Etere - Oasys Comparision

18 October 2012

The purpose of this competitive analysis is to provide a snapshot of Etere company and system compares to Oasys. This document details a brief comparison between Etere and Oasys systems, paying special attention to all different characteristics between the 2 solutions

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Oasys Automated Playout Limited was formerly known as ON-AIR Systems Limited and changed its name to Oasys Automated Playout Limited in February 2012. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Aylesbury, United Kingdom. The headquarter is still in UK but development center and support are in Croatia, to cut cost. They recently hire so ex Miranda ITX people.
• Founded in 1987
• Always on edge technology broadcast systems
• Engineering team represents unique cross section of broadcast & IT experience
• More stable company in the software for broadcast
• No ownership or core people changes from the start
• Always profitable, never close one year with loss
OASYS Support
Support Service, R&D Team and Sales people are based in different country. They are not a connection from the company’s departments for a deep analysis of the software problems. ETERE Support
Ready 24/7 – ON site
• All Etere systems are designed for remote support
• Our software logs are able to show us everything happens including: Communications with devices, Key pressed and History
• Support team is next door with our Developers for an advanced analysis
• Best of the world
1) Media Management is very limited and also connected to the file format (from brochure)
“Oasys Media Manager software manages media files on a central storage
device and is used by Oasys Player to load media that is not present within its local media cache. Media Manager is installed on any Windows Server which has an appropriate Matrox device to enable file decoding; typically this is a Matrox X.OPEN card/dongle (XOPEN-100/XOPEN-150 – SD Only, XOPEN-300/XOPEN-350 – SD/HD). It can be used to manage a shared content store either on local disk volumes (e.g. Windows Storage Server as provided on NAS systems supplied by OASYS) or on network attached storage." (from brochure: http://www.oasys.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/OASYS-Media-Manager-product-information.pdf)
As MAM is very limited, a solution for small archives. Oasys has deliberately chosen not to implement a SQL database in its solution, instead an XML file is created for each clip to hold any metadata required and then creates an independent index on each machine of all files within its locally managed volumes. The indexing method used by Oasys uses a memory centric architecture, with asset data stored in RAM. It is inherently faster compared to a heavy weight database and as each machine holds its own independent index in inherently more resilient as there is no single point for metadata storage. 2) Playout seems not to control even a router without an external SERVER.Additional Live source inputs can be configured in order to allow back-to-back live events from different sources with transition effects and/or to allow additional live sources to be used in squeeze (DVE/Picture-in-Picture) effects. Configuration of each additional input requires additional licensing and may require a different hardware specification. Configuration of multiple IP stream sources count as a single input for licensing purposes. Note: only the first 4 SDI inputs can be used for squeeze effects
3) Scheduling is very limited: it requires a Matrox dongle (US$ 1000), each station OASYS Scheduler can be installed on any Windows 7 workstation where a valid USB licence dongle has been installed; however, some functionality may be limited due to the hardware configuration:
• Display of media thumbnails requires network access to the media file and installation of a Matrox X.OPEN card/dongle
(XOPEN-100/XOPEN-150 – SD Only, XOPEN-300/XOPEN-350 – SD/HD)
4) NO Web interface
5) NO Low-Res integration, all is done in hi-res and requires an expensive Matrox dongle
6) NO Secondary devices control except router 'via a separate server'
1) Media Management is a comprehensive solution for a flexible, modular and effective management of your digital assets. Etere MAM is a highly effective digital content management solution that is designed specifically to streamline the process of ingest, indexing, storage and retrieval of digital assets. A centralized solution for handling digital content and its associated metadata, its effective implementation both increases operational efficiency and maximizes the return on investment of digital media
Key features:
• Powerful search function
• Fully integrated with Browsing
• Comprehensive Asset management
• Content Management system
• Web Accessibility and NLE Integration
• Defined Workflow for Increased Efficiency

2) Playout: unique distributed architecture provides a system that can grow and change to fit all broadcaster needs. It runs on Windows OS and controls all the broadcast system devices. Completely fault tolerant
3) Scheduling is very limited: strategic planning of your schedules with the maximum of programming flexibility and improved leveraging efficiency
4) Web interface in Etere is perfectly integrated with all modules, where authorized users will be able to search, browse, request, upload and even carry out the most important advanced operations implemented on your system
5) Low-Res integration, Etere provides an advanced browsing solution integrated in all solutions, from ingest to playout, including free web client with streaming capabilities
6) Etere is able to controls all devices: videoserver, logo generator, titlers, etc
Oasys: Company History
Oasys Automated Playout Limited was formerly known as ON-AIR Systems Limited and changed its name to Oasys Automated Playout Limited in February 2012. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Aylesbury, United Kingdom. The headquarter is still in UK but development center and support are in Croatia, to cut cost. They recently hire so ex Miranda ITX people.
Etere: a Success Story
• Founded in 1987 • Always on edge technology broadcast systems • Engineering team represents unique cross section of broadcast & IT experience • More stable company in the software for broadcast • No ownership or core people changes from the start • Always profitable, never close one year with loss
Support Service for Etere
2 Different Support Services
OASYS Support Support Service, R&D Team and Sales people are based in different country. They are not a connection from the company’s departments for a deep analysis of the software problems. ETERE Support Ready 24/7 – ON site • All Etere systems are designed for remote support • Our software logs are able to show us everything happens including: Communications with devices, Key pressed and History • Support team is next door with our Developers for an advanced analysis • Best of the world
OASYS
Oasys Solutions
1) Media Management is very limited and also connected to the file format (from brochure) “Oasys Media Manager software manages media files on a central storage device and is used by Oasys Player to load media that is not present within its local media cache. Media Manager is installed on any Windows Server which has an appropriate Matrox device to enable file decoding; typically this is a Matrox X.OPEN card/dongle (XOPEN-100/XOPEN-150 – SD Only, XOPEN-300/XOPEN-350 – SD/HD). It can be used to manage a shared content store either on local disk volumes (e.g. Windows Storage Server as provided on NAS systems supplied by OASYS) or on network attached storage." (from brochure: http://www.oasys.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/OASYS-Media-Manager-product-information.pdf) As MAM is very limited, a solution for small archives. Oasys has deliberately chosen not to implement a SQL database in its solution, instead an XML file is created for each clip to hold any metadata required and then creates an independent index on each machine of all files within its locally managed volumes. The indexing method used by Oasys uses a memory centric architecture, with asset data stored in RAM. It is inherently faster compared to a heavy weight database and as each machine holds its own independent index in inherently more resilient as there is no single point for metadata storage. 2) Playout seems not to control even a router without an external SERVER.Additional Live source inputs can be configured in order to allow back-to-back live events from different sources with transition effects and/or to allow additional live sources to be used in squeeze (DVE/Picture-in-Picture) effects. Configuration of each additional input requires additional licensing and may require a different hardware specification. Configuration of multiple IP stream sources count as a single input for licensing purposes. Note: only the first 4 SDI inputs can be used for squeeze effects 3) Scheduling is very limited: it requires a Matrox dongle (US$ 1000), each station OASYS Scheduler can be installed on any Windows 7 workstation where a valid USB licence dongle has been installed; however, some functionality may be limited due to the hardware configuration: • Display of media thumbnails requires network access to the media file and installation of a Matrox X.OPEN card/dongle (XOPEN-100/XOPEN-150 – SD Only, XOPEN-300/XOPEN-350 – SD/HD) 4) NO Web interface 5) NO Low-Res integration, all is done in hi-res and requires an expensive Matrox dongle 6) NO Secondary devices control except router 'via a separate server'
Etere Solutions
1) Media Management is a comprehensive solution for a flexible, modular and effective management of your digital assets. Etere MAM is a highly effective digital content management solution that is designed specifically to streamline the process of ingest, indexing, storage and retrieval of digital assets. A centralized solution for handling digital content and its associated metadata, its effective implementation both increases operational efficiency and maximizes the return on investment of digital media Key features: • Powerful search function • Fully integrated with Browsing • Comprehensive Asset management • Content Management system • Web Accessibility and NLE Integration • Defined Workflow for Increased Efficiency 2) Playout: unique distributed architecture provides a system that can grow and change to fit all broadcaster needs. It runs on Windows OS and controls all the broadcast system devices. Completely fault tolerant 3) Scheduling is very limited: strategic planning of your schedules with the maximum of programming flexibility and improved leveraging efficiency 4) Web interface in Etere is perfectly integrated with all modules, where authorized users will be able to search, browse, request, upload and even carry out the most important advanced operations implemented on your system 5) Low-Res integration, Etere provides an advanced browsing solution integrated in all solutions, from ingest to playout, including free web client with streaming capabilities 6) Etere is able to controls all devices: videoserver, logo generator, titlers, etc