Avid and Al Jazeera Sign Global Enterprise Agreement and Announce Cloud-based Newsroom Project

Companies to collaborate on cloud deployments, working together to pioneer cloud-based newsroom workflows that will help lead the industry

Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) today announced that it has signed a major framework agreement with Al Jazeera Media Network including a Global Services Agreement and Global Product Call-off Agreement. These agreements further cement the companies’ ongoing strategic relationship and enhances Al Jazeera’s significant investment in Avid’s comprehensive tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and optimize media for its end-to-end news production infrastructure around the world. The companies also announced a joint collaboration to develop and test cloud-based technology deployments of the end-to-end Avid newsroom solution. The alliance will help Al Jazeera realize its own cloud strategy, and help shape the future of cloud-based newsrooms across the industry, paving the way for the first-ever hybrid cloud deployment of the MediaCentral® Platform across a large, global newsroom operation.

Avid’s team has been working closely with Al Jazeera on a long-term Avid Everywhere™ strategy to implement an open, integrated and efficient news workflow based on MediaCentral across its global news network to help the company realize its business priorities. By leveraging the Avid platform consistently across its global news operations, the deployment has helped Al Jazeera achieve several business and operational objectives, increasing their production of compelling content at lower costs, while extending their audience reach. The final and most complex phase of the implementation is at Al Jazeera’s Doha headquarters, which went live near the end of 2016.

Avid is currently working with Al Jazeera on the next phase of its technology strategy that will see the broadcaster introduce cloud-based capabilities into its workflows and new hybrid cloud deployment models for its global news production infrastructure to help drive even greater global collaboration and operational efficiency across the enterprise.

“Our industry is increasingly competitive, complex and is changing rapidly.  Despite our success, we knew we had to overhaul our global newsgathering and delivery platforms to remain an industry leader.  We needed a partner that understood the industry, could deliver innovative technology solutions to solve our strategic needs and could work collaboratively over the long term,” said Mohamed Abuagla, Executive Director of Technology & Operations (CIO/CTO), Al Jazeera Media Network. “With Avid Everywhere and the MediaCentral Platform, Avid has delivered comprehensive innovations across the media workflow using an open and extensible centralized platform to help drive efficiency. As we have embraced the Avid Everywhere solution to drive business results, over the past several years Avid has consistently shown that we made the right choice in a partner. As we move towards a cloud-based future across our global newsroom operations, we are pleased to have Avid at our side to help us navigate this important journey.”

To support this infrastructure around the world, Avid and Al Jazeera have signed a multi-year, multimillion-dollar enterprise-wide Global Services Agreement that includes the supply of a comprehensive list of advanced services. These include system support, software maintenance and an array of professional services tailored to the needs of Al Jazeera’s global operations to help optimize its significant investment.

As part of the agreement, Al Jazeera’s staff will receive regular training on the latest features and functionality to ensure that they are kept up to date and working in the most efficient and effective way possible. Al Jazeera will also have access to Avid Labs, which provides customized Avid engineering resources to optimize integration with existing infrastructure and develop specialized capabilities unique to Al Jazeera’s operations.   

The additional Global Product Call-Off Agreement the companies signed offers Al Jazeera beneficial commercial conditions for all entities across its business enterprises worldwide. This global framework agreement offers pre-negotiated pricing, terms and conditions that benefit from the long-term relationship between the companies as well as historical investments and volumes.

“Avid has been honored to work with a recognized leader in global media operations, who has been an innovator since their inception.  We are very happy to deepen our working relationship with this global enterprise agreement to help Al Jazeera navigate its next phase of innovation,” said Louis Hernandez, Jr., Avid Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “The technical teams at Avid and Al Jazeera are collaborating closely to deliver the connected, open global newsroom solution that Al Jazeera needs. As Al Jazeera celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year, we’re excited to continue our journey and deepen our relationship with them as we jointly design and develop the first enterprise-wide cloud deployment of Avid Everywhere across a global newsroom operation.”