Much-anticipated event kicks off NAB with insights from Imagine Communications, ABC/Disney, Comcast, DIRECTV and Microsoft

Imagine Communications, a global leader in video infrastructure, advertising systems and workflow management solutions serving media networks, broadcast stations, digital media, communication service provider and enterprise markets, today announced that its exclusive ImagineLIVE event will kick-off a week of showcasing the company’s visionary leadership and latest innovations spanning its advertising, playout, networking and distribution portfolios at NAB 2015 taking place April 11-16 in Las Vegas.

“This year’s NAB marks a turning point for the media and entertainment industry where proof of concepts and demos are yielding to global deployments and momentum behind tomorrow’s hybrid network architectures,” said Charlie Vogt, chief executive officer, Imagine Communications. “We are helping guide the media and broadcast industry with visionary leadership and ground-breaking, innovative technologies. Our next-generation video infrastructure, advertising system and workflow management solutions will be demonstrated at NAB – and they all help media companies transition away from legacy, proprietary hardware to IP-enabled, software-defined and cloud-virtualized environments that provide the freedom to grow, change and adapt.”

On Sunday, April 12 at 6 p.m., Imagine Communications will kick off NAB 2015 with the exclusive ImagineLIVE event at the Hard Rock Hotel. The record-setting event will feature keynote presentations from Mr. Vogt and Steve Reynolds, chief technology officer, Imagine Communications, and Vince Roberts, executive vice president, global operations and chief technology officer, Disney/ABC Television Group. The event also includes a “Future of Television” panel moderated by Emmy award-winning TV anchor and journalist Deborah Norville. The panel will feature Sree Kotay from Comcast, Renu Thomas from Disney/ABC, Gunter Kamper with DIRECTV, and Bob DeHaven from Microsoft.

During NAB 2015, Mr. Vogt will participate in two important industry panel discussions. On Sunday, April 12, he will join the Media and Finance Investors Conference, Business Strategy Perspectives from Industry Executives Panel, from 2:40-3:30 p.m. On Tuesday, April 14, he will be part of the NAB Super Session, “Television’s Transition to an All-IP Future – Why It’s a Big Deal,” from 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. The panel will discuss the inevitable move to technologies that promise greater efficiencies and opportunities for video broadcasting.

Visitors to the Imagine Communications booth, N2702, will experience first-hand how the company’s vision and innovation are poised to guide the media and entertainment market through the transition to a future defined by IP, software-defined networks and workflows, virtualization and multiscreen. Advanced technology and solutions at the Imagine Communications booth will include:

Cloud Video Platform: The recently announced CloudXtream™ cloud video platform for multiscreen video distribution and monetization will be demonstrated, including cloud DVR (cDVR) and dynamic ad insertion (DAI). CloudXtream helps meet the growing and complex array of video distribution requirements, including live video, video on demand (VOD), cDVR, DAI, packaging, encoding, transcoding, storage management and cloud orchestration.

Cloud Playout: The industry’s first fully IP-enabled, software-based, integrated cloud playout platform running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT platforms, VersioCloud™ simplifies the creation and management of new channels. A demonstration of VersioCloud, as well as local, virtualized playout from a private data center, will be shown – along with examples of how these playout technologies can be used to easily add additional channels, reduce risk and support disaster recovery.

TV Everywhere: From live and file media processing and ABR transcoding to Just-in-Time Packaging and advanced advertising, a variety of end-to-end, software-based TV Everywhere solutions will be demonstrated that help media companies embrace the money-making potential of multiscreen.

Software-Defined Workflow Management: Zenium™ provides an agile software engine that enables broadcasters and service providers to quickly adapt their workflows to capitalize on new service opportunities and simplify their management. In addition to showing next-generation file-based processing workflows in SelenioFlex™ File, Imagine Communications will showcase the recently announced Microsoft Azure Premium Encoder powered by Zenium. This new cloud offering for on-demand workflows provides exceptional agility and scalability for global multiscreen deployments. It also offers the quality and flexibility suited for professional media transcodes, enabling media companies to stream broadcast-quality content to virtually any device, anywhere in the world.

Software-Defined Networking (SDN): The Magellan™ SDN Orchestrator software control system for managing hybrid facilities protects customers’ existing baseband investments, while providing a clear path to an open, interoperable and IP-based future. Imagine Communications will also demonstrate the newly-announced Selenio™ Uncompressed-Over-IP (UCIP) module that provides the on-ramps and off-ramps to IP, converting SDI signals to IP streams and IP streams to SDI signals in a single, space-saving platform.

Media Processing HEVC Enhancements: New, software-based capabilities will be demonstrated that enable today’s networks to handle tomorrow’s UHD requirements, including the SelenioFlex™ Live and SelenioFlex File solutions supporting live 4K P60 HEVC encoding in real-time.

Baseband Routing: From high-density utility video routers to enterprise routers that scale to over 2Kx2K, the award-winning Platinum™ line is designed to meet current requirements and provide a path to an IP routing future. The newly-designed Platinum™ VX digital video router will also be showcased. Supporting matrix sizes up to 288×288, the Platinum VX small to midsized router provides category-leading density, reliability and fully redundant HD/SDI routing up to 3 Gb/s, at a competitive price point.

Signal Processing: The Selenio X100™ is the latest enhancement to the company’s best-in-class 1RU facility signal processors, offering a wide array of analog and digital real-time baseband video and audio processing features for baseband over IP, UHD, and other hybrid and next-generation television and production systems capabilities.

Advanced Advertising: A complete end-to-end ecosystem – from campaign management and digital ad insertion to reconciliation/billing and automated order entry and fulfillment – will be demonstrated, showcasing new developments for the Landmark™ advertising management suite. This next-generation platform leverages advanced process automation, real-time inventory optimization and intuitive analytics to quickly address business trends and make faster, smarter business decisions to optimize inventory value and drive ad spend across omnichannel, cross-platform, and multimarket operations.

Cloud-Based Traffic & Billing: Leveraging the industry’s leading media software systems, LandmarkOSI Cloud™ is a cloud-based, hosted advertising management solution that is accessible anywhere a secure connection is available, freeing media companies from the traditional tasks of managing traffic system efficiency and enabling an optimized traffic and billing workflow.

For more information on these products, visit www.imaginecommunications.com.

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About Imagine Communications

Imagine Communications empowers the media and entertainment industry through transformative innovation. Broadcasters, networks, video service providers and enterprises around the world rely on our optimized, futureproof, multiscreen video and revenue enablement solutions every day to support their mission-critical operations. Today, nearly half of the world’s video channels traverse our products, and our software solutions drive close to a third of global ad revenue. Through continuous innovation, we are delivering the most advanced IP, cloud-enabled, software-defined network and workflow solutions in the industry. Visit www.imaginecommunications.com for more information, and follow us on Twitter @imagine_comms.