For its broad collaboration to address an issue that was limiting the development of broadcast operations, the FIMS project took the IBC2012 Judges’ Prize. This collaboration led by the EBU and AMWA, the Advanced Media Workflow Association, jumpstarted the process of agreeing file exchange standardisation, vital if the real benefits of file-based workflows are to be realised. The award was accepted on stage by Jean-Pierre Evain of the EBU, Brad Gilmer of AMWA and Roman Mackiewicz of Bloomberg.
Left to right: Roman Mackiewicz (Bloomberg), Brad Gilmer (AMWA), Jean-Pierre Evain (EBU), Michael Lumley (IBC).
Within the FIMS project the EBU and AMWA brought together virtually all the manufacturers in the sector, and many major broadcasters. The first version of the specification was rapidly developed and released earlier this year, and the first implementations of FIMS-based technologies are on air, with Bloomberg Television and its technology partner Triskel. Bloomberg estimates that the development of a new workflow has fallen from six weeks to three days thanks to FIMS. Visitors to the EBU booth at IBC can meet with the implementers and see how the work is progressing.