Designing for the Future: Graphics Tech

Providers see uptick in sales of systems to streamline work flows for multiplatform delivery

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/5/2011 12:01:00 AM

Demand remains hot for newer graphic systems and systems that can streamline work flows for multiplatform delivery, with all the major providers pointing to a significant uptick in sales.

“If we hit another financial downturn all bets are off, but for now, we are very optimistic,” says Petter Ole Jakobsen, CTO of Vizrt, who adds that the company’s second-quarter results were some of the best in Vizrt’s history.

One key focus for Vizrt at IBC will be solutions that help automate graphics for multiplatform delivery. “Finding better ways to get all this content to all these devices without adding more people to the production chain is one of the biggest headaches our customers face,” notes Jakobsen.

Jakobsen also sees strong demand for the company’s centralized graphic solutions, technologies that allow people to better incorporate social media feeds into their on-air broadcasters and applications, leading to anchors controlling graphics via an iPad.

“CNN pioneered touch screen graphic technology, but now we are getting a lot of interest in systems that allow people to do the same thing from an iPad without investing heavily in a multi-touch screen system,” he notes.

Chyron also saw a big bounce in sales during the second quarter, thanks in part to its BlueNet graphics work flow platform and cloud-based Axis offering, which streamline work flows and reduce costs of graphics creation, says Phil Carmichael, vice president of product marketing at Chyron.

“There are a lot of places where there is less staff being asked to pump out more graphics, and they understand that collaboration in the cloud and systems to share graphics are going to be key to their future,” Carmichael says.

Ross Video has also seen growing demand for its XPression graphics systems, which has been used in a number of high-profile on-air events, including the Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and such shows as So You Think You Can Dance and the Twitter feeds that were shown on The Voice, notes Jeff Moore, executive VP of sales and marketing at Ross Video. “We’ve seen an increase of 300% in our XPression business over the last year,” Moore says.

At IBC, a particular focus will also be on the integration of XPression with Ross’ solutions that make it easier to share graphics both within a station and between different facilities in a broadcast group.

“We showed a prototype at NAB and have just seen our fi rst deployment with Allbritton’s stations,” says Moore.