Avid embraces Adobe, Apple in push to expand storage market opportunities

Avid continues to expand its “Avid Everywhere” concept and the latest big move announced at IBC this week was the support of Adobe Premier Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro on the Avid Interplay media asset management system. “It’s a big deal because both Apple and Adobe can run as optimized, first-class citizens on our Avid ISIS storage systems,” says Dana Ruzicka, Avid, vice president and chief product officer. “It makes the magic of ISIS realtime collaboration that was previously only available to Avid users available to the entire marketplace.”

The Avid ISIS 1000 server will benefit from compatibility with Adobe Premier and Apple Final Cut Pro.

That openness will be a big lift for the Avid ISIS 1000 shared storage system as Adobe and Apple editing users will be able to tie their editing systems to an entry-level storage system that supports up to 24 users working via 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections to a single engine that can have up to 20 TB of storage. And for organizations that have larger production and post-production teams the editors will be able to work with the editing platform of choice.

“The first application you use tends to be the one you bond with so now editors can use whatever tools they want,” adds Ruzicka.

IBC is also the first public integration of Orad within the Avid stand and the easy integration of the Orad brand reflects the successful integration of the Orad team and technologies. For example, the Orad replay server can have direct integration into ISIS workflows for fast turnaround editing.

“The integration went much quicker than I expected as it took us a month from kickoff to put together a working prototype,” says Ofir Benovici, Avid, senior director, broadcast products. “The development was straightforward with the open architecture from both Orad and Avid.”

Ruzicka says he is excited to see what Avid can do next with the Orad product line. Orad graphics and replay systems are now part of Avid’s Studio Suite features hardware and software applications that are fully integrated with other Avid products, offering a complete solution approach that augments production capabilities for broadcast news, sports, and live production

“What’s really great about Orad is they are analogous to us as far as what they want from products and solutions,” adds Ruzicka. “The Orad products are in the Studio Suite and they are very complementary from a product perspective.”

The foundation of Avid Everywhere is the Avid MediaCentral Platform and it now has more than 26,000 users worldwide, top media organizations, creative teams, and independent professionals are powering their workflows with creative solutions built upon the Avid MediaCentral Platform, the industry’s most open, extensible, and customizable common services foundation.

“Last year, Avid introduced a powerful new platform designed to help media organizations, creative teams, and independent professionals meet their key challenges,” says Avid Chairman, President and CEO Louis Hernandez Jr. “Now, with over 26,000 users and a growing ecosystem of companies creating platform-compatible products, it’s clear that the industry is adopting the Avid MediaCentral Platform to speed workflows, enhance collaboration, and improve media production processes across the board.”