At Sony Professional Services, Sherri Foster and her colleagues’ main focus is creating business solutions. Like her SPS colleagues, Foster possesses countless hours of experience working with companies of all sizes so they can implement and utilize the latest AV/IT technology and achieve the maximum return on their investment.

“Our clients range from large corporations with which we’re engaged in complex, multi- year projects to much smaller companies that need a solution to a specific technology issue,” says Foster, a SPS vice president. “If your company needs to get its arms around its video and data-related business operations, we can devise the best solution.”

Sony Professional Services prides itself on being able to offer expertise in more areas of business operations—from broadcast to the newest broadband technologies for AV/IT, to consulting on systems and software development, to integration and implementation, to 24/7 service and support—than any other company in the world.

Sony Professional Services’ customers range from retail locations to medical facilities to cable and telephone companies to broadcasters and media rich corporations exploring the latest broadband solutions.

Unlike some consulting firms, Sony Professional Services prefers to act upon its findings. “We emphasize implementing a solution, not just recommending a strategy,” says Foster. “Ultimately, we want to create a solution that maximizes the ROI, and take the customer from concept to a complete and functional system.”

Sony Professional Services’ consulting often involve four distinct phases: strategic planning, which involves understanding a client’s business needs, assessment of ROI, and analysis of financing and staffing

Sometimes Sony Professional Services’ work with a customer leads to the development of a product that helps multiple customers, says Harry Friedman, a senior marketing manager. An excellent example of this is NewsBlast™ software, a broadcast application that enables electronic news gathering crews to remotely control the entire “feed” process. The NewsBlast application was devised to help a broadcaster steamline its workflow process, says Friedman. The NewsBlast application provides ready-to-air recording and delivers a confirmation once the transfer is successful. Filing stories directly to servers or VTRs streamlines the workflow process by eliminating calls to schedule feeds or to try to get a production assistant on the line to grab a breaking story, says Friedman. Once a project is completed, Sony Professional Services offers a wide range of programs to keep a customer’s mission-critical video and data systems operating 24/7. Sony Professional Services’ customized SupportNET SM programs range from performing preventive maintenance by monitoring a customer’s entire system or a single device, to regularly scheduled maintenance programs that keeps a system running at peak performance. Also, the SourceNETSM program helps the customer stay abreast of the latest product and software upgrade developments.

Whether a company’s problem is big, small, or in-between, Sony Professional Services can tackle it. “With the convergence of video and data, there is a need for an innovative approach to solutions in corporate and broadcast applications,” says Foster. “We have a team which is highly knowledgeable, experienced and dedicated to getting the job done right.”

This year’s Grammy Awards show at Madison Square Garden was televised in High Definition and 5.1 surround sound, thanks to the latest Sony Electronics broadcast equipment. Due to a partnership with New York-based All Mobile Video (AMV), the company chosen to shoot this year’s Grammys, Sony equipment was behind-the- scenes at the awards show when AMV recorded the program live from “Resolution,” its newest fully equipped High Definition (HD) production truck. Weighing in at nearly 80,000 pounds, “Resolution” was built with assistance from the Sony Business Systems and Solutions Company’s Systems Integration Center (SIC) in San Jose.

“Resolution,” a multi-million dollar high-tech mobile studio with approximately four million dollars in the latest Sony broadcast equipment, is capable of handling up to 16 cameras and can simultaneously output Standard Definition (SD) as well as High Definition signals with ease. Some of the Sony equipment onboard includes an MVS- 8000 HD/SD video switcher; up to 20 HDW-500 high-definition video tape recorders; six HDC-900 studio cameras; and 10 Sony HDC-950 hand-held cameras.

Says AMV president Eric Duke, “Sony’s MVS-8000 gives us the flexibility to output in both SD and HD formats which is something no other manufacturer could offer. This is key in allowing us to redefine what we do in the HD world. Having the flexibility to create shows in SD and HD is important to many broadcasters who wish to simulcast both HD and SD programming.”

AMV’s partnership with Sony began in 1997 when AMV came to Sony looking to expand into the entertainment mobile production market. Working with San Jose’s SIC team, AMV and Sony built a first-class truck, “Celebrity,” which had an immediate impact in the industry and has often been copied. Since then, AMV has built four more trucks, two of which are HD equipped, and all of which include an array of Sony equipment.

“We have been very pleased with Sony,” says Duke. “Sony’s after-sales support and training has been fantastic. We can practically set our watch to what Sony tells us and that’s really important in this industry when timing is everything.”

Sony Electronics’ new line of tape-based and network-attached storage systems support the growing demands of hospitals and medical facilities to quickly archive and access patient data in centralized and decentralized storage environments.

Sony’s new medical storage family offers a means for doctors and hospitals to store digital images and files from picture archiving communication systems, radiological scans and patient records.

“As the medical community continues to increase its use of digital imaging, it faces an urgent need for high-capacity yet practical ways to store digital data,” says Steven Blum, vice president of medical systems for Sony Electronics’ Business Solutions and Systems Company. “Sony’s network storage solutions are designed to meet these exploding demands by maintaining the integrity and quality of sensitive data while providing an easy, automated system for managing stored data.

“The tape drive, tape library and network-attached storage solutions are so cost-effective and compact that even small departments or clinics can take advantage of our advanced storage technology,” Blum says. “By making stored visual images more readily accessible and easier to manage, this product family allows the medical community to reduce the cost and time associated with retrieving and reinterpreting older files.”

Sony’s storage solutions include the third-generation Advanced Intelligent Tape™ (AIT- 3) drive, the StorStation™ AIT Library 162 (model LIB-162/A3), and a high-performance NAS system. With these low-maintenance tape solutions, medical users can simply archive and protect patient records and image files in an office, small department or enterprise environment.

Sony’s latest AIT drive and the slim-line StorStation Library 162 leverage the advanced AIT-3 technology, which features 100 gigabytes (GB) native (260GB compressed) data capacity and a native data transfer rate of 12 MB (31 MB compressed). The automated StorStation Library 162 features a special internal carousel to achieve more than 4 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity in only two rack units, making it one of the industry’s most dense and compact library.

With 19 different locations throughout Florida, Barry University’s need for a fast-working data backup operation was growing by the minute. After an extensive search, Barry University purchased a Spectra 12K tape library that allows it to fully back up its data- including the contents of more than 20,000 email boxes—in a mere eight to ten hours.

At the forefront of the Spectra Logic library’s capabilities is Sony Advanced Intelligent Tape™ (AIT) technology, including three AIT-3 tape drives and 45 tape cartridges.

“Sony AIT technology is a viable, reliable technology for end-users to automate and purchase today,” says Sharon Isaacson, product manager for Spectra Logic, based in Boulder, CO. “Spectra Logic was even the first in the market to ship an AIT library, and we have followed and matched Sony’s tape drive roadmap since we formed a strategic relationship in 1996.”

Daily backups at Barry University consist of several hundred gigabytes (GB) of data, which consists of Microsoft® Exchange databases, SQL databases, logs and file shares from 27 production servers. Barry University operates a Windows ® 2000 Advanced Server to backup 22,000 Microsoft Exchange mailboxes.

“We wanted to back up the entire network in a reasonable amount of time,” says Justin Moses, Barry University systems and messaging administrator. “It was taking us about five days to do a backup of the network, and by that time it was out of date. It was essentially like not having a backup system at all. The new library is faster than the other ones that we tried out. Given the amount of space we would need even two years from now, it was a much better long-term investment.”

Barry University currently has the Spectra 12K library partitioned into two virtual libraries. The first virtual library is connected to the backup server through a Fibre Channel connection for network backups and the second virtual library has a separate Fibre Channel connection to a Network Appliance F820 filer for NDMP backups.

Sony Electronics is simplifying the workflow process for Mac® computer-based video editors with its new Rough Cut advanced video editing storage kit, a complete solution built around the Advanced Intelligent Tape™ (AIT) data storage format.

The Rough Cut kit lets editors collect, back up and archive their work throughout the editing process by storing all their project elements together as data files. If an editing project is interrupted or requires revisions—even several years later—the project can be restored onto the editing station with all the source elements, time coding, and work intact, eliminating the need to collect, load or re-digitize any material. Because the materials are stored in data formats, there is no loss in quality; the project is literally just as the editor left it.

The kit includes an AIT-2 drive with an i.LINK® IEEE 1394 digital interface (also known as FireWire®), Mezzo™ ES Generation 4 backup software for Macintosh computers, ten AIT media cartridges with a total capacity of up to 333 Gigabytes (GB), and all necessary cabling for simple installation.

The first releases of the Rough Cut video editing storage kits are designed specifically for the post-production process using Macintosh computer-based systems. It is ideal for independent videographers, corporate A/V departments and video production service firms. The kit is compatible not only with Apple’s Final Cut Pro® editing software, but also with selected video and audio editing software from AVID®, Adobe®, Media 100® and DigiDesign®, among others.

The Rough Cut video editing storage kit relies on advanced AIT technology to enable fast, reliable storage and retrievals. The AIT-2 format featured in the original release has a maximum storage capacity of 50 GB native per compact 8mm tape cartridge and a native data transfer rate of 6 megabytes (MB) per second.

Through Sony’s Rewarding RecordingSM Program, end-users of AIT cassettes and other professional and data media can expand their return on investment by redeeming their tape purchases for a variety of rewards. Full program guidelines are available at www.sonyrewardingrecording.com.

Sony Electronics’ new blue laser optical data storage disc drive and cartridge-type disc media (both rewritable and write-once versions) will offer 23.3 GB of capacity per disc, while the new drive sustains a maximum transfer rate of 9 MB per sec, making it ideal for professional data-intensive applications such as document and medical imaging, e- mail archiving, enterprise content management, multimedia projects, graphics design and audio/video editing. Both are expected to ship to OEMs this summer.

The drive and media will feature a durable, airtight structure to prevent dust particles from coming in contact with the drive mechanism and disc surface, increasing reliability for critical applications. Rewritable media and write-once read many media for regulatory and secure storage requirements will be supported.

The 5.25-inch internal drives will incorporate an Ultra-wide 160 SCSI interface for easy integration into high-end workstations, servers and automated libraries commonly used for storage and archival purposes.

“The new blue laser optical disc drive and media will meet the capacity needs of storage users who have outgrown the 9.1 GB magneto-optical per disc capacity offered in the market today,” says Rick Thong, marketing manager for storage solutions at Sony Electronics in San Jose, CA. “In addition to offering more than twice the capacity in the same drive form-factor, the new drive and media also bring fast access times to customers who demand a high performance solution for quickly accessing and transferring files.”

Several suppliers have already expressed interest in the new drive and media. Looking to the future, Sony hopes to bring a second-generation drive and media to the market by 2005. Having pursued alliances with suppliers over the years, Sony will continuously strive to maintain its leadership position in the optical disc business.