Al Aan TV trusts VSN’s media solutions to control and manage its news production workflow. The Emirati broadcaster was looking for a flexible solution that could be integrated with the existing environment in its facilities. Thanks to its capabilities to work with third-party systems, the VSNExplorer suite has become the core of these operations at Al Aan TV, thanks to the installation of the VSNExplorer MAM and VSNExplorer PAM modules, together with the NRCS plugin VSN NewsConnect, VSNOne TV and VSNLivecom. 

Al Aan TV was looking for a MAM and PAM solution that could orchestrate the workflow of its news production and, at the same time, was compatible with the systems that comprise the channel’s environment, composed by AVID iNews, Telestream’s transcoding engines, and the SGL archiving system. After a first contact through our website, Al Aan TV verified how the VSNExplorer suite and the rest of the media solutions were perfectly integrated into the workflow, thanks to their flexibility and scalability. 

Currently, Al Aan TV performs its entire news production and editing workflow with VSN. VSNExplorer is the central orchestration platform with its modules VSNExplorer MAM, VSNExplorer PAM, and the VSN NewsConnect plug-in that works integrated with Avid INews. The entire flow is managed from VSN systems, from ingest, where VSNOneTV servers are used, through metadata enrichment, proxy editing, transcoding, and archiving of all media. Also, with this solution, Al Aan TV incorporates the automation of content distribution to platforms and social networks into its workflow. 

In parallel to these processes, VSN’s systems also participate in the broadcast workflow by taking care of the in-studio playout with VSNLivecom, which works via integration with the NRCS system and the rest of Al Aan TV’s news production systems. 

VSN’s solution adapted to Al Aan TV’s requirements regarding flexibility, remote working and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, the channel valued the customer service offered by the company and the possibility of reducing its infrastructure ownership costs.  

As a result, Al Aan TV incorporates a MAM system that allows greater flexibility to integrate with other third-party systems, a more cost-effective solution, and expanded support services. Not only that, but it benefits from a MAM system that brings greater archiving efficiency with rich, structured metadata to archive, preserve and retrieve their media quickly and efficiently. 

“We are proud that Al Aan TV has trusted us for its news production. The sales process was smooth, as from the very first moment we saw that VSN’s solutions fit like a glove to the Emirati broadcaster’s needs. This is yet proof of the extraordinary work of our team and that we must continue walking this path to keep expanding in this region” – Aitor Falcó, EMEA Sales Manager 

VSN will be visiting CABSAT 2023 next week (16th – 18th May). If you would like to schedule a meeting with our Sales Representative in the region, please contact  aitor.falco@vsn.es

This was not just any NAB Show: we were celebrating the convention’s 100th anniversary! Founded in 1923, the National Association of Broadcasters held its first meeting in a New York hotel, where 23 representatives from 16 radio stations – the television stations would arrive a few years later – gathered. 

The increasingly common use of radio and advances in television would overlap with the following meetings, which would increase in audience and space. After milestones such as the first television broadcast, the car with radio included, the invention of FM radio and the first linear TV grids, the NAB Show already had more than 3000 participants in its 1946 edition, only one year after the only edition canceled to date due to World War II. Since then, the event would fix its venue in Las Vegas, and there would be no more cancellations until the arrival of the pandemic in 2020.

After those two years of hiatus and the return to activity in 2021, the meeting in Nevada is recovering affluence, although there is still a long way to go to reach previous levels (+90,000 visitors in 2019) or its absolute record (+100,000 in 2001).

Despite this, the organizers of the NAB 2023 conference released data reflecting a total attendance of over 65,000, up 24% on last year. A greater international attendance was also noted – nearly 17,500, up 50% with eleven new countries among the 166 concurring at this edition – and exhibitors, who totaled a third more than in 2021, exceeding 1200.

At VSN, it has been years since we could not conceive the NAB Show without our traditional Dealers’ Breakfast. This time, the event took place at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas, where we had the opportunity to reconnect with our partners in LATAM and elsewhere and discuss our latest plans and product news, including the presentation of Woody Technologies and its IN2IT suite.

Undoubtedly, it is not every day that a new service is presented, and Crea Cloud  was the great protagonist of VSN’s booth. Thanks to this SaaS Cloud service, VSN’s clients can enjoy all the functionalities of this content planning and advertising system, taking advantage of the flexibility of contracting the SaaS model, a lower investment in infrastructure thanks to the cloud and an unprecedented speed in the implementation of the service. All this with commercial plans starting at €990/month.

The NAB trade show 2023 was the perfect framework to introduce the service to new and familiar visitors, in addition to the usual product news of our flagship products, such as VSNCrea, VSNExplorer or VSNOneTV.

One more year, one more NAB Show, and a very rewarding one. Would you like to watch it? Here’s a short video with some of our thoughts on it. See you in 2024!

VSNCrea takes the definitive leap to the cloud at NAB Show 2023 with the launch of its cloud service, VSNCrea Cloud. Thanks to this SaaS cloud service, VSN’s clients will be able to enjoy all the functionalities of this content and advertising scheduling system, taking advantage of the flexibility of the SaaS model, the lower investment in infrastructure thanks to the cloud and an unprecedented speed in the implementation of the service. All this with commercial plans from €990/month that VSN will present to visitors at its booth at NAB Show 2023.  

“For us, the cloud has long since ceased to be a promise of the future to become a reality. The new VSNCrea Cloud service will allow our customers to enjoy an advanced scheduling system like VSNCrea together with all the best of cloud installation. In other words, they will not have to commit to long-term investments thanks to the SaaS model, nor will they have to worry about the infrastructure, since in this cloud service VSN is the one who provides it”, commented Roberto Pascual, VSN’s Global Sales Director. 

For the VSNExplorer suite, VSN will showcase the new integration capabilities of its MAM system with Woody Technologies’ IN2IT ingest system. Thanks to this collaboration, visitors will be able to combine in their workflows the use of an intuitive, flexible and easy-to-use ingest system with all the archive, catalog, production and content distribution capabilities of a state-of-the-art MAM system such as VSNExplorer.   

VSN will be present at Booth N.1229 in the North Hall of NAB 2023 with the companies that are members of Aspire Group’s Broadcast & Media vertical. Thanks to the collaboration between the portfolio firms and the industry knowledge shared between them, VSN has more resources than ever to continue offering the best media solutions to its customers.  

“We are delighted to participate one more year at NAB Show 2023 and to be able to show the full potential of our solutions. We are aware that the challenges of the industry mean that our customers are demanding tools that are increasingly flexible, intuitive and easy to install. Our solutions have advanced a lot in these terms and we are looking forward to opening the doors of this relevant event to show the work that the company’s team has developed during these months”, commented Ricardo Quintanilla, VSN’s Head of Marketing. 

During the session, Toni and Luis showed how XenData’s LTO archiving solutions work with the VSNExplorer suite. For this, we will have to connect the XenData storage system via API with VSNExplorer. We can do it easily from the “storage nodes” configuration menu. In the demo, Toni and Luis showed how the user uses VSN’s MAM System as the administrator of all operations, while XenData has all the intelligence to control the storage libraries. If you want to find out how to do this, feel free to check out the webinar, where this integration is explained in detail. 

The installation performed by VSN and XenData at Teleantioquia is one of the most evident success cases of this integration. The broadcaster has been using an end-to-end solution in which VSN’s systems have been controlling all of Teleantioquia’s operations for more than ten years. In the latest upgrade, the Colombian broadcaster decided to rely on XenData’s LTO archiving solution for its storage. Thanks to the integration between the two companies systems, the switch was easily made and Teleantioquia now enjoys a complete and integrated archiving solution.  

“We decided to trust VSN and XenData to manage our Audiovisual and Documentary Deep Archive Storage because they are companies with great tradition and reputation in the market and to continue with the integration of our Content Management System. Both companies’ systems integrate seamlessly and provide a completely integrated archiving solution. This installation has been running smoothly and has allowed us to perform all the planned operations. We are very satisfied with the result obtained.” Julián Esteban Jiménez Digital Content Management Manager. 

XenData is a global provider of data storage solutions optimized for creative video, medical imaging, video surveillance and other applications with large volumes of large files. It offers active archive systems based on LTO data tape and hybrid cloud.  

XenData LTO archives enable storage in excess of 100 Petabytes and provide. Also, when configured as storage in a private cloud environment, they offer an attractive alternative to public cloud storage services. XenData has offices in Walnut Creek, California, USA and Cambridge, UK.  

What do you think are the main strengths of VSNCrea? 

Lorenzo Fernández: First of all, I would emphasize that we are talking about a web application, which allows us to access it from any browser. This clashes strongly with the alternatives we find in the market, which are usually desktop applications. It should also be noted that VSNCrea is designed for a multi-tenant environment in the cloud. Its development is designed from the beginning so that several clients with different channels can run on the same server. I would also focus on the integration with different video servers and the complete integration with our MAM system, VSNExplorer, and with our workflow system, VSNExplorer BPM. 

You mentioned the integration between VSNCrea and VSNExplorer. What are its advantages? 

Lorenzo Fernández: For me, one of its main advantages is the fact that with this integration, we can preview directly in VSNCrea a production that you are going to end up broadcasting on your channel. That production is in your archive, in VSNExplorer. In addition, we can segment that content. This allows you to see what you are going to broadcast and also the segmentations at the frame level that you are going to put in each program. All this is transparent to the user. Once you have configured it, when you create a production, an asset is created in our MAM system and once you have uploaded the video, that information appears in VSNCrea and you can start planning and segmenting. I think this is a very interesting addition for our clients. 

How do you think the technology of VSNCrea has evolved over the years? 

Lorenzo Fernández: When I started working at VSN in 2015, we began to think about creating a new solution. At that time, we were using a Java desktop application that was getting old due to the type of use that our clients were starting to use it for. Nowadays, anyone can work remotely, it is not necessary to be in an office and all this is easier if the application is web-based.   

At that point, we started to develop a web application, with a new service, in this case, C#, which was more modern, and the front end used Javascript. There has been an important evolution because we have gone from a desktop application to a much more updated web system. 

Which was the biggest challenge you’ve faced with VSNCrea’s development? 

Lorenzo Fernández: The integration with the rest of the applications to be able to expand the product was a big challenge. We are talking about the full integration of VSNCrea with VSNExplorer, our MAM system, and with our workflow manager, VSNExplorer BPM. This allows us to integrate with any client through our professional services team, which was a goal we set last year.   

In addition, an additional integration has been made with our user system to be able to have shared users in all VSN’s applications. Now your VSNExplorer user is the same as your VSNCrea user. 

Which aspects do you think you have improved over the last year? 

Lorenzo Fernández: During this last year, we have worked with many new customers and done many developments. The non-linear module of VSNCrea has been improved and we will work on it. Ultimately, clients want to upload their content to digital environments like YouTube or Switchmedia.  

However, that doesn’t mean we are leaving the linear part aside. We have also spent hours improving planning, service orders, contracts, rights packages, etc. We already had a very advanced work in progress, but we had to improve it and see it in operation in the clients, which is the actual fire test. We have also done a lot of integration with video servers, which, considering that it is a broadcast application, is fundamental. In the end, what our linear client needs is to be able to create a playlist to insert into a video server. 

If you could spotlight an essential aspect of VSNCrea, which one would it be? 

Lorenzo Fernández: I would say that VSNCrea is a very configurable system. We have a metadata editor that allows you to add any type of metadata to any entity. The users themselves can go in and add any metadata they need. They don’t have to request it from us; they go in, they edit it, and it automatically appears in the service orders, in the rights packages, in the contracts, etc. This is one aspect that differentiates us quite a bit from others. We also have rules for this metadata, so our customers can predefine certain behaviors.   

I would also highlight that VSNCrea is conceived and designed to be in the cloud. This is very remarkable because it allows us to have different tenants for different customers and, in addition, they can manage different channels in the BMS. In addition, they can also manage permissions to control who enters one part of VSNCrea and who has access to another. This allows different teams from the same client to work on the same application without interfering with each other. 

When you plan the development of a product, what is the most critical thing from your point of view? 

Lorenzo Fernández: From my point of view, knowing where the market is going and its trends is essential. The opinion of our customers is also crucial. In the end, it is interesting to understand how they use the application in a real case to improve it. Last but not least, we also have to consider the developers’ opinions, who, in the end, are shaping the product. They have a unique point of view to see what can be added and what can be improved.  

I start with these three premises, but we also have Toni Vilalta, our Product Development Director, who always gives us a superior view of the needs. Not only of those that users present to him but also of his own needs that he can observe in his daily use of our solutions. These are the four pillars on which I rely. 

What are the future challenges you have foreseen in the roadmap this year?  

Lorenzo Fernández: First, we need to strengthen the integration with our workflow system, which, although it is very advanced, we can improve on some points, such as periodic executions, which is a very interesting point to have in VSNCrea. Likewise, we are going to advance in the integration with several video servers. All this added to the continuous work of improving the application to reduce errors that we find and continue adapting to the needs that arise in the market.