Tata Communications has been chosen by VICE Media to build a high-performance, completely cloud-based platform for global media asset management, storage, content contribution and distribution.
It will enable VICE Media to capture content anywhere in the world, and quickly make it available to hundreds of editors in production centres in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Toronto and London, for publishing and broadcasting across VICE Media channels.
The new platform is underpinned by Tata Communications’ Media Ecosystem, which offers VICE Media a full set of media solutions. It includes the Video Connect service, which complements VICE Media’s local area network and provides the company with a global area network of video contribution and IP connectivity.
With speeds of up to 10Gbps, Video Connect enables a seamless transfer of video files and remote collaboration between VICE Media teams across different geographies as if they were in the same location. The Media Ecosystem is also equipped with Tata Communications’ IZO Cloud Storage, which provides VICE Media with secure, reliable private cloud-based media storage for read-write access and archival of data-intensive video files.
Previously, some of these files were stored on-premise which made teamwork challenging between different studios. All VICE Media’s files, including videos in HD, 4K and UHD formats, are also now replicated in multiple private cloud locations around the world in real-time for back-up and disaster recovery.
Additionally, Tata Communications has integrated VICE Media’s media asset management and file acceleration tools into the new bespoke platform, creating an end-to-end solution for around 5,000 VICE Media employees around the world.
VICE Media’s offering spans across broadcast and OTT channels such as VICE News, VICE Sports, Noisey (music), Motherboard (technology and science), Broadly (women’s interest), i-D (fashion) and Tonic (health and fitness), among many others. Content on these channels consists of news reports, live and recorded events, documentaries and a wide range of other types of videos.
“VICE Media is a new media company using IP-based broadcast infrastructure to achieve greater velocity and overcome geographical boundaries,” said Sam Rosen, VP at ABI Research.
“Tata Communications provides the glue that holds this solution together with IP transport and storage capabilities, bringing content to central locations, between central locations and studios, and feeding the distribution network when assets are ready to publish. The use of IP within broadcast supports the need for rapid support of nascent standards including 4K, 8K, high dynamic range (HDR) and 360 video.”
