Most broadcasters have some kind of media asset management in place. These systems can be very robust, and generally cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars including software, integration and training. axle doesn't compete with these systems. Where it can be useful is in the kinds of challenges which pop up dynamically in the broadcast environment. These can be as straightforward as the need for new functionality, unstructured collaborations and the evolution to distributed production
teams, as sports and reality content become more important. Often, adding
these functions to an enterprise system will be either very cumbersome and
time-consuming, or even impossible based on the available budget.
Problems you can solve with axle:
Function-specific teams, eg. Ingest
Many broadcasters are building ingest teams, responsible for bringing in unstructured media from a wide variety of sources. You may want to create a separate small workgroup to handle this function, with no limitations on the types and formats of media being handled. axle is a good "first-pass" tool to support such a team, one step up from simple shared storage.
Collaboration around work in progress
Many media asset management systems are strong on metadata handling and archival workflows, but are less well suited to work in progress. axle is especially good at the kind of live collaboration that has to happen in such situations. For instance, you can quickly and dynamically set up comment threads around an asset, email (both automatically and manually) alerts as any new comments are posted, and even send out links for review to new participants who aren't ongoing users.
Reality and Sports production in the field
The shift from scripted shows to sports and reality means that more and more production teams have to work away from the main broadcast facilities equipped with media asset management. axle is perfect for these teams of two to ten people, who will often be working with minimal support and infrastructure.
Independent film/episode production
Just as in the broadcast field, the movie industry is seeing an accelerated shift to small, cost effective teams. Simply having a shared storage pool, searchable metadata for various takes, and the ability for dailies to be reviewed immediately by producers from a remote location are big advantages over a "sneakernet" or Fedex-based workflow. |
Key features of axle:
Integrate with your existing facility
axle adapts to your workflow rather than dictating it. Just point axle at your existing SANs and file systems, and it will automatically log the media.
Powerful search
Find your media through a simple search interface, or set up workflows by implementing smart searches that automatically list for you media corresponding to preset criteria.
Make it easy to share assets
With one simple installation, users in any department can quickly view what assets are available in another department so you can maximize the value of your existing material
Share across stations
With axle’s browser-based interface and cloud streaming option, you can not only share across departments but share across stations. Any station in your group can browse your assets and if they have axle you can browse theirs. You can even upload media remotely through the browser.
Be instantly updated as material becomes available
axle monitors your filesystem and generates a new asset as soon as it arrives there. You can even set up email notifications if you want to know if an asset has arrived or a user has made a comment.
Low cost logging
Don’t tie up an expensive editing seat for simple logging operations. axle lets you log from a simple browser anywhere on the network, and then you can export an EDL for the editor to finish the work. |
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