Open Text's Artesia Digital Media Group Chosen By Siemens To Power Digital Media Initiative At Major UK Broadcaster

Open Text Corporation, a global leader in enterprise content management (ECM), announced recently that Artesia, the Open Text Digital Media Group, has been selected by Siemens IT Solutions and Services as an essential technology component of the BBC's Digital Media Initiative, DMI. As a result of this decision, Artesia will form a global partnership with Siemens to make the technologies and know-how involved in delivering DMI available to other broadcasters who are considering tackling a similar technical challenge.

Siemens IT Solutions and Services, as the BBC's technology partner, has been working with the BBC to architect the solution for DMI and select the key technology vendors. Siemens will now act as the prime integrator on the project, leading the service-oriented integration of these components to deliver a solution that meets the needs of the BBC.

Artesia's role in supporting Siemens, significant in both size and scope, will be in the core management of the video, audio, images and associated information such as actors, writers, producers, title and associated rights.

The Artesia DAM solution will contribute to many important functional elements of the initiative including:

• The implementation of a comprehensive metadata model with cataloguing capability.
• The provision of comprehensive search capability enabling all users to search the archive for media for re-use, then preview this material from the desktop.
• The provision of a stock management capability to enable all users to search across both traditional physical (tape) assets and digitized media assets.
• The integration of a number of sub-systems with the archive via a messaging and orchestration technology.

"This project is very much in keeping with the history and strategic direction of Open Text, which has active engagements with leading media and cultural institutions around the world," commented John Shackleton, Open Text's President and Chief Executive Officer. For Artesia, this opportunity builds on over a decade of digital media management experience and is an acknowledgement of the maturity of its solution in terms of scalability, performance and reliability. D. Scott Bowen, President of Open Text's Artesia Digital Media Group, noted moreover that with DMI, "Artesia enhances and expands our role as a vital enabling platform in digital broadcast and entertainment, and reinforces our product-line commitment to this important community."

Elisabetta Castiglioni, Executive Vice President of the Global Media Business within Siemens, commented: "Siemens went to market to find the best-of-breed suppliers for DMI and we are happy to have identified Open Text as the right partner, with the right product, to make a significant contribution to the project. DMI represents another example of the innovation that we are bringing to the broadcasting industry and we look forward to working with Open Text to deliver it."

About DMI
DMI is a pan-BBC project designed to prepare the organisation for an on-demand, multiplatform digital environment and provide a reusable foundation for the cost-effective delivery of new and emerging audience-facing services.

The solution will support any asset that the BBC creates or broadcasts via any medium, including web, broadband, analogue or digital terrestrial TV and mobile phone. All content will be captured, edited, finished and archived using file-based systems and made available to operators at their desktop PC.

Key benefits of the initiative will include improved opportunities for collaborative working and a reduction in total production costs through the introduction of end-to-end tapeless workflows. The move from tape to file-based working will reduce the time and costs associated with tape-handling activities and give authorised users access to work-in-progress content from the point of its inception, regardless of the platform. The DMI solution will also enable high quality information about assets to be captured and enhanced throughout the production process, facilitating the effective exploitation of that content over the asset's lifetime.

The DMI solution is a flexible, component-based architecture,incorporating:

• Digital library - provides core management of all video, audio and images created by the BBC and its suppliers, together with its associated information (including rights).
• Work-in-progress production system - allows producers to search, view, sort, storyboard and store work-in-progress content.
• Craft edit integration - enables the tapeless transfer of browse and broadcast quality content and its associated metadata from the work-in-progress environment to a mix of Avid and Apple non-linear editing systems for finishing.
• Portal solution - custom-designed user interface providing users with secure access to the functionality provided by the underlying solutions.
• Enterprise services - to manage the effective movement of media essence across the network and allow content to be transformed into the required formats.
• Bundle and package - to support the sharing of essence and metadata across platforms and with any requesting system e.g. web publishing/playout.

About Siemens IT Solutions and Services
Siemens IT Solutions and Services is an internationally leading provider of IT solutions and services. It covers the entire IT service chain from a single source, from consulting to system integration, right through to the management of IT infrastructures. In addition, Siemens IT Solutions and Services extends the range of offerings of the other Siemens Groups to include software developments and IT solutions. With its comprehensive know-how and industry-specific knowledge, Siemens IT Solutions and Services provides measurable added value for its customers. Founded in January 2007, the new Siemens Group employs around 43,000 people and posts annual sales of about 5 billion euros according to U.S. GAAP, of which some 60 percent are generated outside of the Siemens group.for more information visit: www.siemens.co.uk/it-solutions.

About Artesia, the Open Text Digital Media Group
Open Text, an enterprise software company and leader in enterprise content management, helps organizations manage and gain the true value of their business content. For more information about Open Text, please visit: ww.opentext.com.

Artesia, the Open Text Digital Media Group provides leading enterprise Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions that help companies manage their rich media content for more efficient, collaborative, consistent and creative marketing and production workflows. For more information go to: www.artesia.com.

SOURCE: Open Text Corporation