NAB 2014: Avid has unveiled its MediaCentral Platform that will sit at the heart of its range of tools for editing, distributing and storing video and audio content.

Speaking at the company’s inaugural Avid Customer Association meeting, Avid chief executive Louis Hernandez described the platform as part of the company’s “most profound sweeping strategic product vision since the company’s inception”.

“The MediaCentral Platform is the foundation that enables our customers to streamline their entire media workflow, from creation to monetisation, with greater flexibility and the utmost security and protection,” Hernandez said.

Avid’s suite of products such as Media Composer and Pro Tools will sit on the platform, as well as a range of Avid apps to perform tasks like metadata tagging and eventually third party apps.

Hernandez drew a comparison with Apple’s iOS operating system.

“From creation to consumption, this is the technology that underpins Avid Everywhere,” Hernandez said.

No third party apps are available at present but Avid said the API and SDK are now available for Pro Tools, Media Composer, Interplay Production and iNews.

The company also unveiled a new pricing model for Media Composer as well as cloud-based functionality for the software.

Media Composer Cloud, formerly known as Interplay Sphere, allows users to remotely access and edit content.

Media Composer can be bought ‘outright’ for £939, while ‘floating licences’ will be available within the next couple of months.

Pricing for Media Composer Cloud starts at £25,000.

Customer focus

Avid Connect, the inaugural event of the Avid Customer Association, was attended by 1,100 users, distributors and press.

Part of the Customer Association initiative, which Avid hopes will “deepen relationships” between the company and its customers, includes a series of advisory councils comprised of senior figures from broadcasters, production and post firms from around the world.

Their purpose is to provide Avid with “essential strategic leadership” in areas such as corporate strategy, products and solutions, industry standards and practices,

During his presentation, Hernandez said it was “critical that we deploy capital in a way that meets our customers’ needs.”

In an effort to achieve this, the advisory councils will have a say in how Avid spends some of its R&D money. One source said that the investment of as much as $25m of Avid’s R&D budget would determined by the advisory councils.

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