Harris Corporation’s Metadata Approach Breaks New Ground in Intelligent Content Delivery

Company’s H-Class™ Content Delivery Platform applies intuitive attributes to content metadata, delivering added value to customers

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, September 8, 2005 – In creating a new approach to content delivery, Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) is applying an intelligent “instructional” layer to content metadata in its H-Class™ Content Delivery Platform, raising the bar for how metadata can be used to support workflow efficiency and new service provisioning. This novel approach dictates how metadata is utilized throughout the entire media life cycle – through creation and ingest to consumption – by applying behavioral attributes that record and measure how content is being used. This includes instructions on where that content is to playout – to whom and what specific format or device. As a result, media and entertainment customers are able to unify every element of the digital supply chain from production through to management, distribution and delivery in order to realize additional revenue through more efficient content delivery.

Scalable, standards-based and purpose-built for the enterprise, the H-Class Platform integrates disparate processes for creating, delivering and managing media and entertainment content. Its approach to metadata helps articulate the descriptive and instructive aspects of content, enabling the H-Class Platform to apply a layer of intelligence that helps organizations to identify an appropriate audience and determine the profitability of any associated commercial opportunity and subsequently move content to it via multiple consumer devices. This approach serves as a common thread within the platform, unifying H-Class applications such as H-Class™ Media Business System, H-Class™ Digital Asset Management, H-Class™ Media Ingest, H-Class™ Automation and H-Class™ Intelligent Transport with its Database Services, Workflow Services, Platform Services and Open Services for a completely integrated content delivery strategy.

“Media content producers and distributors are well aware of the trend toward increasing consumer control and selectivity,” said James Brancheau, Ph.D., managing vice president-media industry for Gartner, Inc. “In order to realize the opportunity for increased revenue per subscriber through better product personalization, media and entertainment companies need more content control coupled with increased data intelligence. This can only be achieved through better automation and handling of metadata.”

Harris’s metadata approach builds on existing industry standards developed by organizations such as the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) by enhancing metadata at the transactional layer. This enables the H-Class Platform to intelligently capture and extract usage information to improve commercial placement, digital rights management and other content-related activities. This approach ensures the four rights – the right content to the right person at the right time on the right device – and becomes the mechanism by which content transactions can be monitored and measured.

In order to help service, software, content and hardware providers write to the H-Class framework APIs and take full advantage of this metadata approach, Harris recently announced its H-Class™ Alliance Program. This program assists third-party vendors achieve interoperability via custom components that use the common H-Class enterprise workflow methodology.

“Through this approach to metadata, Harris is equating better and automatic content intelligence with more content revenue, and that’s ultimately the primary concern of developers, providers and broadcasters,” noted Taras Bugir, chief strategy officer of Harris Broadcast Communications Division’s Software Systems business unit. “The depth of metadata intelligence built into the H-Class Platform enables the enterprise to smartly manage the complex delivery of rich media content down to an audience of one. Harris’s vision and use of metadata to power automatic, tailored content to consumers dovetails nicely with a growing industry trend of deriving additional revenue through product personalization.”

Harris will showcase the H-Class Platform and its metadata approach at the International Broadcasting Convention 2005. (Harris Broadcast Communications Division: Hall 8, Stand 8.291, Amsterdam RAI). During the exhibition, demonstrations will show how revenue-generating services such as high-definition (HD) television and video-on-demand can be managed and delivered to maximum effect by enabling user behavioral characteristics to dictate the appropriate delivery paths, from ingest to consumption.

About Harris Broadcast Communications Division
Harris Broadcast Communications Division is one of four divisions within Harris Corporation, an international communications equipment company focused on providing assured communications™ products, systems and services for government and commercial customers in more than 150 countries. One of the world’s leading suppliers of broadcast technology, Harris Broadcast Communications Division offers a full range of solutions that support the digital delivery, automation and management of audio, video and data. For more information, visit www.harris.com

Contact Information

Martha Rapp

Harris Broadcast Communications Division

Harris Broadcast

Contact via E-mail