I was quite pleased to be asked recently by a Canadian colleague what our theme would be for the upcoming IBC. For me, theme reflects the ethos of the Blue Lucy approach to trade shows, we don't tend talk about product features or the specific capabilities in our roadmap.
Development of features and connectors is just something we do in pursuit of delivering customer value. If an operator needs a connector to a system or service, we will build it into a microservice BLidget - which we've been producing at a rate of two a week for five-years. Listing 450+ BLidgets or detailing our CORE or UI functions in a tradeshow press-release doesn't convey the value of our BLAM platform or approach. We prefer to showcase business-focused solutions, which tend to follow a theme that relates to industry business needs at that time.
Forecasting Cloud Some will remember our cloud stand at IBC 2018 it was very popular with the crowd, particularly after the show closed. At that time, we were about 18-months into the development of BLAM-3 and around a year out from the completion of the first customer implementations with PLAZA Media and Off the Fence. Our 2018 IBC cloud stand was a little tongue-in-cheek, highlighting the paradox of demonstrating a cloud-based platform from a dark hall in the Rai. Then (three years on from AWS's acquisition of Elemental) the media and broadcast industry was finally beginning to appriate the functional power and flexibility of cloud services. The trend - and our IBC 2018 theme was very much about cloud migration which we thought was inexorable, hence the stand design the cloud is now, and Blue Lucy is there, ready.
But the BLAM platform was actually designed to be completely infrastructure agnostic so it can be deployed in any cloud, or on-prem, infrastructure. This is a core tenet of the architecture, although we forecast that the vast majority of deployments would run in cloud infrastructure. Five years on, we are surprised as to how deployments have manifested.
A Mixed Reality Eighty percent of our customer base is operating cloud-ground hybrid BLAMs. These systems tend to have the core services of the databases and the application interface together with one or more workflow runners (the microservice orchestrators) running in cloud infrastructure, typically provisioned by Blue Lucy as a managed service. In addition, workflow runners are deployed on-prem' at the operator facility. These manage on-prem storage, LTO libraries and other resources such as rights management systems, transcoders, file-based QC tools, edit systems (Avid and Adobe) as well as baseband recording and playout systems.
In hindsight, it was unwise for the industry to assume that the entire production and distribution capability would move to the cloud over a few short years. In many cases, it just doesn't make sense: operators do not wish to move away from on-prem tools that are providing business value, and that are still being amortised. For distributors, the concept of forklifting their inventory, which may extend to many petabytes, to cloud storage doesn't make economic sense. Using the cloud for distribution, particularly to FAST or OTT platforms is very common and workflows that utilise cloud services are extremely efficient. BLAM operators are using these pipelines for content distribution to fulfil content sales - this model of leaving material where it is until it's needed or can be monetised' is common. Equally, we have a number of customers who operate with all browse material in cloud storage, but delivery is fulfilled from cloud or ground based on which is the most cost-effective overall. Naturally that logic is built into the BLAM workflows.
IBC Theme https://bluelucy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LandscapeBLM2023.mp4
There are many and varied reasons why media operators cannot, or do not want to go all in for the cloud or why they wish to control the migration. So, it is ground-cloud, hybrid workflows which will form the basis of our theme for IBC2023 where we'll showcase how Blue Lucy customers are harmonising on-prem systems and cloud services and applications to create highly efficient and cost-effective media workflows with BLAM. In short, we'll be bringing the cloud to earth at IBC2023.
I plan to revisit this topic in more detail in the run up to the event but in the meantime do make an appointment to meet with us at the show. We are keen to talk on the basis of operational outcomes, we can work out the most cost-effective place to run the workload later, and even change our mind. We are at stand 6.C29.
By Julian Wright - August 6, 2023
Share this Twitter A nice photo of Amsterdam in the early autumn.
&source=BlueLucyMedia rel=noopener noreferrer target=_blank class=social-share-btn btn-linkedin mr-15 mb-15>Linkedin
More from Blue Lucy Media
11/04/2024
Blue Lucy, has hired accomplished industry expert Alison Pavitt as chief marketing officer. Pavitt's appointment into the newly created role concludes a per...
06/08/2023
I was quite pleased to be asked recently by a Canadian colleague what our theme would be for the upcoming IBC. For me, theme reflects the ethos of the Blue Lu...
06/08/2023
I was quite pleased to be asked recently by a Canadian colleague what our theme would be for the upcoming IBC. For me, theme reflects the ethos of the Blue Lu...
13/06/2023
Media technology suppliers have been complaining about the tendering and Request for Proposal (RFP) process for a long time. Many of their grievances have been ...
17/03/2023
Blue Lucy announced today that they will not be launching any new products at NAB 2023, April 16-19, at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. The company will, howe...
17/03/2023
Blue Lucy announced today that they will not be launching any new products at NAB 2023, April 16-19, at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. The company will, howe...
17/03/2023
Blue Lucy announced today that they will not be launching any new products at NAB 2023, April 16-19, at the Las Vegas Convention Centre. The company will, howe...
24/08/2022
The balloon cloud installation at IBC 2018, the cloud in the Rai, as it was known at Blue Lucy Towers, was intended to mark the end of Blue Lucy's participa...
20/07/2022
On reading our recent article on the Blue Lucy implementation at A E Networks UK, available here, I was reminded that the project was extremely well received by...
06/04/2022
Here at Blue Lucy towers, we are constantly intrigued by industry buzz phrases, particularly how even the helpful ones are devalued by overuse and misappropriat...
15/01/2022
Cloud native, software defined, the metaverse; the media technology sector is awash with buzz phrases. And, as with all popular terms which are used too libera...
06/12/2021
Imagine if TV companies charged consumers by the minute to watch a football match. Or if your office rent increased when you had a particularly busy month. S...
06/12/2021
Imagine if TV companies charged consumers by the minute to watch a football match. Or if your office rent increased when you had a particularly busy month at w...
09/03/2021
There has been widespread discussion of new, fully digital and cloud based content supply chains, in the media industry since about 2016. Some innovators have p...
27/11/2020
There are probably more cloud-based services providing functional capability for media operations than for any other commercial sector. These services range fr...
24/11/2020
As the complexity of media supply chain operations increases, the requirement for an integrated, business focused approach is vital. ATEME and Blue Lucy expert...
19/10/2020
The need for content distributors and broadcasters to deliver media to an ever-growing range of consumer platforms has led to a significant rise in the number o...
19/10/2020
In my recent post The Automation Paradox I highlighted the risks associated with developing a workflow orchestration platform in-house'. Cloud based servi...
15/10/2020
The need for content distributors and broadcasters to deliver media to an ever-growing range of consumer platforms has led to an exponential rise in the number ...
07/09/2020
Off the Fence (OTF), an award-winning producer and distributor of factual television and feature-length theatrical documentaries, has recently migrated their co...
04/09/2020
Off the Fence (OTF), an award-winning producer and distributor of factual television and feature-length theatrical documentaries, has recently migrated their co...
07/05/2020
One of the key requests from our operational focus groups during the early design phase of BLAM-3 was the ability to prioritise workflows, particularly delivery...
30/04/2020
If your content catalogue isn't already in the cloud, you're probably wishing it was right now. Despite the dramatic growth in the media industry's...
07/04/2020
The use of cloud-based storage in the media industry has seen dramatic growth in recent years; more recently the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is driving the ...
07/04/2020
Tracking costs, ideally in real time, is an increasingly important consideration for operators in the era of software-as-a-service. While the ability to use hi...
25/03/2020
Content Catalogue too Big to Migrate to Cloud? Try Snowballs, Really One of the principal perceived barriers to migrating a content catalogue to the cloud...
06/12/2019
The changing face of service provision in the broadcast & media business. As another production and media content supply chain operator files for bankruptcy and...
06/12/2019
The changing face of service provision in the broadcast & media business. As another production and media content supply chain operator files for bankruptcy and...
06/12/2019
The changing face of service provision in the broadcast & media business. As another production and media content supply chain operator files for bankruptcy and...
06/11/2019
As an organisation Blue Lucy tends to focus on the business of media operations. The BLAM platform is operationally focused and every function of the platform ...
06/10/2019
As we covered in our pre-show blog, this year we decided against taking up our usual spot in Hall 7 of the RAI in favour of attending IBC 2019 as a visiting ven...
28/08/2019
It's that time of year again, the late bank holiday is just behind us and thoughts turn to the city of Amsterdam, particularly beautiful in the early autumn...
06/12/2018
Global content services provider, TVT Media, has integrated Blue Lucy's BLAM Adobe Premiere plug-in into their media management service and software platfor...
25/10/2018
We are recruiting for software developers and test engineers to help us grow the capabilities of our market leading cloud based media operations management plat...
06/07/2018
MAM remains one of the top investments that media operators make each year. As we have blogged previously we do not think that MAM, as an acronym or concept is...
24/05/2018
Blue Lucy has enhanced their BLAM plug-in for Adobe Premiere with new features focused on reducing administrate overhead for creative operators. The new functio...
06/04/2018
Its NAB time again. As you make your way to Las Vegas this year spend a little time thinking about your MOM. No really.
You may be planning to assess Media Ass...
05/04/2018
New BLAM features allow media businesses to create bespoke operational management systems.
Blue Lucy's media operations management software, BLAM, is under...
06/02/2018
To the joy of delivery managers everywhere, media technology and agile development methodologies have reduced the need for hard launches and enabled lower risk ...
05/12/2017
Like national rugby teams we too have been international this Autumn having taken in a beautiful new cloud in Frankfurt and the ins, outs and round-abouts of as...
05/12/2017
Blue Lucy's recent project with Banijay Rights is featured in the MAM Supplement of December's TVB Europe. A PDF version also available.
Banijay is the...
04/12/2017
Blue Lucy's recent project with Banijay Rights is featured in the MAM Supplement of December's issue of TVB Europe. PDF version also available.
Banijay...
25/10/2017
Blue Lucy announced that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is using the Blue Lucy Asset Manager (BLAM) to manage their content archive and...
05/09/2017
Weybridge, UK and Broomfield, CO., USA, March 6th, 2017 - Leading automation and integrated playout specialist Pebble Beach Systems today announced that it has ...
11/07/2017
Continuing their theme of quick and easy implementation for MAM, the Blue Lucy team will launch a range of pre-packed entry level solutions focused on specific ...
15/06/2017
In our 6th year exhibiting at IBC Blue Lucy will have a full, end-to-end demonstration of the Blue Lucy Asset Manager the BLAM. BLAM is a 3rd generation asset...
15/06/2017
BLAM provides media organisations with an affordable, scalable solution to their asset and operations management needs - delivering workflow efficiencies and bu...
28/03/2017
BLAM provides media organisations with an affordable, scalable solution to their asset and operations management needs - delivering workflow efficiencies and bu...
11/07/2016
At IBC 2016 the Blue Lucy team will demonstrate how the BLAM Core product meets a broad range of business and operational requirements in the end-to-end media p...
I was quite pleased to be asked recently by a Canadian colleague what our theme would be for the upcoming IBC. For me, theme reflects the ethos of the Blue Lucy approach to trade shows, we don't tend talk about product features or the specific capabilities in our roadmap.
