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CinePostproduction: Speeding delivery of digital cinema packages for theatre release using hybrid cloud model
Technology Category
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Hybrid Cloud
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
Use Cases
- Track & Trace of Assets
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
The Challenge
CinePostproduction, a leading postproduction facility in Germany, was faced with the challenge of speeding up the ingest of media files and the delivery of large Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) to cinemas throughout the DACH region. The transition from 35-millimeter film to digital cinema posed a significant challenge for the company. Despite the shift to digital, the most common method for distributing DCPs remained the physical shipment of specialized hard disks via courier or satellite delivery. This method was not only slow and unreliable, but also costly. The challenge was further complicated by the large volume and size of the media files: DCPs typically range from 100GB to as large as 400GB. For its TV and cinema postproduction business area, CinePostproduction needed to send data sets between 150GB to 1.5TB per feature film, which occasionally needed to be transferred globally.
About The Customer
CinePostproduction is one of Germany’s leading post-production facilities and has been operating in the digital cinema market for several years. The company offers a range of services including post-production of feature films and TV-productions, duplication of DCP copies, DCP-versioning and -mastering, localization of trailers and KDM-services. CinePostproduction has been developing software solutions for over four years, including the DCP portal SHARC. This solution is used by a majority of cinemas in the D-A-CH region to download DCP cinema trailers and also offers distributors a comfortable and flexible way for DCP key-creation and -management. The company was founded in 1911 and has been a pioneer in the transition from 35-millimeter film to digital cinema.
The Solution
CinePostproduction integrated IBM® Aspera® on Demand into their new SHARC system to speed the ingest of DCPs from studios and the delivery of DCPs directly to cinemas. The SHARC system, which fully integrates Aspera on Demand running in the cloud, allows CinePostproduction to transfer encrypted, high-resolution Digital Cinema Packages (DCP) with up to 2K or 4K resolutions between the CinePostproduction Content Delivery Network servers in their data center and the participating cinemas in the DACH region. The distribution platform is extremely cost effective because theaters can utilize their existing infrastructure to achieve maximum speed delivery. They simply install the CinePostproduction download client software, which contains an embedded Aspera client, and receive DCPs directly from SHARC to the theater over their existing broadband connection. Running Aspera On Demand in the cloud allows CinePostproduction to scale up transfer capacity as needed to help meet the variable demand and provide on-time delivery to the cinemas.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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