First large-scale Hybrid playout implementation in France underpins master control renewal programme

Imagine Communications, empowering the media and entertainment industry through transformative innovation, has implemented a new modular playout system at France Télévision. The deployment is part of a project to renew the master control functionality for France Ô, which provides television services for the nation’s overseas territories.

The installation includes 28 of Imagine Communications’ Versio™ playout systems. Versio incorporates server, graphics, subtitling and master control switching – in a single system, reducing complexity and minimizing space requirements.  A key component of Imagine’s seamless and non-disruptive transition proposition, Versio simultaneously supports IP and SDI content.

France Ô’s new master control is designed to improve the performance and efficiency of the service it provides to viewers in overseas territories, including French Guiana in South America, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Caribbean, Mayotte and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, French Polynesia and New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna in the Pacific Ocean. The cloud-native Versio’s modular nature enables France Télévision to achieve two primary business goals: reduce capital investments and operational costs. Versio is powered by Zenium™, Imagine Communications’ microservices-based platform that helps enable the development of flexible and modular solutions and supports the rapid integration of new technology.

“We were impressed with Versio’s ability to support a hybrid environment,” said Erwan Roth, CTO at France Ô. “Imagine worked with us on a proof-of-concept trial at the end of 2015, which satisfied us that we could achieve what we needed, and reduce Capex and Opex. It also gives us the flexibility to quickly and easily create custom functionality, such as audio processing, in the future.”

France Télévision is a long-time user of Imagine Communications products and systems, including routers, servers and monitoring. In its France Ô operation it uses Imagine Nexio® servers and shared storage, and one of the requirements for this project was a seamless integration of servers across the entire infrastructure — from ingest to playout.

“This is the largest implementation of Versio playout in France to date,” said Mathias Eckert, vice president EMEA at Imagine Communications. “It is part of a continuing relationship with France Télévision, and we are working together to tackle complex technical challenges within a mission-critical environment, ensuring the channels remain on air without interruption during the migration to the new platform. We see France Ô as a model of the future of rich, multi-channel playout environments that meet the challenges of a competitive environment without compromising quality and reliability.”

For more information about Imagine Communications, please 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.