Three Media Associates has sold its new Xen data translation engine to two US network broadcasters and an unnamed UK production firm.

The engine aids the flow of information across transmission playout and rights management systems, and offers “massive” savings, the company said.

It provides a bridge between data that is distributed across formats, such as Excel spreadsheets and other applications.

The engine runs on a network connected server and a Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud solution is in development. Xen is built on a Microsoft .Net Framework, which costs from £5,000, with .net, C# or C++ plug-ins developed by Three Media to provide functionality such as data verification.

Three Media director Dave Headdon (pictured) said the system would be particularly useful for broadcasters with a portfolio of channels.

“Efficiency drivers are pushing this,” he said. “The industry is not in a good state so it is right that we look at the bottom line. We could not identify an existing tool that accomplishes these things simply, accurately and cost-effectively, so Xen was really born out of our own frustration.”

He added: “The broadcast industry has concentrated on the clever, the sexy and the new, but there has been less governance of how IT systems are deployed, especially when compared with the banking or travel industries.

“The result is that it can be a struggle to do the basics such as getting data in and out of systems. This system can save time and improve quality if there is no manual rekeying of information, so the return could be massive.”

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