Omneon Video Networks today announced that its Omneon Spectrum™ media server system now offers support for the Unicode Standard, a system that allows Omneon system software to be character-set flexible across multiple platforms, languages, and countries. Omneon system support for the Unicode Standard will allow Omneon customers to work with their preferred language when naming and working with media files, directories, and the configuration settings that manage media recording and playback.

“Omneon has always been committed to providing its customers with a modular architecture based on open standards,” said Omneon Vice President of Marketing Geoff Stedman. “Support for the Unicode Standard ensures that the Omneon Spectrum™ media server system is capable of providing an easy-to-use media server foundation for users all over the world. Implementation of Unicode support simplifies and standardizes operations for multilingual broadcast groups while reducing the potential for playout error. We’re very pleased to introduce this important development in our leading-edge server technology.”

Without the Unicode Standard, computer-based character sets representing various languages often employ their own ad hoc encoding schema for binary representation of each character in a given language. These ad hoc character encoding schemes often conflict, resulting in illegible characters, or worse yet, compatibility problems for users. Support for the Unicode Standard allows operators to manage media effectively in their preferred languages without such conflicts, thereby helping to eliminate potential problems in the day-to-day business of the broadcast operation.

Updating an Omneon Spectrum™ system to support the Unicode Standard is a straightforward process available through the Omneon Network SystemManager interface. Client access to an Omneon Spectrum™ media server system configured for Unicode support requires that the external applications support the Unicode Standard as well.

Learn more about Omneon's server solutions at www.omneon.com.

About Omneon
Omneon is a leading provider of flexible media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in 45 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.Omneon.com.

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