GDC Technology Announces Successful Commissioning Of Network Operations Center For Management And Control Of Over 120 Servers In Europe

CINEMA EXPO, Amsterdam (June 28, 2006) – GDC Technology, the leading provider of digital cinema solutions is pleased to announce the successful commissioning of DSR™ Network Operations Center (NOC) for management and control of over 120 units of SA1000 DSR™ Digital Film Servers and SZ1000 DSR™ Z Servers installed in different countries across Europe for CinemaNet Europe (CNE).

The CinemaNet Europe (CNE) is formerly known as the European Docuzone (EDZ). The intention of the CNE is to enable the global exchange of contents among different countries and bringing documentaries as well as other specialised films such as animations and shorts, to the audiences using the latest digital cinema technology. A series of testbeds were carried out to evaluate the different servers and projectors available in the market. GDC servers were chosen, among fourteen other servers, after rounds of intensive testing with an evaluation team comprising of nearly 100 cinematographers, producers, cinema owners and experts from the post-production houses. The rollout began in November 2004 and to date over 120 servers have been installed in cinemas in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK.
Since November 2004 more than 90 titles were shown across the network with more than 15,000 successful digital screenings.

Currently, the contents are encoded and encrypted using DSR™ Digital Mastering Systems at three major encoding facilities in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. With the NOC, multiple encoded contents and rights-management keys from the digital mastering systems can be delivered securely to the cinemas installed with DSR™ servers. The NOC also monitors the health of each installed digital equipment and issues pre-emptive warnings if servicing is needed. The playback status on each server can be remotely monitored and the playback logs on each server can be retrieved using the NOC. The NOC comes with an option to manage the in-lobby advertising solution on plasmas, LCD and CRT display monitors, and digital signages.

“With the increasing number of screens to manage, DSR™ Network Operations Center has become a necessity to implement more efficient workflow with auditable electronic billing and rights management”, says Mr. Kees Kyninks, Managing Director of The CinemaNet Europe, “Each cinema has a different setup and unique set of requirements. With the NOC, our service team can quickly and conveniently log into servers located at diverse venues for control, diagnostics and upgrades whenever needed”.

GDC Technology will demonstrate its latest innovations such as SDM4000 DSR™ Display Maestro and digital signage solutions for cinema in-theater and in-lobby advertising applications at Cinema Expo.

Media Contact: Ms. Cherine Liu

SOURCE: GDC Technology