU Networks is working with Reuters on a phased migration from satellite to a c...
25/03/2026
Nielsen has announced three senior appointments. Seth Ladetsky has been named Head of Global Sports. Trevor Fellows will lead Nielsen's advertiser and agenc...
25/03/2026
Anoki and Amagi have launched In-Scene Ads powered by Anoki ContextIQ across Amagi's portfolio of in-content ad formats for Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (...
25/03/2026
Arkona Technologies will announce a series of enhancements to its BLADE//runner platform at NAB 2026 (Booth C.1808). The updates focus on usability and workflow...
25/03/2026
Daktronics has installed two tower displays and a video wall in the Lexus Club at Petco Park in San Diego ahead of the 2026 season.
Continuing to improve the ...
25/03/2026
MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is celebrating its 50th anniversary as NAB Show 2026 approaches. The company was founded in 1976 by Vincent Jachetta, an N...
25/03/2026
IPC, a provider of integrated communication solutions, will make its NAB 2026 de...
25/03/2026
Live production categories were led by NBC, FOX, and ESPN's NFL coverage...
25/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Spectrum have announced a multiyear distribution agreemen...
25/03/2026
(L-R) Charlie Tyrell and Daniel Roher attend The AI Doc: Or How I Became An Apocaloptimist Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre ...
25/03/2026
L3Harris Technologies and RFTEQ Pty Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding to ...
25/03/2026
L3Harris delivers combat-ready Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery system, which deploys and retrieves Iver4 900 autonomous underwater vehicles through submarine t...
25/03/2026
The company expands leadership team under Chief Revenue Officer Amilcar Perez
S...