The BBC has been assessing cloud technologies over the last year, developing a proof of concept to help inform their future strategy.

The project was designed as both a theoretical and practical exercise to increase the UK public broadcaster’s understanding of the viability and applicability of cloud technologies. The lessons they have learned are likely to be of interest to any large media organization.

The proof of concept addressed questions of business management, technology, legislation, policy and standards, and transition. It addressed multiple use cases, including media file transfer and workflow, transcoding and rendering, and complicated image processing for archive images and video. Private, hosted private and public approaches were all within the scope of the project.

Business Drivers

For the BBC there are three main business drivers behind exploring cloud technologies. They have the potential to improve the speed to delivery for certain products and services, there may be financial benefits in terms of consolidation and CapEx avoidance, and they may help to deliver a more integrated, collaboration-focused organization.

A number of key conclusions and recommendations have been developed based on this pioneering work. They cover areas such as governance, service levels, risk and compliance, scalability, interoperability and performance. Chris Chambers, head of the BBC’s Media Network Integration Lab, will share the main outcomes of the proof of concept at an upcoming EBU workshop on cloud technologies.

EBU Workshop

Out of the Cloud, into the light? will take place on 20-21 November at the EBU, Geneva. It is open to all and is free for EBU Members. Information and registration at: tech.ebu.ch/cloudworkshop