Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for media and entertainment, today announced that leading broadcast media services company Arqiva has established an innovative content ingest and delivery system based on Signiant’s software that ushers in an elegantly simple and highly efficient approach to file-based workflow automation. Already in use by BlackBelt TV in the U.S. and others, the new automated playout system gives Arqiva a competitive edge in serving its customers – providing speedy remote content ingest, automated workflows and complete visibility into content delivery.  In turn, Arqiva’s customers get the assurance that their content reaches Arqiva swiftly in the proper format with the highest quality and efficiency.

More broadcasters rely on media service providers to create and deliver content in the multiplicity of today’s required transmission formats and languages – a process that necessitates manual intervention to assure that assets arrive intact and ready for use. Signiant’s accelerated file movement solutions automate and manage the file-based delivery process enabling Arqiva to streamline its operations, moving content quickly 24/7 from anywhere in the world over existing networks, and reducing the steps needed to send or obtain content for greater efficiency and scale.

“With Signiant, we’re enhancing delivery-to-air with exceptional time-savings and control,” said Gregory Burns, Workflow Specialist at Arqiva.  “The software, not our operators, now moves content to and between the customer’s location and our Media Centre. As we develop new services the platform will also be used to automate the movement of content and metadata between our Media Centre and other platforms such as VOD or IPTV. We are saving time that we can now be applied toward other, more important business-enhancing activities.”

“We relied on Signiant software and Arqiva to meet tight deadlines for Blackbelt TV’s Africa launch by accelerating the movement hundreds of hours of programming from LA to London,” said Adrian Schmotolocha, COO at Blackbelt TV. “Using Arqiva’s intelligent hub as a single playout source lets us reach a range of different markets fast.  Signiant’s software helped average out our throughput rates to get much faster transmission speeds – and reduce errors, enabling us to confidently meet our compressed operational timeframes.”

“For broadcasters, Signiant clears a wide-open traffic lane on a crowded freeway.   You look out on the traffic jam and think you could never get to where you need to go on time, and then, with Signiant, suddenly you can.”

Signiant’s system-to-system file movement solutions remove human intervention from many steps in the playout workflow.  A private cloud solution for sharing media assets across the broader partner ecosystem, Signiant’s Managers+Agentsâ„¢ software features a workflow engine that interrogates Arqiva’s automated database and queries whether or not ingested content is known to the system. If it is known, the workflow engine delivers it appropriately – either into online storage or various transcoding applications as required. If content is not known, the system will store it offline, or use customer-provided metadata to publish records into the automation system – instead of requiring operators to check the system for content, note anything that’s missing, or see if content and metadata have arrived.  Software agents installed on the sending and receiving ends manage and track content movement to certify delivery.

“Broadcast service providers don’t have time, staffing level or budget to keep working in the same old way,” said David Nortier, General Manager, Signiant EMEA.  “To stay competitive, they must find new ways to automate traditionally manual processes while ensuring the highest quality.  Signiant is delighted to help organizations such as Arqiva and others to enhance efficiency to their operations and to that of their customers.”