Rise of ClassX continues with NewTek Developer Network status
ClassX is an Italian company headquartered near Pisa which has been developing innovative software solutions for 2D/3D graphics for the broadcasting and post-production video sectors for more than 20 years. The company’s vast catalogue includes products spanning the creation of animated graphic templates connected to external data sources, to on-air graphics playout with 2D/3D audio/video in real-time.
ClassX’s current significant position within the TV and post production sectors is the result of a profound knowledge of market needs, combined with a rapid implementation of the suggestions coming from its clients, who carry out an active role in this way, almost like partners.
One major benefit of the ClassX software, which specializes in broadcast graphics, is its ability to support a great deal of the different video output equipment available on the market today, such as the BlackMagic DeckLink, BlueFish, Matrox, Dayang, Aja and the NewTek TriCaster, through the iVGA.
The rise of ClassX has certainly been noted by the American company NewTek, which announced a partnership with the Italian developer during the recent NAB Show. Roberto Musso, EMEA distributor, observes: “In any environment where you want to capture and publish live videos, this company from San Antonio – which boasts many installations in Italy – [gives rise to a] concrete possibility to quickly increase growth in public, brands and companies.”
Alessandro Messineo, customer support and sales for ClassX, states: “What NewTek USA asked us to show at NAB in their areas was our graphics software platform for sports, currently used by Italian national broadcaster RAI for every live competition broadcast across their bouquet of international channels.”
The graphics suite for the production and broadcasting of sports programmes is already very popular, with about a dozen sporting disciplines benefiting from its feature-set – a number that is expected to grow during 2013 to approximately 20.
The Sports Graphics package is scalable and composed of different software modules for content creation, management, graphics and playout; in other words, it includes both the software for graphics production as well as that for on air playout.
For example, a customer interested in an application for Basketball receives the software module for the management of the match, the module with which to create ready-to-use graphics (which are openly modifiable and customised personally or on commission), and “LiveBoard”, the software module for broadcast playout.
ClassX proposes the Sport Graphics suite as a complement to the features offered by the NewTek TriCaster, thanks to the integration of the iVGA, a communications protocol that allows the transmission of an audio/video source on a LAN/WiFi network from a fixed/mobile device to the TriCaster.
The ClassX applications interface with the latest version of the protocol called AirSend and this makes them compatible with every TriCaster system on the market today and, in Italy alone, more than 300 systems currently installed and operational. The support of this protocol has allowed ClassX to be registered on the prestigious NewTek Developer Network list.
Alessandro Messineo comments: “This is definitely an important and prestigious showcase, above all because we are seen next to the big names of the international broadcasting field in the ‘Graphics’ category. Actually, it is correct to affirm that this partnership between NewTek and ClassX derives first of all from the fact that the two companies and the relative products have very similar characteristics such as flexibility, quality and very competitive costs.”
More information about the NewTek Developer Network can be found here.