Imagine partners with Disney/ABC, Verizon and HP to fill in puzzle pieces of IP video ecosystem

LAS VEGAS--Imagine Communications is continuing its partnership strategy for end-to-end content delivery, announcing a new relationship with Disney/ABC Television Group that will bring the broadcaster's brick-and-mortar operations into a cloud environment. The news comes on the heels of Imagine's increased content delivery partnership with Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS) and a collaboration with HP on cloud-based content workflows for its customers.

Both the Disney/ABC Television Group (DATG) and HP partnerships hinge around Imagine's VersioCloud platform, built on its Zenium workflow technology it launched last year.

"Disney/ABC Television Group is evolving their existing broadcast workflows to a unified cloud architecture based on our VersioCloud product, which is 10 percent software managed in a data center or cloud environment," Glenn LeBrun, VP of product marketing for Imagine, told FierceOnlineVideo.

The new architecture brings DATG's linear playout into a remote environment for the first time, and sits just upstream in the content delivery ecosystem from the group's distribution services--not just its WATCH apps like WATCHABC, but its over-the air, cable and IPTV services as well.

The Verizon partnership will integrate Imagine's broadcast-focused cloud services with VDMS' encoding and content delivery solution, Video Lifecycle.

With HP, Imagine is adding its VersioCloud software to HP's Helion Managed Virtual Private Cloud. The combination makes it possible for Imagine to offer its products "in flexible and secure environments, offering our customers high value, end-to-end capabilities on their choice of operational infrastructure--whether on-premises, private cloud, public cloud, or hybrid cloud," according to CEO Charlie Vogt.

Imagine's focus on cloud solutions to the end-to-end content delivery puzzle has attracted an increasing number of large-scale providers. The company in March launched a cloud-based workflow and encoding solution with Microsoft. It also rolled out cloud-based DVR services for its clients, along with a dynamic ad insertion component.

The growing portfolio of solutions help Imagine make its case for becoming a one-stop shop for broadcasters and content owners and distributors.

For more:
- see the release
- this VDMS announcement
- and this HP announcement

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