Author: Tanya Rai

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#BreakTheBias: Women in media tech celebrate IWD 2022

Posted on | by Tanya Rai

TVBEurope feature includes contribution from Alison Pavitt, Director of Sales and Marketing, Pebble.

To mark International Women’s Day 2022, TVBEurope hears from women working in the media tech industry and their experiences of trying to #BreakTheBias

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day campaign is #BreakTheBias. It’s almost tailor made for the media technology industry, where women continue to fight to get their voices heard across all aspects of the sector.

“If you can see it, you can be it!” agrees Alison Pavitt, director of sales and marketing at Pebble. “Being a supportive organisation is also key. For example, remote working as an option can be beneficial for those with commitments outside work – if not completely remote, then at least the flexibility to occasionally work from home.” 

Click HERE to read the article in full.

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Why broadcasters should have a solid cloud strategy

Posted on | by Tanya Rai

Tech Radar Pro online article

Written by Daniel Robinson, Head of R&D, Pebble

Planning a cloud strategy based on a hybrid approach

It seems inevitable that everything in media playout – and all other domains in media capture, management and delivery – will ultimately be based on cloud technologies. The pandemic has accelerated any flexible system that accommodates remote workflows to the extent that what may have taken years to deploy is now happening in a greatly truncated timeframe. Keeping the lights on, businesses afloat, and content on screens has short-circuited many of the objections to cloud deployments. In some areas of the business and with some workflows (editing and Media Asset Management are particularly strong) it is now the norm rather than the exception, especially in projects that are currently out to tender.

However, despite the increasing noise around cloud adoption, areas of the industry remain where legacy equipment and methodologies still hold sway. For example, most playout today is still based firmly on-premises in dedicated, purpose-built facilities. Indeed, there are significant revenue streams dependent on their uninterrupted operation. And while there are few wholly on-premises playout facilities being specced in the industry nowadays, especially in the mature markets with established high bandwidth infrastructures, the move away from legacy equipment is perhaps taking longer than cloud evangelists would once have thought.

This is despite the acknowledged advantages of the cloud, notably the shift to an opex financial structure, the ability to scale rapidly, reduced time to market, and the implementation of an iterative development environment that enables companies to innovate at a speed unmatched by bricks and mortar installations.

So, what are the hurdles here? Why is playout a holdout when it comes to the cloud?

Click HERE to read the article in full.

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Pebble bolsters its UK team with new appointments

Posted on | by Tanya Rai

Investment in R&D sees Pebble grow its UK-based team to support the continued development of solutions for broadcasters transitioning to IP and leveraging hybrid cloud solutions

Weybridge, Surrey, UK , 1 March 2022: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist, is pleased to announce a host of new staff member appointments to its UK team. The new hires come at a time that sees Pebble sustain its strong growth trajectory going into 2022 – the company’s most recent trading update announced an increase in revenue of approximately 26% compared to the 2020 result, with orders up 75% at £13.7m.

Buoyed by a robust 2021 performance, Pebble continues to invest heavily in its R&D efforts and has ramped up recruitment accordingly to support and amplify the development of new solutions for broadcasters as they transition from traditional broadcast infrastructure to more flexible IP-based technologies. The new recruits join Pebble’s R&D division, where they will be part of the team working on Oceans, Pebble’s next generation, service-orientated hybrid technology platform built for cloud and on-prem use.

Diogo Costa joins the UK team from Portugal, where he developed his programming skills in Full Stack Web Development and microservices across a number of industries. As Senior Software Developer, Diogo is part of the expanding Oceans team under the stewardship of Pebble’s R&D Technical Lead Edmund Lewry.

Joe Warren joins in the role of Software Developer, after an eight-year career at Peak Analysis & Automation, where he has been developing laboratory software for use in the pharmaceuticals industry. With experience in both Front-End and Back-End technologies utilising C#, .Net & REST, Joe will add strength to the Oceans Platform team.

Calum Hamilton takes the role of Developer for the Oceans Orchestration team. Previously at Citrus-Lime, he gained knowledge in C#, Javascript and ASP.NET, whilst utilising an Agile approach. Prior to this Calum gained a 1st from Edinburgh Napier University and acted as a demonstrator for two years. 

Also joining the Oceans team as Senior Software Developers are Sanjeeb Ojha and Tanvir Kazi. Sanjeeb takes on the role after a 10-year career at Moog, where he has developed his skills in C#, .NET and many other technologies. In addition, Sanjeeb is an experienced Scrum Master in DevOps CI/CD, with expertise in working on public cloud platforms. Tanvir brings 15 years of experience to his role – he spent five years in the clinical research medical sector developing his skills in C#, WPF and many other technologies, and a decade in industrial sectors including metrology instruments and security.

With extensive administrative experience in the private and hospitality sector under her belt, Carrie Marshall joins Pebble’s UK team as Operations Administrator to support the ongoing growth of the company.

Peter Mayhead, CEO at Pebble said, “As broadcast industry operations continue to transition to IP, we are seeing broadcasters and operators exploring ways of working in the cloud that make practical and financial sense. It’s an opportunity for Pebble to offer the kind of technology and support that meets this need. That is why we’re delighted to welcome Diogo, Joe, Calum, Sanjeeb, Tanvir and Carrie who’s expertise and capabilities further bolster our amazing Pebble team.”

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Industry Insights: Distribution and delivery pros talk 2022 outlook

Posted on | by Tanya Rai

Newscast Studio piece: Answers from Alison Pavitt, Director of Sales and Marketing, Pebble.

Earlier this year, we spoke with professionals and changemakers all across the broadcast industry to get their outlook on the upcoming year.

This Industry Insights roundtable features answers from those whose companies specialize in broadcast distribution and delivery including playout, streaming, file transfer and broadcast monitoring. 

What is your 2022 outlook?

A strong 2021, a host of new developments coming on stream, and a trusted portfolio of products all position Pebble well for 2022. As we enter the third Covid-affected year our user base and the wider industry is pushing ahead with expansion and transformation plans, and we’re already seeing a growth in broadcasters exploring our flexible hybrid solutions.

What trends are you watching in 2022?

The rise of broadcasters transitioning to IP workflows whether in the cloud or in uncompressed on the ground deployments. We all saw this trend accelerate because of Covid, and now we’re seeing more nuance in the ways in which broadcasters want to leverage these technologies and on what timescale.

Any lasting lessons from 2021 to consider?

One way of removing uncertainty is make remote the norm where practical, and here at Pebble we became a remote-only organization in 2021. A key benefit has been the huge increase in the pool of talent we are able to attract from literally anywhere in the world.

How is the continued supply chain disruption impacting your business, if at all?

As we head into 2022, the issues of component shortages the industry has faced this year will persist, so our existing initiatives around sourcing continue. However, lead times in 2021 were rarely as long as quoted, and thanks to our excellent administrative support and the willingness of our customers to work with us around project timings we were able to minimize the impact on our ability to deliver.

What’s your outlook on trade shows for the year ahead?

2021 taught us that the summer months are the least disrupted so we have more confidence in tradeshows happening in that period. The past two years have taught us just how much we can achieve remotely, so we expect to focus more effort on online events where we have greater reach and more predictability.

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Pebble releases trading update for the year ending 31st December 2021

Posted on | by Tanya Rai

Revenue up 26%, order intake up 75%

Weybridge, Surrey, 26 January 2022 – Pebble Beach Systems Group plc release a trading update today, announcing that it expects to report 2021 results significantly ahead of market expectations. Revenue was approximately £10.6m up 26% on the 2020 result, whilst orders were up 75% at £13.7m (which includes £1.5m of orders delayed from 2020 due to Covid).

Broadcast automation and integrated channel specialist Pebble has performed strongly through the Covid pandemic despite delays in the supply chain and customers requiring more time before giving the green light to projects. Pebble will continue to increase investment in its technology through the development of new products and solutions to support broadcasters as they transition from traditional broadcast infrastructure to more flexible IP-based technologies. 

In the update the plc Board stated that it remains confident about the Group’s future and looks forward to providing a further update in the audited results for the year ended 31 December 2021, the release date for which will be announced in due course.

John Varney, Non-Executive Chairman, commented:

“The Board is delighted to see this excellent performance from Pebble for 2021. The results are a validation of the Group’s new remote working model and of the efforts by management to mitigate delays in the hardware supply chain due to chip shortages, ensuring a particularly strong final quarter.”

Peter Mayhead, CEO, said:

“Our 2021 performance is a reflection of the incredible hard work of our teams and their collaborative efforts, and I am particularly proud of how the company has successfully navigated the challenges that the global pandemic had presented.

We move into 2022 with a number of great initiatives underway, including the ongoing voyage into remote working as we continue with our plans to transition to a fully remote business.

Our focus continues on the investment in R&D, forging our way as a market leading organisation with plans for strong growth and expansion to build on the success of 2021.”           

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