Goodbye celluloid

Various firms are involved in studying digital production that has posed challenges for the communications business in managing high-definition (HD) broadcasts for TV. A €2m Networked media laboratory of the high Performance Networks group of the University of essex is aimed to explore efficient deployments of ultra-high-definition multimedia applications over high-performance networks. The Post Group, the US company involved in movie production, has approached Israeli communications specialists at MRV Communications, to deploy an internal wireless 10GbE system using free-space optics. Cisco Systems is promoting a concept called the Media Workflow Platform, aimed to assist large broadcasters that handle much of their production flow in-house. The basic idea behind the concept is to broadly interlink the data center and network infrastructure technologies, and stimulate more sharing and cross-collaboration within that environment.