IBM and ZAO Medit Profi Team Up to Transform Russia’s Channel 5

IBM and ZAO Medit Profi Team Up to Transform Russia’s Channel 5

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and ZAO Medit Profi have successfully completed a massive newsroom modernization project at TV Channel 5 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The first of a kind project for the region streamlined Channel 5’s program creation and delivery and built a comprehensive digital archive of 68 years of broadcasting, with capacity for decades to come. Working with IBM and ZAO Medit Profi, Channel 5 has improved newsroom planning and coordination, reduced costs, and enabled more powerful live broadcasts.

Due to its expanded national broadcasting reach spanning 75 Russian regions, Channel 5 in St. Petersburg needed to update its production systems and capabilities to increase productivity without augmenting its staff of 1,000 employees.

To help with its technology transition, Channel 5 turned to ZAO Medit Profi, an IBM Business Partner headquartered in Moscow, Russia. ZAO Medit Profi is an Independent Software Vendor that creates complex solutions for TV production and broadcasting based on open computing technologies. Medit Profi recommended a mixture of hardware, software and storage technology solutions from IBM, as well as its own VIDI production and transmission software applications.

“Channel 5 sought to create a new, open forum for people to express their opinions, exchange ideas and share experiences on TV,” said Yury Rezvyakov, director of production and technologies department at Channel 5. “With IBM and ZAO Medit Profi, the channel has created a modern, competitive, and collaborative news room.”

Founded on the Linux operating system, Channel 5’s solution includes IBM WebSphere Portal Enable, IBM System Storage, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition, and IBM System x servers.

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