Omnibus… Migration Magic (Systems)

[SatBroadcasting™] In the most significant OmniBus Systems deployment this year, Starz Entertainment has migrated its entire automation and playback operation to the OmniBus iTX broadcast automation and playout platform.

OmniBus iTX broadcast automation and playout platform now provides an integrated, software-based playout solution for Starz‘s complete lineup of 29 SD and 11 HD premium movie channels, as well as an additional 22 channels at its off-site disaster recovery site. Operational since the end of June, Starz’s new iTX installation is the centerpiece of an ambitious project to migrate to software-based server technologies at the company’s operations facility in Englewood, Colorado. Starz sought to reduce costs and complexity in its infrastructure by replacing aging hardware-based equipment with software solutions running on standard IT servers. Within each transmission chain, the iTX software replaces traditional broadcast equipment — including video servers, graphics systems and audio encoders from a variety of manufacturers — shrinking the equipment footprint from 44 racks to only 16. Not only are energy costs lower, but fewer integration points between hardware systems result in fewer potential failure points. In addition, iTX delivers a high level of redundancy for each channel by providing a primary playout chain backed up by a secondary playout chain with the same functionality. Using the standard iTX developer’s kit, project developers created a three-way integration of iTX with Starz’s in-house ingest/asset management and custom scheduling/traffic systems. iTX handles playout of all video content, as well as graphics and interstitial components to create a single integrated workflow.