TV Asia Plus
Asia Image
Invalid username or password!
Free Magazine Subscription
Printer-friendly version
bcareview: Proof is in the pudding
1 July 2006Visitor numbers are reportedly on the upswing, but how do they translate, in actual terms, for the exhibitors at BroadcastAsia 2006?Staged from 20-23 June, BroadcastAsia 2006 was once again the choice platform for the region’s burgeoning broadcast trade. Themed “Digital: The Journey Forwardâ€, the exhibition cum conference attracted 12,700 visitors from around the region, an increase of over 30% from last year. Occupying the expanded booth space were 847 exhibiting companies from 47 countries featuring technologies such as IPTV, high definition, mobile broadcasting and video-on-demand.
This year’s show also boasts a strong international showing and nine group pavilions from countries such as China, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, Singapore, the UK and the USA. Industry leaders making their presence felt at BroadcastAsia2006 include Tandberg Television, Nokia, Panasonic, Thomson, Harris Corporation, Snell & Wilcox, Co-ship, Scopus Network Technologies, Sennheiser, DVB – Digital Video Broadcasting, Barco, Quantel, Qualcomm and Conax.
According to Stephen Tan, chief executive of Singapore Exhibition Services Ptd Ltd, the organizer of the event, this year’s theme is in line with BroadcastAsia’s positioning to embrace the digital revolution and constantly stay at the forefront of changes within the industry.
“The industry is experiencing significant shifts in the way content is handled, which ultimately provide more choice and control for the ever-demanding consumer. Digital technologies that were only talked about in previous years has become a reality on the show floor this yearâ€, Tan says, alluding to an arrival of sorts for digital technology.
A clear indication that digital technology has evolved from mere speculation to actualization can be seen from this year’s exhibitors, many of which displayed the latest products in broadcasting, including handhelds, internet protocol television (IPTV), video on demand, personal video recording, digital audio broadcasting (DAB), computer graphics and animation, conditional access control, and high-definition (HD) technology.
Technology on the move
Mobility appears to be the driving force behind today’s broadcasting technologies, running the gamut from IPTV and high-definition to mobile broadcasting and video-on-demand.
One innovative company has even repurposed the existing technology found in handheld devices, by future-proofing them. Singaporean company Innoxius Technologies showcased a first-of-its kind plug-in dongle that turns a PDA into a multi-system mobile digital TV receiver for standards such as DVB-H, DVB-T, T-DMB, DAB and enhanced packet mode DAB standards in various spectrum ranges.
Meanwhile, wireless music has been racing up the charts, as far as contributing to the lion’s share of China’s wireless value-added services (WVAS) revenues. China’s wireless music market was worth $247 million in 2005, having overtaken that of the traditional music industry, according to BDA China, China Audio & Video Association head Liu Guoxiong. This has prompted mobile operators like China Mobile to enter the wireless music market by setting up their own music portals to provide music downloads and subscription services. The company has also partnered MTV to roll out its wireless music billboard in April 2005.
French exhibitor Visiware featured the world’s first triple-play gaming offer available on TV, mobile and broadband. Visiware’s technology allows games to be played on the TV at home then continued on the mobile or Internet. Gamers can pick up exactly where they left off without missing a level or starting a game from scratch.
BroadcastAsia also saw exhibits from DVB-H, DMB and Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, which demonstrated the capabilities of each standard to bring content onto handhelds.
Singapore’s masterplan
The Singapore pavilion presented one of the most eye-catching booth displays at BroadcastAsia 2006. Tented by a giant maroon-colored canopy, the Singapore pavilion’s HD Technology showcase was presented by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), along with industry partners.
There to promote the adoption and deployment of HDTV in Singapore, MDA continued to galvanize the support Asia Image July 2006 17 of local service providers and content producers to develop and deliver HD content and services.
Exhibiting alongside MDA’s HDTV displays were some of the companies that are developing applications and solutions for HDTV, IPTV and DAB technologies. Among them, Kikker Interactive and Intervol Convergent Media Solutions are under MDA’s Digital Technology Development Scheme, which provides funding for the development of innovative products or processes that will result in value-added services, products and technology to the broadcast industry, and boost the standard of Singapore-made applications and services worldwide.
Kicker Interactive has developed an interactive ticketing system to be used on the open TV platform, which allows the viewers of digital cable TV to be able to book movie tickets using their TV sets. Intevol is the brainchild of Translator, a J2EE middleware engine that enables providers to develop an iTV platform with no upfront investment in technology or specific training required.
Eric Tachibana, Director, Intevol Convergent Media Solutions, elaborates on the company’s product:
“One of the problems facing the ITV market today is the lack of content, and part of the reason is because it’s very expensive and difficult for developers to learn the proprietary environment of interactive television, and so what we provide is a translating service. It’s a middleware that will allow developers to code in HTML, a language that they are familiar with. So this allows the broadcaster to attract content developers from just about anyone. And these content developers can either develop new applications for the ITV framework or they can repurpose their existing web applications in an ITV framework. Of course, in that process they do have to make some changes to their user interface, but they can take a lot of that existing code and repurpose it.â€
In keeping with Singapore’s launch of HDTV trials, a first for South-east Asia, the local government announced a masterplan known as Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) on the opening day of Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX2006), incorporating BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT. Outlined in the plan is a goal to equip every Singaporean household, with a school-going child, with a computer by the year 2015. Making the announcement, Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, stresses:
“The capacity to innovate and create new business models, solutions and services will enable Singapore to be more competitive in a globalised environment. Equally important is the ability to integrate resources and capabilities for economic resources and digital opportunities for all Singaporeans.â€
In the same blueprint that serves to propel the infocomm sector to greater heights, Singapore has plans to increase its infocomm export revenue to S$60 billion within the next decade, and create 80,000 more jobs for the sector.
Such announcements may bode well specifically for the local infocomm industry, they further bear testimony to the attractiveness of Singapore as a hub for M.I.C.E. (Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition) events.
As the physical and conceptual groundwork is being laid for Singapore’s integrated resorts at the Marina bay area – designated to be the Republic’s answer to Las Vegas as a world-class destination for entertainment and M.I.C.E. events – it is up to shows like BroadcastAsia and its counterparts to set the stage for bigger things to come in the future. And as far as the figures released on the most current BroadcastAsia is concerned, things seem to be picking up.
Quality visitors that matter
According to the show organizers, the visitor numbers have increased by 30% to 12,700 this year. Since BroadcastAsia 2006 is perennially organised in conjunction with – and at close proximity to – CommunicAsia 2006 and EnterpriseAIT 2006, some have wondered about the type and quality of visitors spilling over from the other trade shows, and whether they give the illusion of a genuinely good turnout. However, many exhibitors that Asia Image spoke to were not concerned about physical numbers, but rather the quality of their visitors.
Echoing this shared sentiment is Darren Budrow, international sales manager Asia, Ross Technologies:
“For us, it’s not really the number of people that they say is in the show but truly the quality of visitors we do get. So regardless of what they publish, it matters whether our existing clients, potential new clients as well as every single one of our local business partners are here, and that’s why we’re here! This show gives us an opportunity to network with them and give them the latest training and updates on our products and have them showcase it to their clients.â€
Calling their exhibition “a good representation of our entire product catalogueâ€, Budrow reveals that the size of their booth this year is similar to those in past outings. On display at Ross’ booth are its multi-definition switcher products, including the Synergy MD.
For other exhibitors, BroadcastAsia also offered inroads into the Asia Pacific markets. Tony Taylor, chairman and CEO, Transmedia Dynamics Ltd, who is looking forward to close a sale that arose from a contact established during last year’s show, says: “We’re hoping to announce a sale in the Asian region next month. If we do close the deal, then we have BroadcastAsia 2005 to thank, because we met the sales contact at our booth this time last year.â€
TMD’s main products deal with workflow management of broadcast facilities. The company recently announced the integration of its Mediaflex Media Asset Management and Workflow solution with the Omneon’s MediaGrid active storage system, which was launched at NAB 2006. Mediaflex is a product suite for the global media and broadcast industries that combine asset management, workflow and resources management. Implemented in a number of sites in Europe, TMD’s products are slated to be introduced to the US market as well as Asia, which currently only has one site in Singapore. On the core competency of the Mediaflex, Taylor avers:
“It has the ability to take physical legacy media assets and transition them into the digital media assets, but managing both together. It’s a workflow management system that is specifically designed for the broadcast media industry.â€
Taking a macro view of the trade show industry, Bill Roberts, director of product management, Autodesk media & entertainment division, asserts:
“For us, there are two types of trade shows. Firstly, the ‘world shows’ when you look at shows like NAB and IBC which are very much larger and they look at global changes that are happening. Then we look at shows like Broadcast Asia, where it’s very important that all the countries in this area come together and have a chance to look at not just the technologies but also all the changes that are happening… the switches to HD, the changes in distribution technologies etc… all of these happen at a different pace and all of them require sort of a galvanizing moment.â€
While the announcement of the HD trials and HD broadcasts of the World Cup generated a lot of focus and interest in HD television, it also attracted much attention towards Autodesk’s recent unveiling of its Lustre HD. The industry has been abuzz with enthusiasm over the 2K/4K digital colour grading system going HD.
Yet not one to rest on laurels, Roberts reveals that Autodesk products are constantly being refined, based on feedback from the customers and end users. In fact, he is such a believer in customer feedback that he hopes to extent this concept – of using shows like Broadcast Asia as a mining ground for customer feedback – company-wide.
“I encourage everybody who works in my company to get out there and talk to customers. Because the only way you’re going to understand what their needs are is to understand how they use their products, what they do and where they have trouble and it highlights areas where we can bring in new products to the market and solve problems. That’s how we brought Toxik and Lustre into the market.â€
Toxik is a software solution for collaborative digital compositing, which allows its user to create visual effects and high-resolution film content.
Although the technological products were predictably the mainstay at Broadcast Asia this year, the good ol’ peripheral and support tool makers were not to be left out. Standing in front of a colorful collage display of comic drawings – definitely a contender for most creative stand design – Heidi Tobin, Marketing Manager, Miller Camera Support, reports that her booth has seen “good, quality visitorsâ€.
One of the main attractions at Miller’s booth is the newly introduced Sprinter II lightweight ENG tripod range that promises half the set-up and pull-down time required for news crews. Featuring the Miller Sprint-Loks-Dual, side-action leg locks, the operator simply adjusts both stages of a two-stage tripod, using one hand. And it can be done pretty speedily too. It probably takes Heidi as much time to set up her tripods as it does for her to size up a potential customer. When it comes to describing what constitutes a quality visitor, perhaps Heidi says it best: “They know what they want, and they know what they want to buy.â€
