IBC 2010: Telestream Completes Acquisition of Anystream, Debuts Vantage 2.0

Telestream, a provider of digital-media tools and workflow solutions, has completed acquisition of Anystream, a provider of enterprise-class video-production and -management solutions. Telestream’s video-transcoding and workflow-design and -automation expertise is expected to combine with Anystream’s large-scale media-production-management capabilities to address IT-based production workflows.

Anystream’s products, services, and customer base will be incorporated into Telestream to provide media and entertainment organizations with complementary and synergistic capabilities, increased market presence, and expanded customer services.

“We welcome Anystream customers and employees into the Telestream family,” said Telestream CEO Dan Castles. “The addition of Anystream’s product offerings and expertise ensures that our combined customers are provided the deepest, most integrated workflow solutions to safeguard their media assets and ensure their overall business success.”

Telestream will continue to sell its Agility and Avalon video-production and -management products at current prices and will continue to provide customer service and support for all Anystream customers.

The Anystream team will be integrated into Telestream, with key members of its management team maintaining leadership roles. The acquisition adds a world-class engineering and support team, an East Coast office, and a global key-account sales team to Telestream’s worldwide business.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, since both companies are closely held private companies.

Telestream Shuffles Senior Management Team

On the heels of the Anystream acquisition, Telestream has also announced several new additions to its senior management team. Kevin McCartney joins Telestream’s executive staff as VP of Agility business; Anna Greco was promoted to VP of client services, enterprise products; and John Pallett was promoted to director of product marketing, enterprise products.

“The acquisition of Anystream, along with our history of aggressive growth, requires us to expand our management team to support a larger company, more products and deliver on our continued commitment to provide superior customer service to our customers,” says Dan Castles, CEO at Telestream.

As a result of the recent Anystream acquisition, Kevin McCartney joins Telestream’s executive team as VP of Agility business. In this position, McCartney will oversee Telestream’s new East Coast U.S. operations and play a key role in integrating the Anystream staff and products into the Telestream structure. McCartney brings over 18 years of key account sales and sales leadership experience in enterprise software and hardware solutions to Telestream.

Anna Greco joins the executive team as VP of client services for Telestream’s enterprise products. In addition to leading Telestream’s worldwide services, Greco will oversee the integration and deployment of Telestream’s next-generation video transcoding and workflow management solutions. Prior to her new position, Greco lead Telestream’s enterprise product marketing and business development organization. Greco has over 20 years of engineering and marketing experience in the media industry.

John Pallett replaces Greco as director of product marketing for Telestream’s enterprise products. Prior to this position, Pallett was responsible for managing Telestream’s Vantage and FlipFactory products. Pallett has more than 12 years of experience developing and managing computer graphics and digital media software applications for entertainment and 3D design applications.

Telestream Debuts Vantage 2.0 at IBC 2010

IBC 2010, Telestream has announced the release of Vantage 2.0, a major new release to the company’s enterprise-class workflow design and automation software. Vantage provides unified video workflow management, allowing media and entertainment companies to design and automate a wide variety of video workflows. Version 2.0 adds several new features, including a visual Workflow Portal that enables operators to easily browse assets, enter metadata, and forward media; powerful, new video analysis capabilities; and an SDK that allows seamless system integration with Vantage workflows.

“Vantage has been extremely well received by the marketplace since its introduction at NAB2010,” says said Barbara DeHart, Sr. VP worldwide marketing and business development at Telestream. “Continuing on a path of aggressive product development with excellent customer feedback, Version 2.0 adds important new capabilities required in the creation, repurposing, and delivery of digital video content,”
The new Vantage Workflow Portal enables media and entertainment companies to design and deploy an operator-facing user interface in minutes, without the need for custom web engineering. The Workflow Portal allows the use of one workflow platform to address a variety of needs that previously required several purpose-built solutions, such as extracting web highlights from news and VOD production.

The new SDK enables customers and third-party systems to access and control Vantage workflows through a web services interface. Media and entertainment organizations can now integrate Vantage directly into their existing software systems. New workflow features in Vantage 2.0 include support for SQL mirrored databases and Avid Interplay 2.2.

Vantage offers intelligent, run-time decision making capabilities as part of an automated workflow. Integrated analysis allows users to create adaptive workflows that react to content properties and quality checks. New analysis capabilities in Version 2.0 include level and gamut checking, blockiness measurement, and interstitial black detection and removal. These features allow Vantage to respond to – and in many cases correct – errors without requiring operator intervention. The ability to detect and remove black segments within long-form content introduces another hands-free operation.

“Vantage version 2.0 will allow customers to streamline the human element of their video workflows – adding direct human interaction as necessary in a cost effective way – or removing human intervention when a fully automated workflow is desired,” says DeHart.

Vantage 2.0 will be available in Q4 2010 from Telestream’s worldwide network of direct sales and distributors.