GlobeCast Asia enlists Ideal Systems to build new broadcast facility
Ideal Systems Singapore has been selected by GlobeCast Asia to design and build a new state-of-the-art multichannel broadcast facility in Singapore’s emerging media city precinct, Mediapolis@one-north. The new GlobeCast facility will be located at Infinite Studios, which is a 10-floor purpose-built structure with a gross floor area of 24,078 sqm.
Darby Sanchez, CEO of GlobeCast Asia, comments: “This facility in Singapore will be our new regional headquarters, from where we provide expertise in content delivery and distribution to top-tier channels from around the globe. We awarded this major project to Ideal Systems due to a combination of their quality solution architecture, cost effectiveness, wide ranging in-house expertise in advanced broadcast systems design, and their local implementation capabilities in Singapore, right down to the design and building of the control room consoles. Ideal Systems is a tier-1 broadcast systems integration company with a vast experience in designing and building complete broadcast systems and facilities across Asia. Ideal Systems has provided us the solution to ensure our new headquarters is a leading facility that supports our continued growth in the region and has the latest technology to allow us deliver new multiplatform broadcast services.”
The new GlobeCast facility will see Ideal Systems introducing a raft of new broadcast technologies to Singapore. The core technology of the new facility is a fully integrated platform based on a suite from Evertz Technologies that includes the all-new Mediator 4 as a centralised media asset management and broadcast automation system managing all of the media workflows and tasks.
A key part of the Mediator 4 system is Evertz Playtime Automation, which is intended to allow maximum flexibility for automating the new Evertz Overture RT ‘Channel in a Box’ play-out channels as well as more traditional video server-based channels, which are still required for many channel owners. The Evertz Mediator 4 MAM System with its integral Playtime Channel Automation works seamlessly with the new Evertz VUE facility control system and VistLink Pro facility monitoring system. Also introduced is the Evertz EMS Super NAS as the central storage system. All of these systems are natively integrated to provide a highly optimised and efficient broadcast facility with industry leading redundancy and proactive and predictive fault monitoring.
Sabil Salim, vice-president, operations at GlobeCast Asia, comments: “Another key factor in choosing Ideal Systems is their unrivaled approach to customer and systems support. Ideal has invested heavily in building their own local test lab in their nearby offices. Ideal’s new lab contains a full Evertz simulation system, complete with Overture RT LIVE Playout, Mediator 4 MAM, and Playtime Automation together with a full range of Evertz infrastructure hardware. This simulator allows Ideal to provide our operator training in a simulated live environment, similar to airline pilot simulator training, which gives our operations staff valuable ‘flying time’ using the new systems in all operation circumstances. Ideal’s new simulation and training lab and tight partnership with Evertz Technologies ultimately provides us with a level of local support superior to anything that has ever existed in Singapore, while also having another major advantage of ensuring that we have a full stock of critical spares nearby.”
Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO at Ideal Systems Singapore, adds: “We are delighted to be chosen to work with GlobeCast in the design and building of their new class-leading broadcast facility. This enterprise scale project, the first broadcast facility to be built in Mediapolis, cements our commitment to providing a new level of broadcast systems integration and support in Singapore and is a great credit to our tight partnership with Evertz Technologies in South East Asia. GlobeCast Singapore is a highly complex technical project involving not just the design and building of a next-generation broadcast facility with a raft of new technologies to enable traditional as well as new cloud and OTT services, but also the migration of all the existing live channels from GlobeCast’s existing facility to the new Mediapolis site. Changing the main broadcast systems while broadcasting live channels 24×7 and also migrating to a new site is like doing a heart transplant while in a moving ambulance. We must keep all the channels alive without skipping a beat! This requires precision project planning, migration planning and logistics planning that must dovetail into the new system build and delivery of the highest international standards of cabling, installation and training. Luckily, this is exactly what Ideal Systems does.”