Los Angeles PBS Station Transitions to Fully-Automated Digital Facility With Ampex DST Nearline Archive

Business Wire, Feb 22, 1999

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--Ampex Corporation (AMEX:AXC) today announced that its DST(R) systems will be used to launch one of the first fully-automated, all-digital PBS stations.

Ampex Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary, will supply KCET with the DST libraries that will provide digital video storage and playback of interstitial and short-format programming. KCET will go on-air using Ampex DST systems early this year, and plans to transmit digital programming by the end of the year.

KCET planned the transition to a video server-based playout system to coincide with a move to a new facility designed specifically for educational and telecommunications operations. With the support of systems integrator Creative Broadcast Technologies (CBT), KCET chose two Ampex DST 712 libraries, Tektronix Profile video servers, Avalon archive management and Louth automation software. The high performance of the Ampex DST 712 libraries provide the speed, reliability and capacity needed to support the new video server system.

"Ampex is a broadcast technology powerhouse. It was an easy decision for us to approach Ampex when KCET began developing the blueprints for one of the first digital PBS stations in the country," says Horrace Scott, vice president of engineering, operations and plant facilities. "Delivering the capacity, compatibility and virtually bullet-proof reliability that our new KCET facility demands, the Ampex DST 712 libraries are integral in holding the station's programming together."

"PBS stations across the nation will be able to follow KCET's lead in becoming one of the first fully-automated television stations," stated John Hennessy, director of business development. "We are especially pleased to be working with a forward-thinking PBS station like KCET in integrating the Ampex DST 712 libraries in a state-of-the-art digital architecture with industry leaders Tektronix, Louth and Avalon."

DST 712 Automated Tape Library

The Ampex DST 712 library reduces the cost of storage, simplifies media administration and lowers overhead by reducing the need to manually track and house large numbers of cartridges. The increased storage density of the DST 712 libraries also dramatically improves file access time as well by minimizing cartridge exchanges. Utilizing up to two tape transports, each transferring data at high speeds, the DST 712 transfers uncompressed data at 40MB/second or more than 140GB/hour.

For more sales information, please email Ampex at sales@ampex.com or call toll-free 800/752-7590.

Ampex Corporation (www.ampex.com), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is one of the world's leading providers of technologies for the acquisition, storage and processing of visual information. Today, Ampex is delivering digital image solutions for large-scale corporate, government, network, entertainment and telecommunications applications. During its more than 50-year history of innovation, Ampex has been granted thousands of patents and numerous awards for technical achievement. Ampex customers include such leading organizations as AT&T, CNN, Federal Aviation Administration, Fox Television, Netcom and Prevue Networks.