Cloudbass goes for growth with £5.5m investment

Cloudbass has announced the completion of a £5.5m investment programme to support customers into the future. Encompassing UHD trucks, IP workflows, the latest cameras, lenses and replay equipment, this investment is designed to strengthen Cloudbass’ position in the industry.

The investment is proving successful, with a key achievement being that Cloudbass recently became the first company in the world to transform an existing outside broadcast truck from HD-SDI to UHD IP using Axon Digital Design’s next-generation signal processing technology. This allows a future-proof solution that can be used to effectively add an IP layer into any of existing or future fleet.

The company is also currently commissioning its new triple-expanding OB truck which will have the capacity to support large-scale complex UHD productions in High Dynamic Range and Dolby Atmos, supporting up to 24 cameras. It will have an IP infrastructure which will make for efficient operation and allow for the capacity to expand and integrate the latest technology.

Cloudbass has also refreshed and invigorated flyaways and smaller trucks, including building a new mobile gallery vehicle. This has been deployed on One Man and His Dog and Ibiza Rocks and will be providing Mentorn Scotland with facilities for Debate Night. The smaller trucks allow for the agility and flexibility needed for these types of broadcast.

The fleet now has the capacity to operate up to 100 cameras supported by tenders, generators, edit and gallery vehicles and this fully establishes Cloudbass as one of the main OB suppliers in the UK. The company has recently bought the latest generation Sony 3500 cameras coupled with new Canon UHD lenses to provide the highest quality imagery available to broadcasters. This takes the number of deployable cameras to around 60.

Asset finance firm Medialease supported the project.

Paul Robson, the managing director of Medialease, said “Once again we were delighted to be asked by Cloudbass to help with the financing of their latest project to transform an OB truck to UHD IP. From initial discussions about staged payments to suppliers to completion of the project took less than six months which is an unbelievably short timescale, but we were all able to manage it thanks to a very accommodating client.”