LONDON, Aug. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Vision Cloud project, part of the European Commission's FP7 research and innovation programme, set out to bring together users, vendors and academics to develop the principles by which services and storage in the cloud can best be used for media. Because of its wide collaboration and practical outcomes, IBC is to present the project with a Special Award.

Convened by IBM's Haifa Research Lab, the project brings together 15 collaborators. It has set out a scalable, resilient architecture for services on demand, at competitive costs, across disparate domains while providing quality of service and security guarantees. Far from a purely academic exercise, the first fruits of Vision Cloud are already powering cross-media news production workflows at the Italian national broadcaster RAI.

Alberto Messina of RAI thanked IBC for recognising the project, saying that it offered "strategic value for broadcasters and media companies. Vision Cloud is a very innovative project which will provide RAI with technologies which will considerably help in the current transition towards a fully digital production environment."

Eliot Salant of IBC added that, "Over the last three years, our vision for a cloud-based object infrastructure has come to life, contributing new innovations and capabilities to media production. I would like to thank the consortium members for their teamwork throughout the project, and the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for its sponsorship."

The consortium behind Vision Cloud is Deutsche Welle and RAI as media partners, with Engineering Ingeneria Informatica (Italy), France Telecom, IBM Haifa Research Lab, Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (Greece), iTricity (Netherlands), SAP, Siemens, SNIA Europe (UK), Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Telefonica Investigacion y Desarrollo (Spain), Telenor (Norway), Umea University (Sweden) and the University of Messina (Italy).

Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC, said, "What impressed the judges most about Vision Cloud is the breadth of the collaboration, from academic institutions to leading IT businesses. They worked together to deliver real, practical innovation in the media industry. The IBC awards programme celebrates partnerships working together to solve creative, organisational and commercial challenges, and it is clear that Vision Cloud meets that high ideal. Congratulations to all involved."

At the IBC Awards Ceremony, at 18:30 on Sunday 15 September, RAI will accept the trophy on behalf of the whole Vision Cloud consortium, all of whom will be represented on stage. The ceremony will also see the presentation of the IBC2013 Awards, including the Innovation Awards and the International Honour For Excellence, which this year goes to Sir Peter Jackson.

Full details of the shortlist can be found at: http://www.ibc.org/2013AwardsShortlist

Note to Editors:

About IBC

IBC is the premier annual event for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide. The event's unparalleled exhibition and agenda setting conference encompass the very latest developments in broadcasting, mobile TV, IPTV, digital signage and R&D making it essential for everyone's understanding of the industry and its future.

IBC2013 Dates

Conference 12 – 17 September 2013 Exhibition 13 – 17 September 2013

Additional Information

For more information on the IBC2013 visit www.ibc.org 

SOURCE IBC