IABM rewards Design & Innovation at IBC 2016 posted: 17/09/2016 Breadth and depth of innovation points to bright future for broadcast and media technology supply business
The winners of IABM's highly-prized Design & Innovation Awards were announced at IABM's awards reception and ceremony on 10th September 2016 at the IBC Show. The winners, across nine categories that align with IABM's Global Market Valuation and Strategy Report, together with an extra category added this year to cater for submissions that are outside this remit - Project, Event or Alternative Product/Service - were selected from an original high quality submissions.
The judging was carried out by a panel of 40 independent, highly experienced industry professionals, each with specialist expertise in one or more of the award categories, chaired by John Ive, IABM Director of Technology and Strategic Insight.
Periods of major change and disruption in the industry stimulate some of the most exciting and innovative developments, with new generation solutions for a wider range of broadcast and media activities, said John Ive. All the applications embodied this trend which made selecting one winner a challenge for our judges. The standard was so high that the judges frequently praised the nominations that didn't even make the shortlist. So it was a close contest and our judges finally selected 10 excellent winners.
The winners are listed below by category, with the judges' comments appended:
Acquisition & Production
Shotover Camera Systems - Shotover U1
This product ticks all the boxes that make it a truly remarkable product specifically designed for broadcast and film applications. Its ability to use standard film and broadcast cameras and lenses allows it to fit perfectly within any production environment.
Post Production
Vizrt - Viz Story
The need to feed social media platforms is becoming essential for viewer engagement. This solution removes the technical difficulties of versioning web video content from the hands of producers, allowing them to concentrate on the story. A great solution allowing fast editing to encompass the world of social media.
Content & Communication Infrastructure
Imagen - Imagen Global Distribution Network
Many distribution systems exist, but not as versatile. Clearly an innovation and corresponding exactly to the actual trend and demands of the media industry.
Audio
Cedar Audio - DNS 2 Dialogue noise suppressor
One judge commented: Wow - I needed this many times. The perfect companion for any remote audio kit. This processor will not only be in high demand, but probably become the de-facto standard for field audio pre-processing. Another commented: This small device is a game-changer for edit suites or recordists who need a flexible cost-effective 2-channel quick fix for difficult environments.
Storage
Sony Professional - Sony Media Backbone Hive
Transforming the traditional hardware and software stack into a more flexible node architecture will give users greater flexibility and therefore access to functionality that might not otherwise have been available to them.
System Automation & Control
Hexaglobe - Advanced Replay v2
Innovative - addresses a real market problem and challenge with a straightforward interface. A well needed product as social media drives viewers.
Playout & Delivery
Elemental Technologies - Live Channel Playout Solution
Delivers the full flexibility and needs of the broadcaster looking to complement live HD with UHD. This product greatly simplifies the process of converting a channel to 4K which creates major new opportunities for broadcasters.
Test, Quality Control & Monitoring
Bridge Technologies - VB440-V virtual probe
This product allows visibility into sophisticated network infrastructure, thereby solving one of the biggest issues for those trying to diagnose and fix in a timely fashion, complex network issues.
Services
Harmonic - VOS 360 professional cloud media processing service
A launch that offers cloud-native processing and OTT services and is perfect for ALL future system roll outs. This service solves the real issue of media processing scalability; operators can launch OTT services in a matter of hours.
Project, event or alternative product/service
Aspera - BASE Media Cloud
BASE Media Cloud supports high-volume global media workflows with hybrid media storage and distribution platform from Aspera'. High volume of data traffic with accuracy has been a change that several companies are looking to accomplish. This is a significant real life implementation of cloud based storage and workflows, which has been successfully used in an aggressive production environment.
Peter White, IABM CEO said: While market conditions for many companies are quite challenging at the moment, it is clear that many recognize that the way forward is through innovation, grasping the opportunity to offer their customers the new ways of working they demand. I congratulate all the winners and applaud every applicant for their creativity and forward-thinking; with such a depth and breadth of innovation on show at our awards, the outlook for our industry remains bright.
All the category winners will be automatically submitted as candidates for IABM's prestigious Peter Wayne Award, with the winner announced at the IABM Annual International Business Conference and Awards in December 2016.
About IABM
IABM is the international trade association for suppliers of broadcast and media technology. IABM members represent over 80% oe market's revenues; IABM facilitates the important networking and interaction between suppliers that shape and define the unique ecosystem of the broadcast and media technology industry.
IABM supports member companies with a comprehensive range of services across market intelligen
