In its new state-of-the-art headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Media City Co. (SHAMAS) has installed an automation system from Pebble Beach Systems. SHAMAS is a fully-equipped broadcasting center and a service provider for commercial channels broadcasting to the region.

Because the broadcasting and playout facilities are designed to be used by multiple organizations, it was vital for SHAMAS to choose an automation system able to handle a large number of channels and securely isolate content for each user to prevent unauthorized access.

The Pebble automation system was supplied with the capability to playout 30 channels. The installation was managed by Systems Design, Pebble's Egyptian systems integrator, in cooperation with Technology KAR & Media Speed. To date, 15 channels have already successfully been taken to air.

The Pebble automation system controls video servers, routers, a branding processor from Grass Valley, and a TitleOne graphics system from Imagine Communications. Both VTR and file-based ingest are supported, and the system provides an automated QC workflow and content management.

Customers log into the system using their own secure credentials, and despite sharing common storage, they can only see the devices and media which they have the privileges to access.

Ramy Gamal, General Manager at Systems Design comments: “Pebble's technology enables SHAMAS to provide a secure and easy to use service. Training was very straightforward and the Pebble team has been highly responsive throughout the process. We look forward to continuing to work with them as this system expands and on future projects."

Pebble Beach Systems Middle East and India Regional Manager Samir Isbaih added  “The significant contract at Saudi Media City Co. was part of a very busy 12 months in the Middle East region for Pebble. In addition to a number of system expansions and upgrades, we secured 10 new clients during that period – providing systems which range in size from single channel-in-a-box installs to multi-channel systems.”