axle Video, a startup focused on making media management simple and cost effective for small-to-midsize production teams, today introduced axle™ 2012, the next generation of its award winning media management solution. axle lets video producers, small postproduction teams and owners of media libraries organize, search and comment on their media through a simple web interface, without complexity or headaches.

“We were impressed with how quickly and simply axle could be set up and implemented into the video workflow for our online school, Berkleemusic.com.” said Craig Reed, video producer at Boston’s Berklee School of Music media department.  “We began using it almost immediately to track content, support review and approval processes, and mark up raw content for rough cut decisions.  The browser-based interface makes it easy for different teams to quickly find the content they need, and for our remote clients to easily review media and provide feedback”

Like the earlier versions of the software, axle 2012 is radically simple, with a browser-based interface that’s equally easy to understand and use on an iPad, Windows PC or Mac.  axle 2012 adds a number of key benefits to creative production teams, many of whom have not been able to adopt media asset management technology until now.

• Scalable transcoding – accelerates management, review, and approval of large amounts of media: file-based cameras help producers generate many terabytes of material, often faster than production teams can manage and review it.  In response, many production / post-production workflows involve remote editorial assistants, editors, producers, directors, or clients.  axle 2012 integrates Telestream’s industry-leading Episode Pro so that up to 10 transcode software licenses can be harnessed for the fastest possible processing pipeline of incoming media – up to 20x realtime throughput.  The whole production team can then review and select from this media, whether connected locally, or remotely from anywhere in the world.

• Finished output delivery – axle 2012 enables the creation and selection of Telestream Episode Pro processing presets from within axle 2012’s browser-based interface.  Local and remote axle 2012 users can initiate transcoding workflows and the delivery of finished output.  Any video asset stored in axle 2012 can be sent for transcoding.  Episode Pro supports a very wide range of output formats, including Apple’s ProRes and Avid’s DNxHD.

• Tiered storage – axle 2012 supports up to three tiers of storage: Tier 1 (Editing) for high-speed devices such as SANs and optimized NASs for direct video editing from connected workstations; Tier 2 (Parking) for nearline media file systems for migration to and from editing storage at short notice; and Tier 3 (Library) for tape and cloud-based storage options with longer retrieval times.  axle 2012 lets users easily migrate their high-res media among these 3 tiers of storage, without worrying about details of the migration.  Most network storage systems are compatible; axle 2012 has been successfully qualified with Active Storage, Facilis and Small Tree Tier 1 storage; Active Storage mVault, Object Matrix, and QNAP Tier 2 storage; and Cache-A and XenData Tier 3 storage.

• Support for audio, photo and print assets – axle 2012 adds support for a wide range of media formats besides video.  Types supported include most mainstream audio files (MP3 and AAC); TIFF, EPS and JPEG image files; Camera RAW files from most DSLR manufacturers including Canon and Nikon; and PDFs, both single-page and multi-page.  axle’s simple web browser interface gives users a way to browse, review and annotate these file types.

The axle 2012 server software runs on a Mac mini, can monitor standard network file systems and is compatible with files from major content creation tool vendors such as Apple and Adobe.  axle lets users view, log, comment, upload, download and review and approve material from wherever they are located and on whatever device they choose, including Macs, PCs, and IPads.  Axle has also concluded an OEM agreement with Telestream under which it is distributing Episode Pro software coupled with axle.  Each Episode Pro license can run on a separate Mac mini, Mac Pro or Windows system networked to the axle server, and is priced at $995.

“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with axle Video and to offer its users the encoding flexibility and scalability they need in today’s multiformat production environments,” said Barbara DeHart, vice president of marketing at Telestream. “Direct integration of our products provides axle users with easy access to Episode’s vast range of file formats and enables centralization of powerful encoding functions,”

 The network equipment vendor Cisco will be holding a webinar with axle on Wednesday Dec. 12^th( www.tinyurl.com/ciscoaxlewebinar ) describing the axle 2012 solution, and axle will be holding further, technical webinars on Wednesday Dec. 19^th ( www.tinyurl.com/axle9amEST and www.tinyurl.com/axle3pmEST ).  Participation in these webinars is free and open to the public.

axle 2012 is priced at $1295 per 5 users for the software, and $295/year for code updates and support; combined solutions start at $2290 including one Telestream Episode Pro license.  Shipments begin December 19^th.  Axle has begun recruiting a worldwide network of certified resellers who are able to configure systems with the axle and Telestream components, as well as accompanying Apple hardware.  Creative professionals and resellers can learn more at http://www.axlevideo.com.  

About axle

axle video, LLC is a Boston-based company aiming to bring radical simplicity to media management for small and midsize workgroups.  Its founders, Sam Bogoch, Steven Ryan and Patrice Gouttebel, all have extensive experience in the fields of media asset management, digital asset management and workflows for creative applications.  The company’s products take an “appliance” approach, to solve what has previously been the domain of highly complex software configurations and deployments.  axle’s first product release, version 1.0, received a prestigious Best of IBC award from TVB Europe magazine.