Indiana University Sets Precedent with Avid NEXIS Intelligent Media Storage
By Jim Bask
PRESS RELEASE
BURLINGTON, MA, 9/7/2016
The Media School and The Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology adopt the Avid MediaCentral Platform to prepare students for today’s real-world workflows 
Avid® (Nasdaq: AVID) today announced that Indiana University has invested in the MediaCentral® Platform for two new facilities, becoming one of the first customers to take delivery of the new Avid NEXIS™ software-defined storage platform, and the first athletics department to invest in an Avid virtual studio. The Media School and The Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology have embraced Avid Everywhere™ to give students access to advanced media technologies and workflows.
The Media School at Indiana University is a new school that combines the 100-year-old journalism program with the department of telecommunications and the film program in the department of communication and culture. In July, the school relocated to Franklin Hall, the university’s former library built in 1907. A $21 million renovation blends the school’s long tradition of educational excellence with the latest technology advancements.
To give students exposure to real-world situations, The Media School tries to duplicate what they would see in professional settings. It has used Avid Media Composer® and Avid Pro Tools® for over 15 years, with small user groups installed on individual computers. To connect Franklin Hall with a studio across campus, and get all 20 rooms on a common platform, The Media School turned to Avid NEXIS, the first software-defined storage platform designed specifically for storing and managing media. With the school planning to connect more than 100 workstations to Avid NEXIS, Avid Professional Services will provide setup, commissioning, and training.
“We’re building a state-of-the-art facility, and Avid’s a big part of that,” said Jay Kincaid, director of facilities and technology for The Media School at Indiana University. “With Avid NEXIS, we’re excited about getting into the true collaboration capabilities of Media Composer, and being able to use Avid Interplay® | Production to share media and collaborate in all the ways that Interplay fosters. We’ll have the ability to teach true workflows—not just how to edit on the desktop, but how to edit video in a collaborative manner within the ecosystem of a television station, production house, or network.”
“One of the big selling points of Avid NEXIS is that it’s truly interoperable with whatever flavor of editing system you might be using,” said Scott Myrick, assistant director of facilities and technology, The Media School at Indiana University. “It supports Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut X, as well as Media Composer, and we use all of those. That was a big requirement for us; because of the diversity of units that are combining to form this new school, there’s a diversity of editing platforms that’s coming into this, too. I think people may start to see that there are some additional benefits to using Media Composer, but it allows us to get on the same page with the shared storage system and go from there.”
The Media School’s workflow is connected to that of IU Athletics’ Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology. Funded by a $5 million gift from IU alumnus Mark Cuban, the first-of-its-kind broadcasting and technology center aims to make IU Athletics the national leader in 3D broadcast and replay, virtual reality, and 3D virtual studio technologies, when it opens in September 2016. To fulfill its mission, the center turned to Avid to deliver a virtual studio solution, investing in Avid ProSet.
According to Jeremy Gray, Associate Athletic Director at Indiana University, it was the Dallas Mavericks owner who suggested looking at an Avid virtual studio solution. “Mark Cuban had some specific technologies that he requested that we buy, and one of the first things that he told us to explore was the Avid virtual studio,” said Gray. “The whole mission of the Mark Cuban Center is to prepare students for tomorrow’s jobs by having them interface with the technology that’s going to be widespread in use in five, ten years from now. I think it’s going to get a lot of use, and we’re really excited to have it here.”
Indiana University students will use ProSet for pre-game, half-time, and post-game shows for the university’s live internet broadcast sporting events, and to enhance video-board elements. Interview shows with coaches and student athletes will also take place in the Avid virtual studio. The Media School at Indiana University will train student talent and production crews in using the studio, with dedicated classes on creating content for The Mark Cuban Center. The Avid virtual studio will be open and shared with the Media School, and files will be shared back and forth using Avid NEXIS.
“By embracing Avid Everywhere throughout its campus, Indiana University is giving students access to the most advanced technologies and workflows in the media industry, putting them well ahead of the game when it comes to starting their careers,” said Jeff Rosica, senior vice president and chief sales & marketing officer, Avid. “As one of the first customers to take delivery of Avid NEXIS, and the first athletics department to invest in an Avid virtual studio, Indiana University is at the forefront of implementing cutting-edge technology and preparing students for real-world production environments.”
About Avid Through Avid Everywhere™, Avid delivers the industry’s most open, innovative and comprehensive media platform connecting content creation with collaboration, asset protection, distribution and consumption. Media organizations and creative professionals use Avid solutions to create the most listened to, most watched and most loved media in the world—from the most prestigious and award-winning feature films, to the most popular television shows, news programs and televised sporting events, as well as a majority of today’s most celebrated music recordings and live concerts. Industry leading solutions include Pro Tools®, Media Composer®, ISIS®, Avid NEXIS™, Interplay®, ProSet and RealSet, Maestro, PlayMaker, and Sibelius®. For more information about Avid solutions and services, visit www.avid.com, connect with Avid on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or subscribe to Avid Blogs.