Microsoft-based roadmap for ForeTV

Reprinted from: IBE

October 2007

MSA Focus, developer of broadcast management systems, has unveiled a range of new initiatives which capitalise on its ongoing business relationship with Microsoft to further develop its ForeTV solution.

Building on its adoption of Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET platform for ForeTV, MSA Focus has announced that:

• Following its entry into the Microsoft Partner Program, it is taking active steps to become a certified partner of Microsoft;
• It is carrying out an extensive load testing exercise to measure the scalability of ForeTV;
• It is currently developing a prototype workflow module within ForeTV, which will ultimately be used to support Dynamics CRM and ERP integration.

Since the introduction of ForeTV at IBC2006, MSA Focus has achieved significant benefits by pioneering the shift from the proprietary software of its legacy broadcast management system, Perspective, to an industry standard platform for sales, scheduling, media asset management and income analysis.

MSA Focus' associated adoption of Microsoft Interactive Media Manager - a rich, collaborative media management solution for pre-production, post-production and production environments - has brought key benefits.

This enables the company to interact more closely with other key broadcast players as part of a streamlined workflow. Cost savings can be passed onto customers as a result.

Leon Hitchings, marketing executive, MSA Focus, highlights further advantages of the new approach: "Ease of use is a key benefit. The Microsoft Windows model is familiar to almost every user and internal staff and customers alike are comfortable with it. Training and recruitment are more straightforward as a result. Development staff can be more proactive because they are spending less time on administration. And standardising on one supplier and one technology has enhanced integration and reduced running costs."