This week at the IBC2008 conference held at the Amsterdam RAI conference center, Microsoft Corp. will showcase the advanced media platform technologies and partner ecosystem that enable organizations to create, manage, deliver and monetize an endless variety of engaging digital entertainment experiences. Microsoft and its partners provide solutions to support the full content life cycle, including content creation and management, media business management and monetization, and digital content delivery.

Microsoft is making several announcements at the show, including new customer adoption for the Microsoft Interactive Media Manager solution with Abertis Telecom; adoption of Microsoft Silverlight by European broadcasters and the upcoming inclusion of additional codecs such as H.264 and Advanced Audio Coding in the Silverlight plug-in; and developments for the Microsoft Mediaroom Internet Protocol television and multimedia software platform including the Microsoft Mediaroom Advertising Platform, Mediaroom Migration Program and an interactive TV application developed by emuse technologies using British Broadcasting Corp. content, which will be demonstrated for the first time at the show.

Digital media delivery requires media and entertainment companies to manage a variety of complex customer and partner engagements. Microsoft provides the tools to help them manage their assets across the many different facets of their business, including broadcast resources, licenses, program schedules and libraries; traditional and digital advertising; supply chain management; and customer relationship tracking.

Digital Content Creation and Management
Microsoft solutions enable media companies to create rich media content and, in doing so, to better manage production workflows across multiple systems and departments. Abertis Telecom S.A. and Microsoft are working together on the development of a new service for management and distribution of TV content over the Internet on Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation.

This platform, created as an Abertis Telecom initiative, is specially created for management of distribution of digital terrestrial television channels and content over the Internet, with an innovative presentation environment. The Abertis Telecom service is utilizing Microsoft IMM as the backend workflow solution to acquire and manage digital content.

Digital Content Delivery and Monetization
Microsoft announced that Microsoft Silverlight, a cross-browser multiplatform plug-in for delivering media experiences and rich interactive applications on the Web, continues to gain momentum. Silverlight adoption by major media, broadcasting and content companies has continued to grow, including innovative new VOD offerings from TF1, RTL, France Television, iTV and MSN UK, and live and on-demand sports channels from L’EquipeTV and Setanta. Microsoft also will preview H.264 and AAC playback support in Silverlight, together with Microsoft Expression Encoder H.264 authoring and Windows Server 2008 for delivery.

FAST is demonstrating the flexible and scalable FAST Enterprise Search Platform, which allows organizations to create unique user experiences and change the way people interact with information by uncovering new revenue streams, improving business decisions and increasing productivity. FAST is working with the U.K. national news organization Times Online to index, search and ultimately monetize 200 years’ worth of The Times content online, from 1785 to 1985, including 20 million articles, photographs, advertisements and letters to the editor from such figures as Queen Victoria, Charles Darwin and Karl Marx. The system has a high-quality response time, aiming for two seconds per search, as well as the ability to completely re-index the archive within 24 hours to accommodate new content or topic structures.

Finally, following the release of the Windows Media Center TV Pack this summer, Microsoft is now announcing the delivery of a new worldwide platform for broadcast TV on the PC, Protected Broadcast Driver Architecture, which enables the PC-TV hardware ecosystem to integrate virtually any free or premium TV service into Windows Media Center while satisfying the TV industry’s requirements for strong content protection for pay TV. Leading companies rallying behind PBDA at the show include AVerMedia Inc., Buffalo, Hauppauge Computer Works Inc., I-O Data Device Inc., NEC Electronics Corp., NXP Semiconductors and ViXS Systems Inc.

Continuing to underscore Microsoft’s commitment to broadcast TV on the PC, Windows Media Center and Hauppauge also will demonstrate the U.K’s first Freeview-certified PC tuner solution, which utilizes the new PBDA platform.

Satinder /ITvoir network