Avid 2004 Annual Report Download - page 18

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4
delivering integrated solutions to our users, not just point products. For example, with Avid Unity Network-based
collaborative workgroups, we are seeking to enable all of our products to connect to one another through the sharing of
common media production assets and information about the media, or metadata, in a seamless workflow that encompasses
all the disciplines in content creation – acquisition, editing, image manipulation, graphics, audio, mastering, encoding and
distribution. An Avid Unity for News solution, for example, can facilitate all the tasks required to create news stories for
broadcast by leveraging the aggregate power of all of our tools. The entire process, including capturing news feeds,
managing scripts and announcer recordings, editing and manipulating video, audio and graphics elements, delivering the
finished product to a video server for playback, automated repurposing of the story for web distribution, and streaming the
repurposed content to the consumer, can be accomplished seamlessly by an array of our products working together,
connected in an Avid Unity workgroup.
Support Open Standards for Media, Metadata and Application Program Interfaces (APIs).
Beyond interoperability within the Avid family of products, we seek to design all of our products so that they are
based on and can work with a variety of established industry-wide standards, including computer platforms, operating
systems, networking protocols, data compression, and digital media handling formats. We have been a leader in defining
and developing the Advanced Authoring Format, or AAF, a multimedia file format that enables content creators to easily
exchange digital media and metadata, across platforms and between systems and applications. AAF saves time, simplifies
project management, and preserves valuable metadata that can be lost when transferring media between applications.
In order to address the needs for collaboration and efficient workflow in a local-area network (LAN) or wide-area
network (WAN) environment, we offer the Avid Unity Productivity Tools, such as Avid Unity MediaManager and Avid
Unity TransferManager products. MediaManager makes media accessible to more people by providing a simple Web
browser interface to search, view, and select high resolution video on any desktop. TransferManager enables local or
geographically dispersed content creators to collaborate easily by facilitating the exchange of digital media.
TransferManager streamlines and automates the task of transferring production assets between editing systems, between
collaborative Avid Unity workgroups, and between Avid Unity workgroups and external Avid editing or video server
systems.
Deliver Excellent Customer Service, Support and Training.
In order to succeed, we must provide experienced, accessible and knowledgeable customer service. We try to
create a culture at Avid that encourages every employee to focus on exceptional customer service. We seek to train our
support staff in a broad range of applications, operating systems, and storage and networking solutions. In addition, we
work with resellers in the major regions of the world who also have the capability to deliver various levels of application
and hardware support directly to end users. We also offer training throughout the world in all areas of content creation
though a team of experienced educational specialists.
PRODUCTS
The following section describes our major products and product families within the markets into which they are
sold, organized by reportable segment. Information about our reportable segments, including total revenues, operating
income and total assets, as well as a geographic breakdown of our revenues and long-lived assets, can be found in Footnote
N to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8.
VIDEO AND FILM EDITING AND EFFECTS PRODUCTS
Video and Film Editing
Avid’s award-winning digital nonlinear editing tools are used by film, video, audio, animation, games, and
broadcast professionals to create the world’s most recognizable media. Among Academy Award nominees for the 2004
eligibility year, every film nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Directing, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound
Mixing, Visual Effects, and Best Animated Feature employed at least one Avid solution in the postproduction process. In
the recording industry, every No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2004 was created using Avid digital audio
workstation technology.