Ken Aagaard, Bob Sullivan Launch BitFire; Combines IP Tech, Production Services By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Monday, July 13, 2020 - 10:49 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The move towards de-centralized production, where various technical and signal transport elements for a sports production are in disparate locations, has accelerated in recent months. It's created new opportunities for established production entities but also opened the door to some new ones. The latest entrant is BitFire, launched this month by former executives from SNEAKY BIG Studios and Ken Aagaard, longtime sports production professional and former SVG chairman.
The global pandemic has thrust the world into an innovation and upgrading cycle demanding better, faster, and easier methods for live contribution and collaboration, says Bob Sullivan, president and CEO, BitFire and former GM of SNEAKY BIG Studios. While the marketplace has responded with a saturation of concepts, some of the greatest minds in broadcast have come together to launch a heightened level of broadcast transmission and production that notable sports, news, and entertainment brands in the world rightfully demand.
BitFire (www.bitfirenetworks.com) is a combination of software-based technology to allow for signal transport over the open Internet and hardware-based servers with encoders and decoders to guarantee signal quality levels if desired.
When I was at SNEAKY BIG, we did some backhaul transmission tests with BitFire as a backup to fiber and I was amazed at the quality and the latency which was as good if not better than fiber, says Sullivan. That's how it came on my radar.
The company will also provide remote production services as it acquired the assets of d2 Productions (production trucks and studio facilities in Boston) and, soon, in Phoenix. Production services will include, but not be limited to remote production control rooms (REMI,) camera packages, live production, and post- production.
Jim Akimchuck, BitFire, CTO, says the team can quickly respond to evolving client needs.
Jim Akimchuk, BitFire, CTO, says the TV production experience of all involved is a difference maker.
We know our customer's problems are always time sensitive as that is the nature of live TV, he says. We're not a generic technical solution for a real-world problem; we know what it is that our customer is trying to do. As a result, we are responsive, agile, and in the best possible position to help.
Both Sullivan and Aagaard say that responsiveness and agility means more than just being agile during an ongoing event: it also means rapidly evolving the types of services in response to client needs.
Our whole focus is broadcast-quality assets and white glove service, says Sullivan. We don't want to just sell boxes or x-number of feeds. We want to be nimble as we know what we are capable of, we know how to listen, and we want to pivot and adapt the technology to the need as opposed to saying we can't meet your needs so have a nice day.
Ken Aagaard, BitFire, director, says the key to success will be proving out the capabilities of the technology and the team.
Aagaard, who is a board member, says he has been on the decentralized production bandwagon for a while and when he saw the opportunity to work with the staff at BitFire he saw an opportunity to move the technology forward and help solve production challenges he says existed before the current COVID-19 crisis.
Things were going in this direction regardless of the current situation and even when this is over it is still going to happen, he says of the ability to have production personnel working as one team despite being in different locations and away from the venue where an event, be it sports, entertainment, education, or corporate, is taking place. For me this is the right place, right time, and with the right people.
Aagaard says it is the people that will make the difference as the goal is to not only provide technology like the BitFire platform but also talented broadcast engineers and production personnel who can ensure production needs are met. The transmission system can also move data, IFB, PL, and tallys, according to Aagaard.
Everything that you do from a truck can be done from a NOC, he says. And we will have some smart broadcasters brought in who will be able to set up in their basement and control productions, trouble shoot, and more. In the end its going to be about the people and we have smart people with smart technologies and software that can enable us to control the systems and that is the unique part of BitFire.
BitFire acquired the assets from d2 Productions, based in Boston, to capture video and audio for an event as well as provide physical control room facilities (currently in Boston but soon to be Phoenix as well and then additional locations) to give those dedicated production staff a chance to ensure high-quality services. There will also be an opportunity to use the software-based tools to allow engineers to manage a production from their own home.
The BitFire technology value proposition begins with the BitFire Transport Network, a fully managed IP video transport service that provides point-to-point delivery of broadcast-quality video to wherever it needs to go. Production team members tap into that network via FireBridge, a browser-based system that allows for one-to-one or one-to-many collaboration. A virtual studio and stage, FireBridge brings together participants via a video-conference-like experience while the production facility takes isolated feeds and broadcasts to the masses. No software installation or account set-up is required.
For those locations where a higher level of production quality is required a FirePower stackable HD server with encoders and decoders can be deplo
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
16/04/2024
New generative AI tools will enable users of Adobe Premiere Pro to streamline editing all videos, including adding or removing objects in a scene or extending a...
16/04/2024
Moore has led the development effort for over 20 products in the AV space
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: April 16, 2024
Moore has led the development effo...
16/04/2024
TV 2, a television broadcaster in Norway, has chosen Magnifi, an AI-powered highlight generation platform, to enhance its coverage of football for fans across t...
16/04/2024
FilmLight, best known for its grading system Baselight, has chosen Jigsaw24 Media as the first global and exclusive UK partner for their new product, Nara. The ...
16/04/2024
DPA Microphones introduces its new AIR1 Universal Miniature Fur Windscreen at NAB 2024 (Booth C7307). Intended for quick mounting on round, omnidirectional head...
16/04/2024
If there remains any doubt that the cloud and artificial intelligence are transforming the workflows that drive the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry, Amazon...
16/04/2024
Evan Jacobs, VP Finishing & Stereo at Marvel Studios, cautioned not to downplay the home entertainment environment too much, noting that it's now hard to bu...
16/04/2024
The age of streaming the opportunity for different viewing habits for many. Entire seasons could be binged whenever you had the time to spare and didn't m...
16/04/2024
LAS VEGAS During a press conference at the NAB Show, ARRI unveiled its ALEXA 35 Live - Multicam System, which is designed to bring the cinematic image quality o...
16/04/2024
ROXi announced that it has partnered with Pearl TV and major U.S. broadcasters to deploy ROXi's FastStream-powered interactive TV channels on the broadcaste...
16/04/2024
U.S. Internet households now consume an average 43.5 hours of video per week across all viewing devices. That's an increase of more than six hours in 2020, ...
16/04/2024
Lawo and Waves Audio have announced that the Waves SuperRack LiveBox hardware server being displayed at the 2024 NAB Show is fully compatible with Lawo's mc...
16/04/2024
At the 2024 NAB Show, Riedel Communications has unveiled its expanded RiCapture ingest solutions line with the addition of RiCapture i8, i44, and i84. Complemen...
16/04/2024
Coles enhanced colour separation, adding shape and depth to the characters through the use of a soft highlight and shadow roll off, and embracing the natural te...
16/04/2024
The Prismatic Company Debuts Strategy for New LightWeave Platform for the Creato...
16/04/2024
Avid to Demonstrate Latest Stream of Innovation at NAB Show 2024 to Drive the Op...
16/04/2024
Paramount Plus has ordered a fourth season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and said the fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks will be the final one. Season f...
16/04/2024
Sinclair said that it launched Broadspan, a datacasting platform based on the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology....
16/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, spoke about his bid to acquire Paramount Global at NAB Show April 14. Allen called Para...
16/04/2024
Major station owners are bringing interactivity to broadcast, hoping that will convince consumers particularly younger ones obsessed with TikTok to buy new ...
16/04/2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Automated and malicious traffic rises for a fifth consecutive year
Bad bots account for 32% of all internet traffic
44% of all...
15/04/2024
(Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
15/04/2024
LONDONDERRY, N.H., April 15, 2024 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) received a $256 million order from the U.S. Army for continued production of the Enhanced N...
15/04/2024
Montreal, Canada - April 15, 2024 - Grass Valley, a pioneer in live production s...
15/04/2024
NEW YORK In a major step forward in the broadcast industry's move to ATSC 3.0, NBCUniversal announced that it is launching personalized broadcast experience...
15/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Ross Video has announced an agreement to acquire Bannister Lake Software (BL Soft), a 31-year old Cambridge, Ontario-based provider of data-driven bro...
15/04/2024
Panasonic has revealed some of its technology that will be used for the broadcast of this summer's Olympic Games and Paralympics in Paris....
15/04/2024
Adobe Previews Breakthrough AI Innovations to Advance Professional Video Workflo...
15/04/2024
Zaxcom NAB Preview - Zaxcom's ZaxConvert Software is Now More Versatile & 10...
15/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton April 15, 2024
0 Comments
Advanced digital film camera in an incredibly versatile des...
15/04/2024
SmallHD's Free PageOS 6 Update Adds Powerful New Capabilities to All Current...
15/04/2024
SiliconCores patented Common Cathode driver chip delivers frame rates of 240 Hz and a refresh rate of 7680Hz, enabling slow motion, multi-camera view and multip...
15/04/2024
The UK-based virtual studio, sports and events graphics company has appointed Naphtali Cave into a newly created role to drive technical innovation and creativi...
15/04/2024
CBS's daytime panel talk show The Talk will end its run with a shortened 15th season, concluding the show in December, CBS confirmed Friday....
15/04/2024
Season four of Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog starts on Nat Geo Friday, A...
15/04/2024
In a notable leap forward for broadcasters planning to monetize their NextGen TV broadcasts, Sinclair has announced the launch of its Broadspan datacasting pl...
15/04/2024
Like a science fiction novel where artificial intelligence is involved in everything people do, the 2024 NAB Show is seeing artificial intelligence, and in part...
15/04/2024
Sustainability was one of the big topics at NAB Show last year, and this year the topic has matured within a media environment during technological and regulato...
15/04/2024
The cloud has offered significant on-demand availability for data storage without direct active management by the user. Increasingly, however, it isn't just...
15/04/2024
At first glance, it might seem a bit odd that the 2024 NAB Show is rolling out a new feature dubbed the Creator Lab....
15/04/2024
As the media and entertainment industry meets again in Las Vegas, NAB Show kicks off the beginning of its second century. Organizers describe an agenda suited t...
15/04/2024
Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, Ikegami USA will introduce four new additions to its range of broadcast-quality production equipment at the 2024 NAB...
15/04/2024
Digital Anarchy Debuts Major Update to its AI-Driven Digital Makeup and Skin Ret...
15/04/2024
Grass Valley Showcases Industry-Leading Innovations and Continued Growth Milesto...
15/04/2024
Hitachi Kokusai Demonstrates ST 2110 Studio Production Workflow
Brie Clayton April 14, 2024
0 Comments
To be shown at NAB Show 2024, new Interface Kit...
15/04/2024
Pebble Collaborates with NVIDIA to Bring PRIMA - Pebble's State-of-the-Art S...
Ken Aagaard, Bob Sullivan Launch BitFire; Combines IP Tech, Production Services By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
