IBMS system takes full advantage of Oracle 9i and RAC scalability

Information Release: 16 July 2003

Pilat Media, the supplier of business management software to broadcasters around the world, has further enhanced its product offering to enable greater operational efficiencies and flexibility through both Oracle 9i and RAC (Real Application Clusters).

Pilat Media's proprietary Integrated Broadcast Management System (IBMS) is a 'server-centric' client- server application, operating exclusively on an Oracle database. It integrates and streamlines broadcasters' programme content, ad sales and traffic management operations to increase business efficiency, thus enabling broadcasters to lower operational costs, speed time to market for new revenue streams, and centralise management of key processes.

Oracle 9i RAC provides scalability for both Pilat Media and its Client Community "The combination of Oracle 9i RAC and IBMS provides a cost effective and easily scalable solution to meet the needs of today's growing business requirements without constantly upgrading or replacing expensive hardware. 9i RAC is now being implemented by clients in the Pacific region" said Bob Lamb, CTO, Pilat Media.

As IBMS is a mission-critical 24/7 system, many clients also utilise a standby server for backup. By adopting the 9i RAC infrastructure, clients can maximise the use of their existing hardware through a load-sharing production environment. By exploiting clustered hardware configurations, Oracle RAC allows access to a single IBMS database from multiple nodes to insulate application users from hardware failures, whilst providing performance that scales with the hardware environment.

Internally, Pilat Media has also created a 9i RAC laboratory specifically designed for performance benchmark testing. The laboratory enables benchmark testing between two and four nodes running on Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1. It has been demonstrated that IBMS advertising spot booking and placement throughput increases linearly with the addition of nodes to the cluster. The introduction of table partitioning and clustered indexes significantly reduced the I/O bottleneck often synonymous with clustered applications.

Integration flexibility with Oracle 9i

The new Oracle 9i extensions allow IBMS increased flexibility in integrating with neighbouring systems. The XML DB component removes the dependence on file-based interfacing, thus enabling real-time data transfer between IBMS and third party systems. For example, in transmission the tight integration increases operational efficiency by enabling clients to make last-minute changes to the playout schedule in real time. These last-minute changes to the playout schedule can then be based on broadcasters' business rules and take advantage of last-minute selling of airtime. Today, Pilat Media's software solutions have been selected by over 25 broadcasters around the world, who represent a wide-spectrum of terrestrial, cable and satellite broadcasters, both free-to-air and subscriber-based, on analogue and digital platforms, including NVOD and PPV services. This includes broadcasters such as BSkyB (UK), five (UK), Fox Kids (Europe), digital media centre (Europe), Network Ten (Australia), TVNZ (New Zealand), Sky TechCo Partners (Latin America), Discovery Communications Inc. (International), National Geographic Channels International (USA), and Playboy Enterprises, Inc (USA).

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