The Team and the Technology – two things to show off at IBC2022

IBC2022 is upon us once again and this year (as every year) we have big plans. 

For those of you who keep up with our blogs and content, you’ll know already about ‘The Bridge Show’. We launched this during lockdown, ostensibly as a way to keep in contact with our customers, business partners and industry peers. But it served a (not-so) secret second function; it allowed us to not only talk-the-talk in the field of IP production and distribution, but to actually walk-the-walk. Putting out a full-scale studio production every week using Bridge Technologies tools gave us unrivalled insight into what our customers need and want, and allowed us to adapt our offerings accordingly. 

And since so much of our technology is about making data meaningful and usable through intuitive visualisation, it makes sense that when it comes to something like IBC where we have the chance to actually show audiences the full potential of our technology, we’d want to bring our Bridge Show on the road (and potentially on the boat too, as we host and enjoy some evening canal cruises around Amsterdam with our good friends and business partners). This means that on the booth we’ll have a studio section, with many of our engineers and guest speakers delivering segments explaining the intricacies and benefits of the full suite of Bridge Technologies products.

And whilst that sounds like a big undertaking, the particular benefit of our IP-centered technologies is that in reality, it’s not. The whole raison d’être of our VB440 is that it reduces bloated racks of single-purpose technology to just a single unit, and then allows for the display of vast ranges of data through any HTML-5 browser on a single monitor. We even facilitate the preview display of HDR images on SDR screens! As such, people attending the booth will gain a true understanding of just how perfect the VB440 is for the quick and effective setup of remote and distributed broadcast studios: they’ll see directly how the VB440 allows the absolute maximum of production power, with the absolute minimum when it comes to space, equipment and power draw. 

What’s in the box(es)?

It’s not just the VB440 we’ll be demo-ing. Our full range of probes – designed to provide eyes on the entire end-to-end media chain, across terrestrial, satellite, cable, OTT and IPTV –  will all be on show. We’ll be showing how these products can be coordinated through our ‘Integrated Services Monitoring’ (ISM) approach, which tailors monitoring solutions to the specific infrastructure demands of a broadcaster, and provides meaningful insight across the chain. We’ll be explaining particularly how this is facilitated as a result of our strategy of harmonisation and incremental improvement – which has recently manifested in software version 6.1. This release sees the same essential coding library and architecture used across all probe ranges, whether that be as software, embedded or appliance-based installs, and we look forward to showing you what it can do. 

We’ll also be proudly demonstrating the range of remarkable additions made to our various probes over the last two years. From the addition of JPEX-XS monitoring, to both our VB440 and VB330, to the ability for audio engineers to monitor 5.1 and 7.1 surround, or the addition of SCTE35/104 marker monitoring for ad insertion and SCTE 35 for OTT – we’ll be making use of all of it as we produce and air four days of Bridge Show content. Of particular benefit to us as we setup the on-site studio will be the fact that we recently added signal generation capabilities to our VB440 – which will allow engineers to test auxiliary equipment connections. 

Meeting industry friends

As inherently social creatures at Bridge, we’ve always loved trade shows because it gives us an ability to catch up with industry friends in an informal and relaxed environment, without any particularly underlying agenda. And with each passing year this becomes more and more important to us, as we see around us an industry mindset change that it’s starting to value interoperability and collaboration more than ever. We believe in this completely: evidence with our time spent at the recent JT-NM testing event in Wupppertal. IBC will give us the opportunity to talk tech with the companies around us who match our appetite for pushing boundaries with what can be done in the field of IP broadcast. 

And letting you meet the team…

But IBC gives us an opportunity that goes beyond being able to demonstrate our technology. It allows us to demonstrate our people. And to us at Bridge, that means a lot. 

Because our people are the core of what and who we are. They are the ones who make what we do possible. They are our philosophy. Our humour. Our drive. 

Whether it be the incredible Deniz, who has pivoted from chef to chief editor and now chops video footage just as quickly as she chops vegetables, or our office manager/Bridge Show producer Gry– an imposing figure with a headset as she (wo)mans the MCR – it’s our team who will be making our IBC Bridge Show possible, just as much as our technologies. 

And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the whole engineering crew, who work tirelessly to install and maintain the studio (though the ease-of-use and reliability of Bridge Technologies’ tech means that it’s generally the auxiliary equipment that brings the headaches). And of course our ‘front-of-house’ team – Simen, Tim (/Henrik), Rolf and Damian, amongst many others – who all bring their charisma to the camera. 

It’s all these people who will be making our presence at IBC meaningful. Because whilst we’ll be proud to demonstrate the remarkable capabilities of our monitoring probes, what we’re even more proud to demonstrate is the remarkable capabilities of our Bridge Team. We hope you’ll come and join us – who knows, you might even find yourself starring in a Bridge Show production.