Avid Delivers Major Innovations Across the IBC Show for Media Enterprises, Production Teams and Creative Professionals

Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID), the leading technology provider that powers the media and entertainment industry, brings a wave of innovation in newly available products and technology demonstrations across the IBC Show floor to help enterprises, teams and individuals to maximize efficiency and opportunity in media creation, management and distribution. Further, Avid thought leadership will be present across the event through high-profile customers—including the creative forces behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Deadpool 2 being featured on IBC’s main stage—as well as Avid executives and technology experts participating on several conference panels exploring the content supply chain, artificial intelligence and advanced graphics.

Avid Innovations Make IBC Debut

Avid is demonstrating for the European media and entertainment community its latest wave of innovative tools, apps, services and solutions for creative professionals, production teams and media enterprises including:

• The next generation, web-based version of MediaCentral®, Avid’s industry-leading media production and management platform
• MediaCentral | Editorial Management, a simple-to-deploy asset management tool that accelerates collaboration among post production and broadcast teams through secure, reliable and easily configured media workflows
• Avid On Demand, a SaaS cloud services and solutions platform that provides media production capabilities on demand
• Avid NEXIS® | E5 NL high-density, on-premises nearline storage solution
• The expanded Avid VENUE™ | S6L family of live sound systems (shipping this month), with three new control surfaces, a new engine, and two new I/O racks—all on a unified platform
• The expanded Creative Tools Family, which provides access to Avid’s iconic Pro Tools®, Media Composer® and Sibelius® software for creative individuals at any stage of their career and teams of any size
• The state-of-the-art Maestro™ | PowerWall display control and management solution that puts the power of Ultra-high definition graphics into the hands of any television broadcaster
• The new Maestro | Engine, a next generation real-time graphics and video hardware rendering platform for the Maestro graphics product line. Scaling from HD and 1080P to UHD, and supporting both SDI and Video Over IP interfaces, Maestro | Engine enables broadcasters to produce the highest-quality graphics, virtual studios, augmented reality and video wall content.

“The products Avid is showing today at IBC, and our forward leaning innovation in areas such as IP connectivity, 4K and cloud, have been shaped and prioritized by our customers who are all counting on the vendor community to come together and help them overcome the massive shift impacting every aspect of their business,” said Jeff Rosica, CEO and President, Avid. “We’ve accelerated our delivery of open platforms, tools, apps, services and solutions to make it easier for our customers to end disparity among technology in their operations, so they can work faster on smaller budgets, and still thrill and retain viewers on any platform.”

Achieving IP Connectivity to Increase Media Operations Efficiency

Avid continues to lead the industry’s migration to more efficient IP-based workflows for broadcast, post production and audio, and is driving the industry toward seamless IP connectivity by incorporating support for the latest standards and open source protocols. Avid is showcasing several IP demonstrations at its stand including:

• NewTek NDI (network device interface) output from Media Composer
• Avid Artist™ | DNxIP for media workflow connectivity supporting SMPTE 2022-6
• Avid FastServe® video servers with IP I/O
• The new Maestro | Engine with support for SMPTE 2022-6 
• Audio over IP for live sound with the Avid VENUE | S6L using AVB and Dante AoIP protocols from MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface) connectivity
• Audio production facilities using Dante from the Pro Tools® | MTRX interface to route audio between studios
• MXF IP live ingest to Media Composer, highlighting growing file support for edit while capture from an ARRI camera with a Nablet MXF plugin rewrapping to MXF in real time (demoing at the IBC Future Zone)

Avid is also demonstrating IP connectivity with FastServe and Maestro Graphics as part of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) interoperability showcase in rooms E106 and E107.  Additionally, Avid will demonstrate IP output from Media Composer connected to a Cisco IP Fabric for Media at Cisco in Hall 1, Stand A71. In addition, Avid and Microsoft are presenting the latest technology advancements of their partnership including on-demand offerings—Avid Illuminate On Demand and Shared Library On Demand—as well as highlighting Azure integrations for AI at Microsoft in Hall 1, Stand C27.

Avid Creative Users Headlining IBC’s Big Screen Stage

Taking the spotlight on IBC’s Big Screen program, pre-eminent Avid users will give audiences exciting insight into the world’s most high-profile film projects as part of a new conference forum that will explore how technology innovation is helping to bring stories to life like never before:

• The Story of the Edit: Star Wars
  2.45-3.15 p.m. on Saturday, September 15 at the Auditorium
  Oscar®-nominated Maryann Brandon, DGA, ACE, joins Avid’s Director of Pro Video Solutions Marketing, Matt Feury, on the Big Screen stage direct from London, where she’s working on the next installment of the legendary Star Wars franchise. Her multi-award-winning career includes editing credits for upcoming Marvel movie Venom, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and animated feature How To Train Your Dragon.
  
  
• The Story of the Edit: Deadpool 2

  10.25-10.55 a.m. on Sunday, September 16 at the Auditorium
  Dirk Westervelt, from the editing team on this year’s blockbuster movie Deadpool 2, joins Avid’s Matt Feury to reveal the cutting room story behind director David Leitch’s vision for the superhero film. Westervelt’s credits include Marvel Entertainment's X-Men movie Logan and Warner Bros’ action thriller Run All Night.

Delivering Business and Tech Thought Leadership Across IBC

Avid leadership and subject matter experts will share their insights and expertise in several conference sessions, discussing innovations in artificial intelligence and virtual reality, as well as how the content supply chain must evolve to drive all media and entertainment stakeholders forward:

• IABM's Opening Executive Keynote Session

  7.30-8.45 a.m. on Friday, September 14 at The Forum
  Jeff Rosica, President and CEO at Avid, will participate in a featured panel session alongside leaders from media companies including Discovery, ITV and others to explore how the content supply chain is changing the face of business. Peter White, CEO of the International Association for Broadcast & Media Technology Suppliers, will moderate.

• Tech Talks: Head—Firmly in the Cloud
  10.00—11.15 a.m. on Saturday, September 15 at The Emerald Lounge

  Tim Claman, CTO and Vice President of Product Management at Avid, will present his white paper: Extending Media Production to the Cloud.

• Uncovering the Real Value of AI for Media Production

  11.40 a.m.-12.00 p.m. on Sunday, September 16 at the IABM Future Trends Theater in the IBC 2018 Future Booth
  Tim Claman, CTO and Vice President of Product Management at Avid, will discuss new Artificial Intelligence applications and the dilemma of how best to harness the power of AI in a way that gives tangible business benefits as technology progresses and implementation grows.

• The Future of TV is Virtual: Captivating Viewers with Immersive Experiences

  11.00-11.20 a.m. on Monday, September 17 at the IABM Future Trends Theater in the IBC 2018 Future Booth
  Haim Halperin, Senior Principle Broadcast Product Manager at Avid, will explore how organizations can harness immersive technologies to captivate and retain viewers—from 3D graphics in the studio to delivering the stadium experience at home.

• FKTG Discussion Panel—AI for Media Production

  4.30-6.00 p.m. on Monday, September 17 at the Emerald Lounge
  Tim Claman, CTO and Vice President of Product Management at Avid, will participate in a panel session on the use of AI in media production and its potential to revolutionize the content creation and production process.