IBM announced that BeBop Technology has tapped IBM Cloud to create a cloud-based film and video editing service to help speed and ease the production of media and entertainment projects.
BeBop’s new IBM Cloud-powered namesake platform provides secure, remote editing and lowers video production costs. IBM officials said BeBop is the first virtualized cloud-based editing platform tailored for the needs of the entertainment industry.
Running on IBM’s SoftLayer infrastructure as a service, BeBop provides users with video editing and post-production capabilities that address long-standing piracy and editing workflow problems.
“Via SoftLayer, BeBop enables production companies to globally disperse workflows both cost-effectively and realistically,” said Bruce Long, co-founder of BeBop Technology, in a statement. “Companies can engage the best talent in the world and work collaboratively, regardless of location, and take better advantage of regional tax credits to considerably drive down production costs.”
Long said BeBop chose IBM Cloud as the foundation for its platform because of its use of high performing, GPU-equipped bare metal servers and multi-monitor support.
“In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace, film and video creators require dramatically more efficient production tools and processes,” said Steve Canepa, general manager of Global Media and Entertainment Industry at IBM, in a statement. “Softlayer’s secure and reliable cloud architecture provides a highly scalable and dynamic platform specifically designed for next-generation video-cloud services.”
In addition to SoftLayer, the BeBop solution integrates a cloud media management solution from software developer Teradici, whose Pervasive Computing Platform technology creates secure, high-performance virtual workspaces. Typical cloud-based media management systems move a project’s content files between editorial facilities. The more those files move, the more prone to error and piracy they become, IBM said.
However, to overcome that challenge, the Teradici Pervasive Computing Platform transmits only pixels—not files—to ensure a risk-free editing environment. As a result, typical post-production workflow is reversed. Instead of taking files to the editing tools, BeBop takes the editing tools to the content—which is kept secure on IBM Cloud.
“The BeBop platform provides a much-needed solution for filmmakers looking to collaborate with remote teams while keeping files secure,” said Diane Merrick, vice president of marketing for Teradici. “By incorporating the Teradici Pervasive Computing Platform on IBM Cloud, BeBop removes any concern of actual film footage or intellectual property getting into the wrong hands.”
BeBop also speeds up post-production workflow by eliminating the need for team members to download massive files before working on them. Instead, editors and post-production staff can remotely access and manipulate the project files while they are securely kept on IBM Cloud servers.
BeBop will launch for general availability in the first quarter of 2016 and is currently in private beta with notable film studios, television networks and digital content producers as well as post-production and visual effects companies, the company said.
In other Big Blue cloud news, IBM recently announced that New Zealand-based application developer and emergency network provider, CLOUD M, has migrated its emergency alert tools and system to IBM Cloud for greater reliability and performance.
BeBop Taps IBM Cloud for Video Editing Platform
Auckland-based, CLOUD M develops and manages the cloud-based Alerter emergency communications system. Through a mobile app, a simple Web interface and backend database and distribution system, Alerter enables government agencies, communities and families to broadcast emergency updates in real-time, to help people coordinate responses to avoid harm and establish recovery plans. Audio and visual alerts can be sent to emails, text addresses, smartphones or social networks.
After encountering increasing reliability and performance issues with its cloud network provider, CLOUD M turned to IBM through the company’s Global Entrepreneur Program. Through that partnership, CLOUD M adopted SoftLayer as its Infrastructure as a Service. Since then, the company has seen a 50 percent increase in performance for Alerter, from hours to minutes.
“When you’re in the emergency alert business, seconds matter,” said Richard Gill, CEO and founder of CLOUD M. “What we have now with the IBM Cloud infrastructure is a stable, always-on system that lets our software do its job for people in trouble.”
In addition, IBM announced that Ugandan IT services provider Infinity Computers selected IBM to provide cloud, analytics and IT services to support a wide range of new Web and mobile offerings for its clients.
Infinity Computers—or I3C—provides a range of services to clients in East Africa, South Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. The portfolio includes services for developers in the East African tech startup community, Internet domain registration, Web and cloud hosting, as well as fiber optic and mobile communication installation.
According to IBM, I3C chose Big Blue’s cloud solution and services over competing offerings from Microsoft and Huawei, citing customer care and technical support, competitive pricing, solution agility and global capabilities. I3C is counting on IBM to expand its business footprint in East Africa and to serve a growing number of Asian and European clients by providing quicker and more efficient access of services.
Previously, I3C hosted all its servers on premise and was running into several limitations such as Internet bandwidth capacity, scalability, unstable power at the server-room level, and inadequate customer care and technical support to meet the needs of its clients.
Since beginning the transition to IBM earlier this year, I3C has reported 40 percent improved performance in accessibility and speed of provisioning services to clients and 45 percent lower operating costs from reductions in support resources, Internet bandwidth requirements and electrical power consumption.
New offerings provided to I3C customers through IBM include storage-as-a-service, data warehousing and back up services, and hosting for mobile-enabled Websites and databases. In addition, I3C customers will have access to analytics for mobile applications allowing them to improve workflow processes in specific business functions such as sales and marketing intelligence and customer care.
With IBM’s tools and services, I3C also will be able to examine user demographics like the number of Web page visits, their country of origin, what mobile devices are being used to access their content as well as screen resolution and preferred user language. This will enable them to enhance their mobile Web-based marketing campaigns and the end user experience.
