IBC is bustling with activity — pretty much round the clock including Sunday night when the awards were distributed to deserving companies and individuals. New and growing themes that have emerged from IBC involve new technologies and the methodology in which they can be used to make organizations more productive and more efficient.

Winners of both the IBC Innovation Award for Content Delivery and the Judges' Prize, (left to right) Dr. Riyadh Najm (ASBU), Dirk Breynaert and Serge van Herck (Newtec), Nabil Shanti and Abdelrahim Suleiman (ASBU) and Xavier Orri (Newtec) Photo on right courtesy of IBC Daily News

Witness to this is a new project developed for the Arab States Broadcasting Union that took the top prize in the IBC Innovation Awards, which are unique in the industry because they celebrate not just technological innovation but the manner is which it is applied. To attain topmost positioning in this area it must be demonstrated that suppliers and users have worked together to create something that makes a significant difference.

That is what enabled ASBU to receive the top awards — twice last night — collecting both the IBC Innovation Award for the best content delivery project and the Judges' Prize for most influential project of the year.

Photo on left: Badih Kansan and Shawqi Sulaman of Arabsat

Multimedia Exchange Network Over Satellite (MENOS) uses the Arabsat network to exchange content among the 28 member broadcasters around the Middle East transferring the material as IP files, using store-and-forward through the MENOS hub. The system, developed for ASBU by Newtec, takes advantage of using IP so that; any data can be carried (it hosts data and telephony exchange too, for example); links can be established without any need for line-up; and solid connection can be achieved with relatively small dishes (1.2m-1.8m) and low power. The same technology can also be used for contribution links and SNG.

To top off an already festive event at the end of the evening the ASBU team, with Arabsat and Newtec, returned to the stage to accept the Judges' Prize.

"The introduction of MENOS is an extremely important milestone for us, the Arab region and the broadcasting industry as a whole," said Slaheddine Maaoui, director general of the ASBU. "The MENOS service is not only a powerful international exchange platform for radio and television, but a powerful IP-based service that is going to revolutionize broadcast transmissions." Heartiest congratulations!