Levels Beyond Adds Cloud-Based Application Platform to Reach Engine
At NAB 2013, the cloud has fully established itself as a key player in the creation of postproduction content.
Level Beyond’s key product offering, Reach Engine, is an on-site solution designed for managing storage, managing encoders, gaining Web-based access to content, logging, tagging, delivering, and clipping. Added to that this week is the new Reach Engine Stage, a hosted video operating system that provides the capability to synchronize with local media libraries —including Reach Engine Studio — providing secure data and media management and a robust application platform.
“It seamlessly extends Studio into the cloud,” says Danny Gold, co-founder, strategy and solutions, at Levels Beyond. “There’s a lot of applications out there where you can do review-and-approve, you can do your whole licensing portal in a cloud service, but you’ve got to get your content there, you’ve got to upload, you’ve got to retag. What we see our cloud service as is just an extension of your on-site presence.”
With Reach Engine Stage, multisite production teams can upload proxy content and metadata to the cloud to take full advantage of shared workflow and connectivity. Initial applications launched with Reach Engine Stage include a shopping-cart–like portal for both internal users and outside customers to browse licensed content, choose a file and format, and distribute or purchase content.
“One of the cool things that we’re doing at our booth is, you can be in any of the demo areas, browse all of the content, and say, ‘I want to check that out for edit,’ and it will send it directly into [Adobe] Premiere, [Apple] Final Cut, and it’s running locally in your area,” says Gold. “So we’re pitching content back and forth. It’s a good use of the cloud, and it’s one of the key features of Reach Engine Stage.”
Stage also features an open API that allows programmers to pull instantaneous metadata matches from hundreds of millions of video assets, enhancing the product’s utility for the next generation of video consumption and applications.