Walking into Al Jazeeras headquarters in Doha was a dream come true for BroadcastPro Middle East. As a state-backed broadcaster, Al Jazeera has accomplished a feat that no other media entity in the Arab world has ever achieved or dared to undertake. It changed the worlds perception of the Arab world, and gave this […]
Walking into Al Jazeeras headquarters in Doha was a dream come true for BroadcastPro Middle East. As a state-backed broadcaster, Al Jazeera has accomplished a feat that no other media entity in the Arab world has ever achieved or dared to undertake.
It changed the worlds perception of the Arab world, and gave this region an international voice and an honourable place on the world map with its dynamic reportage and by being a frontrunner in the implementation of broadcast technology. We had the privilege of visiting Doha and conducting an exclusive interview with Saeed Othman Bawazir, Al Jazeeras Chief Technology Officer and the man behind the networks technical revolution since 2009.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I graduated from the United States as an Aviation Electronics Engineer and worked in the Civil Aviation industry for 17 years. I set up the IT infrastructure for the Civil Aviation Authority in Qatar before I joined Al Jazeera as CTO.
When did you join Al Jazeera?
In late 2008.
Whats the journey been like from aviation to broadcast? Was the transition not challenging?
Sure, one way or another, it was challenging. But there are many similarities between both industries in terms of the environment and the technologies used. Being in charge of the radar and navigation systems as part of my aviation engineering background familiarised me with audio and video technologies. At the same time, the operations in both industries are mission critical.
In that sense, I felt there are a lot of similarities, while, of course, there are several elements that are unique to each industry. With the introduction of BIT (Broadcast Information Technology), I feel that even those who have been in this industry for a long time have had to learn several new things.
Can you elaborate on Broadcast IT?
From direct attached storage (DAS) and network attached storage (NAS) to storage area networks (SANs) and beyond, broadcasters have a variety of choices for IT plant infrastructure. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages, but each solution must handle large files with low latency. Everything is moving to a file-based infrastructure. Server-based solutions are the future or at least, this is where the industry seems to be heading.
File-based workflows that begin with acquisition and continue through distribution are becoming the norm.
When it comes to designing a Broadcast IT project, its about creating a workflow first, and then developing an IT system that will accommodate that workflow. Before you start building a digital pipeline, you need to know what youre going to do with it. What will the file format be? What compression will you use? Will collaborative storage for active projects be separate from play-to-air servers? How will you archive content? Who will need to access that archive? Once youve established an operational plan for how you will use and manage the data, then an assessment of the necessary bandwidth needs to be done. All this put together and more is the new trend towards an IT-based infrastructure for broadcast.
