AmberFin’s Devlin: Taking iCR to the Next Level

With an offering based on its iCR platform, UK-based company AmberFin is focused on enabling content owners to maximize the value of its TV, film, and video material — from capture to distribution. Chief Technology Officer Bruce Devlin sat down with SVG to discuss the latest version of iCR, the importance of workflow education, and the enduring importance of the NAB Show.

From a product perspective, what’s the primary focus for you at this year’s NAB Show?
Version 9 of iCR [AmberFin’s workflow solution]. Up to this point, we have been very much known for our picture quality and for our transcoding quality. Now, with Version 9, we are beefing up ICR to work more as an enterprise offering. It’s about us starting to undertake the creation of quality media in volume.

We’ve been working on this latest version for about six months and already have several beta systems out there. We’re taking orders for the final version as of now and plan to have availability by the end of April.

What else are you highlighting here?
The launch of the AmberFin Academy is another focus. This really grew out of these short training clips, Bruce’s Shorts, that I have been doing. Interest in the videos is really building, and I am hopeful that we will have more than 2,000 subscribers by the end of the show.

We’re now going to promote these under the AmberFin Academy banner, along with a number of other initiatives, including several white papers. This activity reflects our belief in a pragmatic approach that takes account of the fact that users really need to understand all of the implications of the [workflow] they put together.

Generally speaking, what do you expect to be the main themes of this year’s NAB Show?
Well, I think we’re all going to hear a lot of people using the word cloud in a sentence! Definitions vary, and it’s clearly early days. But I do think that, alongside the possible benefits, the business-risk aspects of the cloud should be discussed more extensively.

In a nutshell, what is the significance of the NAB Show for AmberFin?
It’s the biggest show of the year and provides us with an invaluable opportunity to get all our dealers and partners in one place so that they can see what we are doing. In particular, the senior people can talk to the junior people about our product developments and what we’re currently working on. It’s really a vital meeting point in the annual calendar.