Las Vegas, Nevada – (April 22, 2001) – At the 2001 National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Avid Technology,
Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced significant
enhancements to its integrated post-production solutions.
A major release of Avid Unity™ MediaNet, the addition of
Pro Tools® support, and a new Avid Unity Media Services
offering – Avid Unity ProEncode™ – dramatically improve the
digital media production process.
Avid Unity MediaNet version 2.0 is the newest version of Avid’s
media network for professional content creation and distribution
and includes expanded integration capabilities with support for
a broader variety of clients such as Windows 2000 and
Pro Tools Macintosh clients, port server capability that allows
Ethernet-networked systems to connect to MediaNet and
increased storage capacity of up to 7.3 terabytes.
„Efficient workflow is not just about doing things faster – it is
also about doing more and doing it better – but without
significant additional investments in time and resources,“ said
Joe Bentivegna, vice president and general manager of Avid
Media Solutions. „These releases demonstrate what we’re
driving for: workflow improvement and enhanced creativity,
without additional burdens to creative or administrative
personnel. Full support for Pro Tools by Avid Unity MediaNet,
the introduction of MediaNet 2.0, and the shipping of ProEncode
means that Avid offers more options for media sharing and
distribution along with true hands-off management and
administration.“
Avid Unity MediaNet 2.0
The support of Pro Tools software (Macintosh) on the Avid
Unity media network, introduced with MediaNet 1.2.2, will be
enhanced substantially by version 2.0. The full integration of
Pro Tools into the MediaNet environment creates
post-production and broadcast workflows that are more
seamless and productive than ever. Also introduced previously
is the ability to use file transfer protocol to remotely mount an
Avid Unity MediaNet workspace. This functionality greatly
expands the accessibility of MediaNet to both Avid and
non-Avid systems.
Version 2.0 expands MediaNet’s reach by adding support for
Ethernet-connected clients through a „Port Server“, which
provides the necessary intermediary to the MediaNet system.
This feature is critical because it allows virtually any
computer-based system to be integrated into the MediaNet
environment. Products that run on non-standard operating
systems, such as SGI-IRIX, can now become part of the Avid
Unity workgroup. „With Avid Unity MediaNet 2.0, Avid continues t
o broaden the collaborative workgroup by incorporating almost
any system our customers want to connect,“ said Tim Claman,
director of product marketing.
Avid Unity ProEncode
„Avid has always believed that sparks of creativity fly throughout
the editing process and that we can best serve editors by
managing the steps that don’t add creative value,“ said
Bentivegna. „ProEncode is a perfect example of this
commitment because it takes a bits and bytes task that can
distract the editor, and moves it entirely into the background.
What remains is a workstation that is free to explore other, more
profitable, ways to move the media.“
ProEncode fully automates the conversion of video and
audio – into Web streaming, broadband and other formats – so
that Avid editors can work on more than one revenue-generating
project simultaneously. More time to work with original media
translates into more opportunities to capitalize on new
distribution channels, such as streaming media over the Web,
interactive TV and beyond. ProEncode automates the
computing-intensive task of encoding media into formats
suitable for distribution via the Web, CD-ROM, or broadband.
Once the editor selects a format from within the Avid editing
application, the encoding is done automatically, including
monitoring of progress, handling any errors and delivering to
the correct location. The time-consuming trans-coding
operation is moved to a lower cost, dedicated CPU. ProEncode
also uses Cleaner 5 – a Media 100 offering which enables
multi-format, multi-data rate streaming encoding from a single
solution.
Pricing and Availability
Avid Unity MediaNet version 2.0 is scheduled to ship in June
2001, and pricing is not yet available. The ProEncode product
is available in conjunction with the Avid Unity shared media
network. Pricing depends on configuration, starting at $11,000
USMSRP.