Ascent Media Expands to AX Solution Provider For Digital Media Supply Chain

In the world of digital media production, everyone acknowledges that content is king. Production houses that can streamline and enhance the flow of digital products out of the studio and into the marketplace at a lower production and management cost are gaining an upper hand in the competitive landscape.

Microsoft used the electronic media-focused NAB Show 2008 to show off some of the newest industry applications from the Dynamics suite. One such offering comes from Ascent Media Group working in partnership with Microsoft and IT consultancy Avanade. They presented a new hosted solution for the entertainment industry based on Dynamics AX that seeks to streamline the value chain for digital products from media and entertainment companies. Microsoft and Ascent are promoting this industry-specific hosted solution for its targeted digital media production and project management features.

"With the proliferation of new ways for audiences to experience media, media and entertainment companies struggle with the shift from physical to digital media," says Justin Calvo, Media and Entertainment Industry Manager at Avanade. "Before, media was viewed in a limited number of ways [such as broadcast TV, movie theaters and video tapes and discs, and print]. Thus, the production process to create and distribute content was very linear and, the business operations to support these linear processes were very manageable. Then the world shifted to digital and the old model broke."

Industry-specific features of the Ascent solution are geared toward producing, managing, and releasing digital media in streamlined process integrated through a single Dynamics and SharePoint-based solution. Ascent works with customers in film, music, broadcast, publishing, and advertising to manage media production. Some of the newly developed features, such as Resource Scheduling ...