Getting Ready for the Show

The Layercake team was excited to embark on the journey to Europe for IBC2023. Layercake director, Domenic Romeo was privileged to spend time with Riedel at their HQ in Wuppertal before the start of IBC. Riedel showcased some of the latest developments in their product suite, including the very impressive Simplylive software-based production architecture, running entirely in the cloud.

Highlights were hearing from Thomas Riedel and seeing original and historic equipment produced in the early days of the company, such as one of the very first on-board audio receivers from a Ferrari Formula One car driven by none other than M. Schumacher. Great sessions, discussions, and experiences were had, and we thank Riedel for such a fantastic event.

Meanwhile, Padraig & Quanah arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday, 13th September ready to prepare and set up for the Show. Not before nervously awaiting the arrival of Layercake-branded promotional gear in Sydney. Delivery was made in the nick of time, arriving in Sydney on the morning of the long flight to Amsterdam. Phew! We were thrilled to be on the same flight out of Sydney as colleagues from the local AWS team. And then bumped into the wonderful Telstra Broadcast Services crew on arrival at Amsterdam airport. After dropping bags off at our hotel, we made our way to the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre to arrange the Layercake stand and get familiar with the venue.

The next day, Thursday, Quanah headed to the SVG Europe, Sport Production Summit at the impressive De Hallen Studios in Amsterdam. He got to meet with old and new colleagues and listen to interviews and panels on Sports Production from the European perspective. Quanah’s main takeaway was that while things are moving on the production front towards Digital, Cloud, and less traditional options, it’s with a cautious approach. Tier 2 & 3 sporting organisations are embracing this new approach, but Tier 1 organisations are not quite ready to take the leap.

IBC2023 at a Glance

On the ground at IBC2023

Amsterdam was captivating, with great weather for walking around, cycling, taking a boat on the canals or just sitting out to experience the culture and watching people pass by.The atmosphere at the RAI Convention Centre was buzzing. The Covid comeback was definitely apparent, with great people traffic coming through over the 4 days of the show.

Layercake was positioned in the Content Everywhere Hall (5) which was the hub of innovation and technology, including cloud, remote operations and interesting software platforms. It was a sought-after section with more and more attendees looking at ways to deliver and publish more content but with less resourcing and more cost effectively. Our booth and branding were commended by visitors and exhibitors and the Layercake branded socks went down exceptionally well, we had great neighbours too.

Layercake Director, Domenic was on Stage 1 on Saturday, unveiling Layercake’s newest offerings; Mediacake and Streamcake. Domenic presented an overview of automation and orchestration and how it can improve operational efficiency and reduce resource requirements.

The session was very well attended and can be watched again if you missed out. Padraig and Quanah fielded questions and were in charge of distributing the Layercake promotional socks at the conclusion of the session which were a great hit!

Insights from IBC2023

There were several consistent themes throughout the show. Here is our roundup of the most important:

• • Sustainability and green initiatives, especially in live production – something Layercake and Streamcake have heightened focus and capability with by turning on right-sized environments on-demand for only the time needed.
  • Automation and Orchestration – closely aligned to sustainability managing cloud infrastructure to “as needed” as opposed to “always on”. Utilizing smartly designed workflows and systems that are interoperable (API or similar) to manage regular functionality, scaling, and similar processes.
  • Maximising your Content – Fast channels were hip, how to maximize your content and archive to generate new users and additional revenue streams and long tail revenue streams (e.g. on YouTube)
  • Adoption of cloud in live event production – remote production utilizing cloud capability is increasing and now proven as viable with advancements in software-based tools, deployable into private and/or public cloud environments. Centralized, remote production initiatives also contribute to the sustainability of event production, reducing carbon emissions created by the transportation of crew and equipment.
  • All things AI – from smart studios and cameras to archive processing, AI is now showing real benefits and use cases for production and post-production worlds. The challenge is plugging together the right tools in the workflow to achieve a seamless operation.

These themes are in alignment and are core to what we at Layercake do daily. We work closely with select partners to bring these capabilities to our clients.

And that’s a wrap!

A big shout out to the organisers of IBC2023, attendees, and exhibitors for making the event a memorable one.

Thank you to Ken and the team from SVG, Eluvio, Ateme, AWS, Dalet, Telstra Broadcast Services, Fastly & Mux, and Google for your hospitality and events. To others like SingularLive, Yospace, Prime Focus Technology, Magnifi, and Grabyo, meeting with you was a pleasure, as always. To everyone else, thanks for a great experience!

Did you miss the action of IBC2023?

Get in touch! We can catch you up on all the action of IBC and meet you on your journey. Book a meeting with us today.