Microsoft's IMM Gains Traction

AMSTERDAM -- Today at IBC2007, Microsoft Corp announced a new early adopter customer and an expanded partner ecosystem for Microsoft® Interactive Media Manager (IMM). Italian broadcaster RAI has joined the Technology Adoption Program for IMM, which will enable RAI to manage the media work flow process as it digitises assets for viewing over the web through a variety of screens and devices. Also, Microsoft is making an expanded set of capabilities available to media companies in conjunction with IMM. To deliver these capabilities, Microsoft has forged relationships with independent software vendors (ISVs) including FileCatalyst, Marquis Broadcast Ltd, Rhozet and TeleStream Inc, and system integrators (SIs) such as Accenture, Ascentium Corp, The Computer Merchant Ltd, Intellinet Corp, SpeakTECH and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.

RAI will use IMM as a media management solution for digitising assets from tape and MXF files and outputting the digitised files into a storage area network. IMM provides RAI with the ability to search and browse assets after they have been ingested, a mechanism for streamlining the review and approval process and reporting functionality.

“Broadcasting has quickly evolved from distributing a single asset through a single medium to a well-defined audience to now needing to fully monetise that single asset over a variety of mediums. That change in the business model has a tremendous impact on how we treat content in the back office,” said Robert Cecatto, head of engineering RAI TV Production. “Microsoft has been forward- looking in trying to help organisations such as ours identify technology solutions to the new challenges we face in the digital age.”

New and expanded features enabled through these alliances, such as fast and efficient file transfer, real-time media encoding and edit decision list (EDL)/sequence transfer, will help improve and simplify the user experience and allow media companies to easily utilise existing technology investments within the work flow process. The new offerings, from many of the leading companies in the media and entertainment industry, demonstrate the important role that IMM provides as a central hub for the media work flow process and platform.

“The interest we’ve received from the media industry since our initial launch at the NAB2007 conference in April has been tremendous,” said Gabriele Di Piazza, managing director for Media & Entertainment in the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “The support that we’re announcing today is an important validation that the media industry recognises the value IMM provides in simplifying the digital content life cycle by connecting people, processes and rich content.”

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)