Tell us a bit about the history of Etere
Etere was started in 1987 in Tolentino, Italy, by the partners, Fabio Gattari and Fabio Mazzocchetti. Fabio Gattari remains the founding director of the company today. From its beginnings, Etere believes in preparing users for the future of technologies with continuous innovation and service excellence. It is an early adopter of transformative innovations that allow its users to enhance their adaptability in the market.
The company was initially named Societa Italiana Software (SIS) and was launched to leverage the new efficiencies of personal computer networks which had just been launched on the market. One of its first products was the SETA, a management system for legal offices that was compatible with personal computer networks. Leveraging new technologies, SIS sought to help companies to improve their workflows and reach new levels of efficiencies.
Talk us through the development of the company
In 1989, SIS started the development of Etere software for private broadcasting. Etere was launched to solve the administrative problems of broadcasters and advertising agencies. It was adopted by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications for its implementation for the whole of Italy.
1991 was the year that SIS introduced a radio automation system that was adopted by a majority of radio stations in Italy. This marks full circle as 28 years later in 2019, the company re-entered the radio market and launched the software, Etere Radio-Live, as part of its ecosystem.
This was a milestone software only solution, in an area that was hardware only. It comes with a contract for remote support, using analogue modems. It was a product for the future.
By 2000, SIS was renamed Etere and moved its database to a SQL platform to leverage its speed, data security and interchangeability. In 2003, Etere presented at NAB a software-only Channel-in-a-Box solution that was absolutely the first of its kind worldwide.
The year 2012 saw an expansion move by the company with the setup of a new headquarters in Singapore, the hub for a worldwide company. The company continues to expand its global network of customers, distributors and partners from all round the world.
With more than 30 years of experience and still going from strength to strength, Etere is an established brand that has been adopted by users from all around the world. As a trail-blazing innovator, Etere strives to prepare its users to be future-ready at every step of the workflow.
Give us an overview of the company, its solutions and customer base today.
Etere is a worldwide provider of broadcast and media software solutions backed by its mark of excellence in system design, flexibility and reliability. Engineered in Singapore, the revolutionary concept of Etere Ecosystem promotes real-time collaborations and enhances operational efficiency across the entire enterprise. Etere solutions are built with an integrative Web and Windows architecture that are customisable to fit perfectly in any system.
Etere systems are developed by four different groups in different countries to ensure reliability and quality. Etere delivers on its service excellence commitment with its dedicated team and 24/7 worldwide support. Etere users with a valid support contract enjoy unlimited access to software upgrades and updates. Its portfolio of digital technologies and market-proven remote/on-site solutions including consultancy, training, installation and demonstrations are ready to run with your business no matter where you are. Etere enhances your adaptability for the future and empowers you with the software tools to drive your business to greater heights.
Etere is proud to celebrate its anniversary for over 30 years in the business. Currently the Etere team includes over 50 staff in Singapore, Italy, Russia and Ukraine. It features a strong and diversified portfolio of Etere Ecosystem software solutions spanning the complete media lifecycle including Media Asset Management, Channel-in-a-Box, Newsroom, Ad Insertion, Airsales, Automation, Broadcast Management System, Censorship, HSM Archive, Logging, OTT/VOD Delivery, Radio-Live, Subtitling and Captioning.
How has Etere responded to the move to IP and cloud-based solutions by broadcast and media companies?
IP migration is increasingly becoming a reality. Etere’s market-proven full IP solution allows you to leverage the benefits of IP and gain a competitive advantage way ahead of other solutions such as SMPTE 2110, Aspen and AIMS. Newtek Network Device Interface (NDI) is a new open standard for live production IP workflows over Ethernet networks. Etere enables you to build an NDI playout that allows you to launch multiple channels without the associated costs and is less expensive than a traditional solution. It is a complete solution that includes Ingest, Media Asset Management (MAM), Transcoding, Quality Control, Playout, Graphics, Etere ETX-M Multiviewer and Closed Caption. It is also capable of managing 4K, HD and SD.
While no one video over IP standard does it all, with Newtek NDI, there is no limit with what you can do as long you have the right computing power, network bandwidth and storage resources (local/virtualised/cloud). With virtualisation, you can have unlimited streams at a much lower cost and easy maintenance as compared to an SDI setup. Moreover, NDI allows you to be more cost-efficient and ready for the future with no hardware dependencies and an open system that can be compatible with future standards. The opportunity to be future-ready is one we cannot miss and NDI helps Etere users to be ready for the future.
What is Etere’s ‘special sauce’?
Etere offers unrivalled flexibility and control of all processes and media assets in the company. Without an effective control, you cannot achieve a high level of performance even with the best specifications in place. Etere Ecosystem features a seamless connection across Etere modules and third-party applications. It gives you real-time updates as well as fast and accurate information exchange processes between multiple departments. With a single system, you can have complete control and visibility of your workflow processes, media assets, monitoring consoles, resources and user rights management. Additionally, you have centralized resource planning that allows users to create, preview, accept and approve tasks with an interconnected network. Etere adopts big data technologies that give you valuable insights to understand how much each task costs, where are your performance bottlenecks, how to improve operational efficiency and increase revenue. Beyond the confines of the studio, Etere MAM provides both Windows and Web interfaces that allows your team to share resources, collaborate and drive workflows from anywhere in the world on multiple platforms including tablets, laptops and PCs. Etere is a system that is scalable and adaptable to fulfil your business needs today and the future. With its 24/7 worldwide support and unlimited software updates and upgrades, it is a system that is ready to grow with your business.
How has the Covid pandemic affected Etere and its customers? What are you doing differently now, and will those changes ‘stick’ for the future?
Etere has been diversifying our marketing strategies since 2010 and going digital has been a part of our company DNA. This year, we will continue to focus on our digital marketing strategies and enhance our cloud and web solutions. In this first quarter, we rolled out our upgraded remote demo, training and installation solutions. On top of that, our web platform, EtereWeb allows our users to drive their workflows and manage their media files from anywhere in the world on any internet browser. Etere offers one of the best support services in the market with 24/7 worldwide support for its users. Breaking geographical boundaries, Etere continues to provide a full suite of remote installation and consultancy services including multiple users connectivity, workflow creation, system configuration, workflow design solutions, troubleshooting and remote connectivity to your system. Etere is a software-only solution. As a result, there is no need for delivery and installation of hardware. Our solutions are an agile approach that prepares you for the future. The good news is, even in the midst of the Covid-19 situation, we are ready to run!
Have you missed demonstrating your products and meeting prospects at exhibitions? How have you compensated for this during lockdown? What do you think the future holds for exhibitions when it’s safe to hold them again?
Exhibitions used to be mainstay across many industries and it will definitely take a while for people to have confidence to attend large-scale gatherings in the near future. While nothing quite replaces a face-to-face interaction, often the initial point of interaction between a company and its customers is not all that defines a customer journey. The customer journey in the broadcast and media industry as well as many B2B industries is not an immediate gratification but it is a prolonged but fulfilling one. At Etere, we place importance on understanding the customer’s story and how to provide the best solutions to his or her problems. In this aspect, technological tools help us to bridge the geographical gaps we face in the pandemic and even beyond that. Even though face-to-face interactions will never go away, we think that digital marketing will reduce the importance of exhibitions in the future.
What benefits do you get from IABM membership and what are the most valuable IABM resources in conducting your business?
IABM helps us to connect and engage with like-minded professionals, it is an invaluable platform that brings the industry together. Some of the resources that we regularly access include the IABM journal and knowledge hub for the latest news and developments in the industry as well as the IABM future trends theatre to share insights and analysis with our industry’s partners and peers.
