First Commercial Deployment of MAXedit® in the U.S.

March 12, 2009 - PRLog -- MONTREAL, Canada – MaxT Systems Inc., developers of server-based media applications and high-performance storage solutions, today announced the first commercial deployments of its MAXedit® Server Edition in the United States.  The HD/SD multi-user, browser-based craft editing solution was bundled by Bitcentral as part of two recent sales of its Precis® 4.0 News Production System. The systems will be deployed at KBAK in Bakersfield, California and KBCI in Boise, Idaho—two CBS affiliates owned by Fisher Communications.  

Bitcentral, a leading manufacturer of news production and distribution systems, based in Irvine, California, recently endorsed MaxT’s MAXedit Server Edition as a complementary editing solution to its Precis system workflow.  Having certified and integrated MAXedit with Precis, Bitcentral offers the combination as part of a turnkey news production system.

“Both KBCI and KBAK immediately recognized the benefits that MAXedit’s browser-based editing functionality brings to their workflow,” said Diane Severns, senior account manager for Bitcentral.  “Prior to adding MAXedit, the stations were performing all editing in dedicated non-linear edit bays, which can be very limiting especially in the hectic hours leading up to the newscast.  MAXedit gives the news team the freedom to edit from any desktop across the station, anytime, and to work collaboratively to produce a deadline-driven, high-quality news product.”  

With its unique server-based design, MAXedit enables customers to set up a scalable multi-seat editing environment without the need for specialized workstations or dedicated network infrastructure. MAXedit expands newsroom productivity without increasing capital budgets, while reducing engineering and maintenance costs. MAXedit supports virtually any broadcast video formats. It complements Precis — which manages the tapeless HD/SD news production workflow from ingest to air—spanning media management, editing, and archiving. Precis’ support for file transfer to a station’s server combined with MAXedit’s distance editing capabilities enable reporters to begin crafting their stories from the field while the news team in the station can share and edit the same file-based media for the fastest, most streamlined path to air.

"These new systems are a quantum leap from tape-based production to a highly efficient, file-based news workflow," said Lee Wood, Regional Director of Engineering, Fisher Communications.  "While migration to tapeless and HD production is an expensive, daunting challenge, Bitcentral is making the transition easy and cost-effective. As the broadcast news business becomes more competitive, these two systems work in tandem to help us streamline costs, increase productivity, and attract and retain a loyal audience."

Also included in Bitcentral’s turnkey news production system sales to KBAK and KBCI was MaxT’s Sledgehammer, a high-performance network storage device that provides a centralized online raw media repository with maximum sustained real-time streams. Sledgehammer can be accessed by any editing system.  Designed for demanding applications, such as broadcast news, Sledgehammer is already in use by many Precis customers as part of their tapeless news workflow.

About Bitcentral, Inc.

Bitcentral provides innovative solutions that transform the management, production and distribution of the news. Established in 1987, Bitcentral delivers cutting-edge turnkey systems that combine proven broadcast and network computing technologies to enable end-to-end digital workflows. With a growing suite of solutions, Bitcentral changes the way broadcast news does business. Bitcentral is headquartered in Irvine, CA. For further information, contact Charlie Grisham at (800) 214-2828 or visit the company’s website at www.bitcentral.com.

About MaxT Systems Inc.

MaxT Systems Inc. (www.max-t.com) develops applications for media management, preparation and editing, as well as networked media servers and storage infrastructure solutions. Max-T's media-aware storage and server solutions deliver high performance over commodity networks, using smart software that runs on industry-standard hardware. Media management and preparation tools are tightly integrated within the product line, delivering enriched functionality in a single, versatile solution. The company pioneered the development of shared storage solutions that can be simultaneously accessed over both data and video networks and multi-user server-based editing applications deployed over LANs or as a service over the Web. Max-T offers products with unparalleled performance at the lowest total cost-of-ownership in their class.

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