Information asset management solution provider Knowledge Focus has been appointed South African master distributor of Germany-based Blue Order, global provider of media asset management (MAM) solutions for the broadcast and entertainment industry.
Knowledge Focus is to distribute Blue Order`s enterprise MAM solution Media Archive and the entry-level off-the-shelf MAM solution Media Archive Professional.
Blue Order focuses on all the content-related aspects of media business, developing technology solutions that bridge the analogue and digital worlds of applications as varied as TV and radio broadcast, public archives, corporate brand management, production services, e-commerce, distance learning, scientific research, surveillance and more.
The company integrates systems and aligns operations throughout the enterprise in ways that support both editorial creativity and time-critical production schedules. The toolsets it builds to collect, index, catalogue, retrieve, manipulate, distribute and protect the copyright of audiovisual and multi-format materials are built to professional standards and have won accolades for being functionally intuitive.
"Blue Order`s industry-leading Media Archive MAM platform is already established as a critical component at several broadcasting sites across the globe," says Piet Dempsey, managing director of Knowledge Focus. "We firmly believe that the time is ripe to bring this technology to the South African market. This agreement will enable us to work as the face of Blue Order in SA and develop as a comprehensive sales and technical support channel for all customers in the area. Blue Order`s MAM know-how, together with our extensive knowledge of the South African market and experienced and highly skilled resources, can help broadcast industries and other media-intensive organisations manage their media cost-efficiently. Additionally, Blue Order`s leading global position will be further entrenched in this rapidly growing market."
Based on open standards, Blue Order`s Media Archive is a highly scalable, distributed Enterprise Media Management platform that supports the entire archiving process, from live ingest and live logging to retrieval, browsing, editing and cataloguing of audio-visual and multi-format content.
Media Archive`s open architecture allows for the integration of third-party software components, including database management systems, full text retrieval engines, streaming servers, format conversion, analysis and indexing tools from various vendors. Media Archive may also be adapted to the specific needs of the customer, interfacing to legacy databases, cataloguing and editing systems.
"We are thrilled with this agreement and look forward to working with Knowledge Focus," says Jeremy Bancroft, Sales and Marketing Director, EMEA, Blue Order. "We are confident that their support will enable us to quickly gain considerable share in this important market."
"The South African broadcast industry is rapidly moving into the digital age. Our partnership with Knowledge Focus will give South African customers access to the same technology that has already been successfully implemented in Europe and North America," he concludes.
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Blue Order provides turnkey media asset management (MAM) solutions, helping customers improve workflow efficiency, enhance product quality and generate new business opportunities. Media and entertainment companies, corporations and public institutions use Blue Order`s digital asset management product suite to support their entire digital production workflow incorporating live ingest and live logging to retrieval, browsing, editing and cataloguing of any digital audio-visual and multi-format content.
The Blue Order approach to media asset management solution development includes monitoring, proofing and incorporating best-of-breed technologies. The company collaborates with customers to conduct in-depth research projects ahead of market trends and to test proof-of-concept in `live` production settings. Blue Order maintains close partnerships with some of the world`s leading media equipment and information technology suppliers to ensure flexible configuration options and seamless interoperability with legacy systems and third-party tools.
Knowledge Focus
Established in August 2000, Pretoria-based Knowledge Focus specialises in digital asset management and markets a range of products to help customers manage their information assets. The company supports and serves organisations that need to retrieve information quickly and accurately, and focuses specifically on the retrieval and preservation sectors. Knowledge Focus has extensive experience in the competitive intelligence and strategic marketing intelligence markets, and is a master reseller for a number of exciting technologies that enable these business functionalities.
These include media asset management (MAM) solutions for the broadcast and entertainment industry, as well as RetrievalWare from US-based company Convera.
RetrievalWare is a knowledge discovery platform that combines proven enterprise search and categorisation capabilities with dynamic classification methodology to help organisations automate knowledge management and discovery processes. The solution maximises return on investment in vast stores of unstructured information by providing highly scalable, fast, accurate and secure search across more than 200 forms of text, video, image and audio information, in more than 45 languages.
Knowledge Focus` clients include Eskom, Technikon SA, Gensec, Kumba Resources, Government, M-Net and NEMISA.
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