Inflight Productions Deploys Signiant to Accelerate and Manage the Delivery of Airline Entertainment Programs
Intelligent File Movement Software Core to Tapeless Production and Distribution Workflows; Reduces Media Acquisition and Distribution Costs by Up to 50%
BURLINGTON, MA (September 12, 2012) – Signiant, the market leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industry, today announced that UK-based Inflight Productions (IFP) has deployed Signiant’s Media Exchange™ and Managers+Agents™ software to accelerate the production and distribution of inflight entertainment programs. As a leading provider of engaging, tailored video content for airline passengers, IFP has implemented Signiant’s solutions as part of a broader effort to reduce, and eventually eliminate, tape from its digital production and distribution workflows.
IFP’s efficient digital workflows depend on Signiant for the secure, reliable, accelerated movement of entertainment content between the company’s London and Los Angeles locations and business partners worldwide. Workflows include content acquisition from the major studios, distributors and broadcasters who supply cinematic and television media; additional processing such as transcoding, dubbing and subtitling; and final delivery to a variety of IFE (inflight entertainment) platforms.
“Signiant’s solutions were the only ones that ticked all the boxes in meeting our file movement requirements, one of the biggest being the ability to provide iron-clad security for transferring full-resolution Hollywood movie assets. By moving away from tape, we’ve been able to reduce our costs by as much as 50 percent, and our business processes have been improved across the board,” said Andrew Beer, Vice President of Technology, IFP. “At a strategic level, Signiant’s file transfer capabilities have enabled us to take a more global view of our business and push critical tasks out to remote partners that are better equipped to handle them, such as regionalization of content. We’re also looking at Signiant as the digital delivery mechanism for packages of content that we can resell to other types of customers, such as smaller airlines and train operators, and targeting presentation platforms that will help us drive entirely new revenue streams.”
IFP has deployed Signiant Managers+Agents to facilitate the acquisition of cinema titles from The Lab, a post-production house that distributes inflight assets from a major motion picture studio. Panasonic Avionics, a leading supplier of the digital playout systems installed on aircraft, has Signiant software installed in Lake Forest, CA, and will be adding nodes at its regional media centers. In London, Signiant Media Exchange is used to manage exchanges of non-cinema content with the Los Angeles office and to acquire television assets from content providers worldwide, including the BBC.
In Los Angeles and London, secure Signiant servers manage the acquisition of movie titles and television shorts, moving them into clustered video storage where they can be accessed by IFP personnel for downstream processing according to the specifications of each airline client. Depending on the audience and the region of travel, the video might require editing to remove offensive language and images, and the title may need to be dubbed or subtitled into many different languages.
With Media Exchange, IFP is able to transfer the material rapidly and seamlessly to vendors in many different parts of the world to access services that are not only more cost-effective, but can provide cultural expertise for the target audiences; for instance, a localization agency in Hong Kong that applies Cantonese-language subtitles, or a team in Singapore identifying material that might be objectionable to a specific audience. If the content is to be delivered to the newer digital inflight playout systems, Signiant is also used to transfer the edited video to transcoders for conversion to the required formats, and then final delivery to an integrator or directly to an airport hub.
“Among the many ideal applications of Signiant’s technology is inflight entertainment – with requirements for the secure, automated global movement of content from multiple sources to be delivered in many different formats and versions,” said Matt Thomas, Director of Sales, Signiant. “IFP has a tremendous forward-thinking strategy for leveraging Signiant solutions to reduce the expense and delays of tape delivery processes and, in the bargain, develop more streamlined business processes and new revenue streams.”
Editor’s Note: Signiant representatives will participate in the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) 2012 Expo in Long Beach, CA, September 17-20. To arrange an onsite meeting, please contact Signiant at +1 781-221-4051.
About IFP
We are IFP. We deliver exceptional entertainment and engaging experiences throughout the passenger journey. We specialize in effective solutions for the inflight entertainment industry, including content acquisition, technical delivery, bespoke video and audio production, applications, Web design, publishing and media sales. We have unrivalled experience, playing an instrumental role in developing and shaping the inflight entertainment industry throughout our 32 year history. We have extensive global coverage with offices in London, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Auckland, Dubai, Singapore and Duisburg. We work with leading clients including American Airlines, Air France, Air New Zealand, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Eva Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Philippine Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airlines.
To learn more, contact IFP at info@weareifp.com or call us on +44 (0) 20 7400 0700.
