Mexican media conglomerate Grupo Imagen is implementing EditShare XStream EFS 450 scale out production storage, XStream EFS 40NL parking storage, and Flow media asset management to support content automation and fast turn-around workflows.

Grupo Imagen was recently awarded a nationwide broadcast television license that expands its current broadcast network to over 190 transmission sites with its multiplex signal across the Mexican national territory. The opportunity requires the broadcaster to build out a network of stations across Mexico, and thus reinforce its Mexico City hub with an infrastructure that can support connected workflows.

“Our expansion strategy is to make Mexico City the hub of the operation, feeding national news programs, entertainment and sports content to our soon to be created local stations,” comments Andres Gómez Jiménez, TV workflow director, Grupo Imagen. “To do this, we require a no-fault, high-availability foundation for managing content, and this is where EditShare comes in. It’s open, fault-tolerant platform and versatile capabilities gives us the security and performance we need to advance our production workflows and sync media across what will eventually be many sites. EditShare also gives us a way to optimize our current workflows, especially with telenovelas. The integration and file automation across post and storage systems will allow us to manage last minute content editing and delivery much more efficiently.”

Grupo Imagen operates TV and radio stations and produces news, sports, telenovelas and thematic programs. Over 80% of the content is produced from the broadcaster’s seven studios in Mexico City, requiring a sizeable infrastructure to support the mass content production. The installation design and delivery is spearheaded by EditShare business partner Escape Audio.

Grupo Imagen will appoint new tasks to its EMC Isilon and Quantum storage solutions and will use the EditShare XStream EFS 450 288 TB enterprise scale-out storage solution for online production editing and an EFS 40NL ¾ PB for nearline parking storage.

EditShare Flow will also be implemented for content automation and migration, advancing production workflows for the news, sports and entertainment departments.

“The price performance of EditShare solutions is truly unbeatable,” comments Fernando Riestra, Escape Audio. “The great capabilities and powerful bandwidth of EditShare will support fast turn-around of projects with less than half the price tag of their competitors with no built-in media management capabilities.”

EditShare XStream EFS solutions delivers over 80 streams of production quality DNxHD 145 (1080i/29.97) in an EFS 450 set up.

“The online production and parking workflow capabilities with Flow automation will allow Grupo Imagen editors to work more efficiently, especially with fast turn workflows like news and telenovelas,” comments Diego Buenaño, Sales Manager, Latin America. “At times, the staff is editing a chapter of a soap opera in the morning that needs to air that afternoon. The EditShare integration with Avid editors combined with the online and nearline storage structure eliminates production bottlenecks completely, facilitating a faster content transaction, which makes a difference in fast turn situations. A really nice added bonus is the EditShare advanced Avid project sharing for situations that require collaboration.”

EditShare Flow will be used to manage content from ingest, proxy creation and transcoding from incoming feeds to the EditShare storage platforms, ensuring that the content is correctly logged and properly stored for fast access by various departments.