Pebble Beach, Blue Lucy partner on Beluga workflow engine
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 08 March 2017

Automation and integrated playout specialist Pebble Beach Systems has partnered with media asset management software developers Blue Lucy on a new workflow engine, content management and video processing solution.

The new Beluga integrates closely with Pebble’s Marina automation system to offer targeted file delivery, content preparation, and integrated QC workflows without the need to deploy an enterprise MAM solution.

Beluga’s content management approach focuses on the tasks of preparing content for playout and distribution. Checking segmentation, programme content, allowing for conformance editing, performing quality control and generating reports are carried out in the playout pipeline. Beluga also adds transcoding and proxy creation to Marina’s existing toolset. As the number of users grows, Beluga’s simple web-based interface enables teams to interact with the media dynamically without having to install dedicated client software.

“Our Marina automation system currently delivers a level of content management which suits many deployments, but the addition of Beluga to the range opens up the possibility of more advanced functionality where it’s needed, without the customer having to implement a complex and potentially expensive enterprise level solution,” said Pebble CEO Tom Gittins. “We’re excited to integrate it into our range of playout solutions and delighted to be working with Blue Lucy on its development.”

Beluga is designed to bridge the gap between content preparation, linear playout, and the creation of fast-turnaround video-on-demand-ready media. Its drag-and-drop workflow builder makes it easy for operators to create and edit workflows on the fly.

Operation is via an HTML5 Web user interface, and the solution can coexist alongside an existing MAM. Users can configure workflows to suit their requirements, and Beluga can support multiple users. Also, a Beluga system can link to multiple Marina systems, so that media can be restored by Beluga based on the earliest usage time of media across all systems.

“We’re proud to be partnering with Pebble Beach Systems to introduce Beluga, powered by Blue Lucy,” said Julian Wright, founder and CEO of Blue Lucy. “Beluga has been designed to deliver content supply chain management in a targeted way to enhance Marina’s strong feature set, via a cost-effective workflow engine and an easy to use asset management system which can scale from small systems (four channels) to enterprise MAM.”