Computer

2008 forecast: media asset management in the video world

Each year, CIOs and IT managers everywhere ponder the technology initiatives that will shape their businesses in the coming year(s). In 2008, organizations will undoubtedly look at how they are managing (or not managing) their video assets. The use of video in the enterprise has grown astronomically over the past few years, creating a logistical nightmare for many organizations. Employees spend countless hours locating a single clip, while teams fail to take advantage of existing assets, simply because they don't know what they already have. When it comes to managing video, the requirements are clear' store it, find it, and retrieve it.

However, it's not always so simple in the real world. Asset management systems are comprised of ingest/import, transcode, playout, storage, and export components. Bringing all these pieces together in a seamless fashion can tax even the largest IT department. Fortunately, in 2008 new turnkey solutions are available that bundle professional-grade hardware with Media Asset Management (MAM) software to provide an 'out of the box' experience that can save months of implementation time.

Putting it together- software for media asset management

Beyond physical storage, the right MAM software can help you streamline the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of digital media, saving significant time and money. The following features can help boost productivity and collaboration:

* A browser-based interface provides immediate access to projects and files from any location' critical for remote and multi-site collaboration. Using a standard Web browser gives end users more flexibility and greatly simplifies administration tasks, as there's no need to install and maintain separate client software.

* An intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) simplifies the learning curve.

* User rights policies give centralized control over who can see, upload, and download files, letting you provide access, while protecting assets. For example, an end user can have full rights for Project A with view-only rights for files associated with Project B.