SCC has signed contracts with the Gannett Company Inc. to install an Amazon Cloud based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition Digital Asset Management system for use by the Journal Media Group. The Amazon cloud system will be fully managed by SCC and enables sophisticated multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for news editors and content producers based at 14 regional JMG sites.

The installation includes the transfer of 7 million stories, 3 million photos and 3.5 million PDF pages from legacy on-premise storage, into highly affordable Amazon Glacier IR storage utilized by the SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system.

---

SCC has signed contracts with Lee Enterprises, Inc to add the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MI) to their existing Amazon AWS based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition Digital Asset Management system. The Amazon cloud system is fully managed by SCC and enables sophisticated multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for news editors and content producers based at multiple properties within the Lee Enterprises group.

As part of the installation, SCC transferred 1.25 million images, 3.25 million stories and 1 million PDF pages into highly affordable Amazon Glacier IR storage utilized by the SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system.

The Lee Enterprises system is also replicated in real-time to a secondary (DR) system located in an alternate Amazon AWS region, providing a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

We are commonly asked questions relating to the architecture of our SCC MediaServer system, specifically how our data is organized, what approach we take to configuring large multi-property systems and how this pertains to digital rights management. Here is a sampling of those questions and our responses.

 

You describe SCC MediaServer as a highly scalable system, what exactly does that mean?

Right from the outset, we designed MediaServer to be as granular as possible, allowing systems to scale outwardly as well as upwardly. Other systems we have encountered (and we have seen many) are only able scale upwardly, meaning those systems are limited to a single database (and in some cases to a single table) which grows exponentially, eventually collapsing under its own weight.

 

What does SCC mean by scaling outwardly?

Scaling outwardly, or horizontally, means that the system is not limited to one database, but supports any number of databases, either on the same server, or distributed across multiple servers.

 

What's the advantage of supporting multiple databases?

From a performance perspective, distributing data across multiple databases leads to increased parallelism, not only from an SQL query and transaction log performance perspective, but from a hardware perspective also, where the distribution of databases over multiple storage devices can provide significantly improved I/O.

For large group systems, from an organizational perspective, allowing data from each regional property to be positioned in its own database provides huge benefits. For example, if a property is ever sold, having their own data in their own database which can be easily detached from a central system, and reattached to another standalone system provides a great advantage to the system owner.

From a data protection and recovery perspective, the task of backing up (and restoring) a system becomes much faster. For example, it is not unusual for a very large database to take several hours to back up (and restore) and this is a real issue for IT departments to balance with their users. Splitting that large database into multiple databases allows each to be backed up in parallel. E.g. if one database takes 2 hours to backup, then dividing into 2 databases reduces the time to 1 hour, using 4 databases reduces to 30 mins etc.

And from an affordability perspective, one of the major costs of operating a digital asset management system such as MediaServer is the cost of licensing the SQL Server RDBMS software. Microsoft does provide a free (Express) edition of their SQL Server software, but the database size is limited to 10 GB. However, Microsoft does not limit the number of databases that can be used, and so for a system like MediaServer that supports multiple databases, then the use of SQL Express Edition enables a very low cost but still viable solution (at least for certain implementations).

 

How does this granularity present itself to users?

As mentioned, from the outset we have designed MediaServer to be granular and this is achieved through the creation of SCC “libraries”. Libraries are searchable containers within the MediaServer system and one or more can be easily selected by a user for searching.

 

Are there any limits to the size of libraries, do I really need to have more than one?

No, there are no restrictions to the size of a library. If a site really wants a MediaServer system with all their data in just one library then they can do that, which would be equivalent to the other systems we have encountered.

 

So why again would I benefit multiple libraries?

The ability to create multiple libraries adds a whole new dimension to the organizational and permissions structure of the MediaServer system. If you wish, you can use libraries to separately store photos, from stories, from graphics, from pages, from videos, from assignments, from budgets etc. – and since each of these media types typically requires a different metadata field structure (schema) each SCC library supports its own customizable set of fields.

And for a large group-based system which holds data for multiple regional properties, you can easily create library "groups" to store photos, graphics, stories, pages, videos etc. separately for each property (site).

 

Do SCC libraries support permissions?

Yes, each SCC library has its own permissions mechanism. E.g. a photographer may be allowed to edit the metadata in a photo library but not in a story or pages library, whereas a librarian or an admin user may have permission to edit all libraries.

And in the multi property sharing context, users at site "A" may have permissions to edit data within the site "A" library group but not within site "B" or site "C" library groups etc.

 

What about searching the system? Does each library have its own full text search index?

Yes, in addition to its own SQL table schema, each SCC library also has its own full text search index. Again those other systems we have encountered with a single database/table structure are also limited to a single full text index. This means that any requirement to rebuild or redesign that full text index requires the entire system to be down for the duration of that rebuild, and we’ve heard horror stories where systems have been down for many days while that single index is rebuilt.

This is not the case for the MediaServer system, any decision to rebuild or redesign a full text index only affects that one particular library and is very fast.

 

But do multiple libraries get in the way for users searching the system?

No, that’s where the magic comes in. The MediaServer system search engine supports multiple libraries (and multiple full text indexes) completely transparently. i.e. searches can be performed against one library, against 10 libraries, against 100 libraries without the user having any knowledge of that, just as if only one index existed.

However in a well-organized asset management system, it would make sense that users have the option to pick a certain library if they are interested in photos only, or another library for stories only, or to pick multiple libraries to search multiple data types for example, but that comes down to customer preference and how our SCC client interface is designed for each system.

For our large group based multi property systems users search their own “site” libraries primarily, but with the option to also expand their search (depending on user permissions) to other sites across the enterprise.

 

So the use of libraries facilitates rights management, correct?

Yes, exactly, by creating a system where data is organized into libraries, rather than having everything smashed together into a single table, and where the system supports the allocation of permissions at the library level, makes it possible, and in fact very easy to manage rights for data originating from each individual property, and also critically for data originating from agency sources.

 

You started out talking about databases, but then moved onto libraries, how do databases and libraries relate to each other?

It is not mandatory to position libraries in multiple databases, for small standalone systems it is typical to store all libraries in a single database.

But for large multi-property systems we would definitely recommend positioning library sets for each property in their own database (site A, site B, site C etc.), since as mentioned above, parallelism is significantly increased, backup/restore times greatly reduced, rights management controlled, and it just makes good sense to keep the data for each property stored separately – scaled upwardly and outwardly rather than upwards only.

 

It appears that libraries can be used for any purpose e.g. I have all kinds of small legacy databases, created in Filemaker Pro, in Access, in FoxPro etc. I could relocate the data in each of those to a MediaServer library, right?

Yes that’s the cool thing about MediaServer that I’m not sure everybody understands. The fields in our libraries are completely customizable, permissions are completely customizable, and you get a full text index for every library for free.

All you need is the user interface to each library, which is easily created by SCC, or by yourselves via our Rest API developer tools.

This is exactly how we have created our news budgeting (events diary) and assignments workflows for example, and our own story authoring/editing environment. Couple all of that with our sophisticated delivery engine, and you have everything you need to plan, assign and originate content all in one place, and to deliver on completion the necessary data structures (JSON, XML etc.) to your print and online playout devices.

---

SCC has signed a contract with Lee Enterprises, Inc to add the Buffalo News (NY) to their existing Amazon AWS based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition Digital Asset Management system. The Amazon cloud system is fully managed by SCC and enables sophisticated multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for news editors and content producers based at multiple properties within the Lee Enterprises group.

During the installation, SCC will export, insert and link 2 million photos, 2 million stories and 250,000 pages from the Buffalo News Newscycle (BRS/Search) legacy archive system into the SCC MediaServer system.

The Lee Enterprises SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system is also replicated in real-time to a secondary (DR) system located in an alternate Amazon AWS region, providing a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

SCC is pleased to announce a new add-on interface to the SCC MediaServer Web Client application, allowing users with appropriate credentials, to search, browse, preview and download digital content from Imagn, a USA Today Sports Media Group Company and a global leader in premium digital media content creation and distribution to media companies worldwide.

The SCC MediaServer Imagn interface has been designed as close as possible to the functionality provided for searching and accessing SCC stored assets, giving the user a sophisticated search, browse and download user experience for Imagn digital content. Advanced SCC client functions such as saved searches, image compare, slideshow, pan & zoom, print layouts, marked sets, server-side download/delivery, as well as user interface language localization and light/dark mode displays are all available for Imagn content in just the same way as they are for SCC stored content

SCC will be upgrading and allowing this new functionality to be used completely free of charge by all sites with both an active SCC contract and an active subscription to the Imagn service.

A video demonstration of the Imagn Interface can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new web client application, available at no additional charge, to run alongside our existing SCC desktop web client and SCC mobile web client applications.

SCC MediaBrowser provides read-only access to SCC MediaServer content using a small footprint "one-page", "one-click" responsive user interface, and is ideally suited for operation inside of a standard "iframe" DOM element within a CMS, a workflow application extension, or a public facing website.

SCC MediaBrowser can also be accessed as a stand-alone "simple" client application for production users (toners, page editors etc.) requiring read-only access to a specific set of content, e.g. content marked for publication.

SCC MediaBrowser provides drag and drop to the desktop and to filesystem directories, the ability to create date/time limited media links for social media and/or web page production, and provides access to our powerful Delivery module allowing for media to be easily delivered server-side to downstream 3rd party production/CMS systems.

A video demonstration of SCC MediaBrowser incorporated as an Adobe CC extension can be viewed by clicking on this link

A video demonstration of SCC MediaBrowser operating inside a CMS "iframe" element can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC has signed a contract with the Bakersfield Californian to supply a fully managed Amazon (AWS) based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition Digital Asset Management system. The system enables sophisticated multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for news editors and content producers, and provides immediate access to 25 years of digital content including 500,000 photos and graphics, 300,000 stories and 500,000 pages. When operating out of the Amazon AWS cloud SCC MediaServer systems provide a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

SCC is pleased to announce a new AP Media interface to our SCC MediaServer Web Client application, which adds the ability for users with appropriate credentials, to search, browse, preview and download/deliver multimedia content directly from the Associated Press, the definitive source for independent journalism from every corner of the globe.

Over the last few months, SCC software engineers have been working to bring this game changing functionality to our users. We have gone to extra lengths to ensure that the AP Media search, browse and download/deliver experience is as close as possible to the functionality we provide for our own stored assets. Advanced SCC client functions such as saved searches, image compare, slideshow, pan & zoom, print layouts, saved marked sets, server-side download/delivery, as well as user interface language localization and light/dark mode displays are all available for AP Media content in just the same way as they are for SCC stored content

SCC will be upgrading and allowing this new functionality to be used completely free of charge by all sites maintaining an active SCC contract and with an active subscription to the Associated Press.

A video demonstration of the AP Media Interface can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a major upgrade to our SCC MediaServer Web Client application, which now adds the ability for users with appropriate credentials, to search, browse, preview and download/deliver image content directly from Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace.

According to Mike Zarrilli, Senior Director, Global Strategic Development for Getty Images:
"With this exciting new integration, SCC customers will now be able to connect and access their existing Getty Images accounts directly within the SCC MediaServer platform. By using pre-built search criteria and sophisticated browsing tools, customers can now find, view, and download real-time and relevant visual content from their existing SCC dashboards, as well as download/deliver content to the various production systems supporting their publishing needs. We expect SCC customers will find this feature most valuable in reducing content access friction and minimizing time-to-publish."

Over the last few months, SCC software engineers have been working in conjunction with Getty Images’ technical team to bring this game changing functionality to our users. We have gone to extra lengths to ensure that the Getty Images search, browse and download/deliver experience is as close as possible to the functionality we provide for our own stored assets. Advanced SCC client functions such as saved searches, image compare, slideshow, pan & zoom, print layouts, saved marked sets, server-side download/delivery, as well as user interface language localization and light/dark mode displays are all available for Getty Images content in just the same way as they are for SCC stored content

SCC will be upgrading and allowing this new functionality to be used completely free of charge by all sites maintaining an active SCC contract and with an active subscription to Getty Images.

A video demonstration of the Getty Images Interface can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

We are pleased to announce a significant update to our SCC AV transcoding engine, which now supports on-demand trimming of audio/video files inserted into the SCC MediaServer database.

SCC’s media player app now incorporates a sophisticated AV trimming tool, allowing users with appropriate permissions, to add one or more trim sets to any SCC MediaServer database AV record. Each trim set can contain one or more trim point pairs inserted and positioned anywhere along the audio/video timeline.

Trim points can be easily dragged left or right or relocated into exact position using keyboard navigation keys. Clicking any of the words in the extracted speech text panel is also a useful way to position trim points precisely between spoken words. Double clicking trim points locks them into place and stores the relative time code values into the SCC MediaServer database record.

Trim sets can be stored private to the user, or shared to other users within the same role, or shared to all users. A preview function allows the user to see a representational view of the trimmed audio/video file prior to encoding.

Users have the ability to encode each completed trim set into a new trimmed video proxy complete with time synchronized closed captions in any language. The encoded proxy can either be added as an update to the database record and/or exported to an external directory. The trimmed proxy and trimmed closed caption timelines conform exactly to the trim points defined within the encoded trim set.

A video demonstration of SCC's new AV trimming tool can be viewed by clicking on this link (Many thanks to Ross & Taras of Toronto Star Newspapers for the use of the sample video).

---

For the 20th year SCC is pleased to supply SCC MediaServer workflow and digital asset management technology to the Annual Kentucky Mountain Workshops held in in Leitchfield, Grayson County KY., October 18–22, 2022

---

SCC is pleased to announce it has signed contracts with Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), one of the oldest and most trusted names in Catholic media in the United States, to supply an Amazon (AWS) cloud based SCC MediaServer Enterprise Digital Asset Management system, for the launch of OSV News, a new Catholic News Service.

The system will enable multimedia workflow, story editing and delivery functionality for OSV News editors and content producers, and provide immediate access of all digital content marked for release to authorized OSV News subscribers. The SCC system will replicate itself in real-time to additional AWS availability zones, providing a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

SCC is pleased to have been selected by Stuff Ltd., a privately held news media company operating in New Zealand, to install an Amazon (AWS) cloud based SCC MediaServer Enterprise Digital Asset Management system to provide digital media workflows and multimedia archiving. Stuff Ltd. operates Stuff, the country's largest news website, and owns nine daily newspapers, including New Zealand's second and third-highest circulation daily newspapers, The Dominion Post and The Press, and the highest circulation weekly, Sunday Star-Times.

---

In readiness for Microsoft and Google's announcement to remove support for Basic Authentication from their various online email protocols, mandating the use of OAuth2 authentication for continued operation of their online email services, SCC is pleased to announce a major update to the SCC MediaFactory engine, which now supports the use of the OAuth2 authentication method across all channel types.

Click to view Microsoft announcement.

The MediaFactory upgrade ensures continued operation of Send Email and Receive Email channel types, as well as all other MediaFactory channel types that support notification via email. In addition, since OAuth2 authentication is also required for MediaFactory to communicate with SCC's licensing/monitoring systems, it is also essential that all MediaFactory installations are upgraded prior to Microsoft and Google's deadline.

The SCC MediaFactory upgrade requires that version 11 or version 12 of the SCC MediaServer system is in operation. Sites running MediaServer versions prior to v11 will need to upgrade in order to support the new MediaFactory software.

---

A question we are commonly asked is whether it is possible to display watermarked previews when certain "limited access" users are given access to the SCC MediaServer system - and/or - for a multi-property SCC system where users from one property are allowed to view images from another property but may not have the rights to use them. In these cases watermarking preview images can help to block unwanted access, from a simple screen grab for example.

We are pleased to report that recent versions of the SCC desktop web client and SCC mobile client applications already provide this feature, configurable for each user and role, and relative to each SCC MediaServer library.

Individual watermark images can be allocated for each SCC MediaServer library - identifying each property in the multi-site SCC system for example - and where the weight (transparency) and position (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right, center) is also configurable uniquely for each watermark image and library.

A video demonstration of SCC preview watermarking can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a major upgrade to our SCC MediaServer Web Client application, which now adds the ability for users with appropriate credentials, to search, browse, preview and download/deliver image content directly from Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace.

According to Mike Zarrilli, Senior Director, Global Strategic Development for Getty Images:
"With this exciting new integration, SCC customers will now be able to connect and access their existing Getty Images accounts directly within the SCC MediaServer platform. By using pre-built search criteria and sophisticated browsing tools, customers can now find, view, and download real-time and relevant visual content from their existing SCC dashboards, as well as download/deliver content to the various production systems supporting their publishing needs. We expect SCC customers will find this feature most valuable in reducing content access friction and minimizing time-to-publish."

Over the last few months, SCC software engineers have been working in conjunction with Getty Images’ technical team to bring this game changing functionality to our users. We have gone to extra lengths to ensure that the Getty Images search, browse and download/deliver experience is as close as possible to the functionality we provide for our own stored assets. Advanced SCC client functions such as saved searches, image compare, slideshow, pan & zoom, print layouts, saved marked sets, server-side download/delivery, as well as user interface language localization and light/dark mode displays are all available for Getty Images content in just the same way as they are for SCC stored content

SCC will be upgrading and allowing this new functionality to be used completely free of charge by all sites maintaining an active SCC contract and with an active subscription to Getty Images.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new version of our popular SCC Web Uploads facility built specifically for the WordPress for Windows CMS. Written in ASP.NET the software is ideally suited to WordPress developers looking to add client-side file transfer capability to published web pages, or to create a dedicated file uploads website for their users.

The SCC WordPress Upload application supports one or more upload destinations each with target directories accessible to the WordPress server. Each upload destination references a configurable data entry form prompting the user to enter metadata describing the files being uploaded. Each upload form supports any number of data entry fields, pulldown lists, field validations etc.

XML "sidecar" files, containing all descriptive metadata entered into the upload form, are generated automatically for each transferred file and the resultant file pairs are written to the appropriate destination directory.

SCC WordPress Uploads is available free of charge for sites with an active SCC contract, and for a low monthly per-server cost for any other sites.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

Our SCC MediaFactory interface to the Brightcove Video Cloud platform has now been significantly enhanced to add support for automated "uploads" of audio and video assets from an SCC MediaServer Digital Asset Management (DAM) system into the Brightcove Video Cloud portal. Prior to this update the interface supported downloads only of Brightcove audio/video assets for automated archival within the SCC MediaServer DAM system.

A new SCC MediaFactory Brightcove "Upload" channel allows audio/video assets contained within SCC MediaServer systems equipped with SCC's Video Support Module, to be selected, either manually or automatically, and delivered to the Brightcove portal. Once transferred, assets can be subsequently linked to web pages created and edited within a 3rd party web authoring system such as the Wordpress CMS.

Previews and metadata generated and attached to the audio/video asset during initial ingest into the SCC MediaServer system, e.g. metadata inherited automatically as part of SCC's budgets/assignments workflow, and/or metadata generated automatically using SCC's artificial intelligence (AI) functionality (speechtext transcript, closed caption subtitles, facial recognition, feature detection, and objectionable content tagging) can be transmitted with each audio/video asset into the Brightcove portal.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link (Many thanks to Ross & Taras of Toronto Star Newspapers for the use of the sample video).

---

SCC has successfully completed the upgrade and migration of the Tribune Publishing Company group-wide SCC MediaServer Enterprise Edition system and data to SCC's MediaServer Cloud Edition system software, operating within the Amazon AWS Cloud.

SCC's Cloud Storage software makes use of the Amazon (AWS) S3 SDK allowing data to transfer over a secure (https) connection, and providing sophisticated error detection ensuring that the data arrives fully intact prior to removal of the source file. SCC has also implemented advanced multi-part upload and download transfer technology, allowing large files (high-definition video for example) to be automatically split into multiple parts, transferred in parallel, and reassembled in S3. Multi-part transfer technology leads to much faster upload times for large files, and conversely also provides much faster download times resulting in an enhanced user experience whenever these large files are downloaded for re-use, or played back (streamed) in real-time from the cloud using SCC client software.

The Tribune data migration included 61 million photos and graphics, 7 million pages and 18.5 million stories.

---

We are pleased to announce a new SCC text extraction (OCR) facility which leverages the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to allow searchable text to be generated automatically from bitmap page and document scans (reproduced from microfilm for example), and with the added benefit of automatic column/article detection.

Bitmap text within the scanned document is automatically detected, analyzed and returned as fully searchable textual data. In addition, the software has the ability to recognize columns and article shapes allowing text to be returned in logical, human readable order (as far as is possible). As such, not only are the words searchable, but the phrases/paragraphs inside each article can also be matched.

The software operates with a high degree of accuracy. Example page scans (kindly made available by Toronto Globe & Mail) together with corresponding text extracts can be viewed from the links below.

• GM_Aug17_1979_A1.JPG
• GM_Aug17_1979_A1.TXT

• GM_May01_1987_A1.JPG
• GM_May01_1987_A1TXT

• GM_Sep05_1972_A1.JPG
• GM_Sep05_1972_A1.TXT

The SCC text extraction (OCR) facility is available at zero cost for all sites maintaining an active SCC support contract.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC is pleased to announce the availability of a new SCC MediaFactory "AI Metadata" channel. The software leverages the latest in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to allow images stored within an SCC MediaServer system to be analyzed and automatically updated with metadata calculated from the raw image data.

The software provides the following functionality:

• Recognize bitmap text (regardless of orientation) appearing in images and convert to machine-readable, searchable data
• Detect features, objects, scenes, and actions
• Identify people in fields such as sports, media, politics and business
• Analyze and enhance existing textual metadata
• Examine and flag inappropriate content

The new MediaFactory "AI Metadata" channel is available at zero cost for all sites maintaining an active SCC support contract.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

We are pleased to announce version 2 of our SCC Audio/Video Speech Text Module. The updated software takes advantage of the latest advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, to return accurate transcripts and closed caption files from audio and video files, regardless of the source language, and even from relatively low quality, noisy source audio and video source files.

Each word in the transcript is automatically indexed by the SCC MediaServer Search engine, allowing users to perform searches on any word or phrase spoken in the audio/video. SCC users have the ability to click on any word in the transcript to cue the audio/video file automatically at the exact point that word is spoken. During playback, words in the transcript are highlighted in real-time as they are spoken, greatly enhancing readability.

The module also supports the automatic generation of closed caption (subtitle) files in either SRT or VTT industry standard formats. Any number of transcripts and closed caption files can be generated simultaneously and automatically, in any chosen target language (regardless of the original spoken language).

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC is pleased to announce the availability of new "localization" functionality for the SCC web client. All user interface (UI) strings, field labels, buttons, system alerts, validation alerts, confirmation dialogs have now been extracted from the code, and centralized into JSON formatted files, one for each language. These JSON files are easily duplicated and translated for any number of languages, and can even be edited and updated by the customer site themselves to suit their own requirements.

The preferred user interface (UI) language can either be selected by the user from a menu at the login screen, or set as part of their login credentials, in which case the language is chosen automatically upon login.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC has signed a contract with the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis to supply an Amazon (AWS) cloud based SCC MediaServer Enterprise Digital Asset Management (DAM) system. The system provides sophisticated multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for editors and content producers. SCC provides full management and technical support for both the software and the Amazon (AWS) cloud infastructure.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the availability of a new SCC mobile client application for SCC MediaServer Enterprise and Cloud Edition systems. The client provides a responsive, device independent web client interface specifically tuned for small and medium footprint mobile devices. The new application is the culmination of a twelve month development project during which time SCC worked closely with editorial and technology teams from the Catholic News Service (CNS), fine tuning both functionality and user interface to meet the needs of the CNS global subscriber community.

The Catholic News Service has a rich history of journalistic professionalism and is a leader in the world of Catholic and religious media. With headquarters in Washington, offices in New York and Rome, and correspondents around the world, CNS provides the most comprehensive coverage of the church today.

"SCC's mobile client application has helped us better serve our clients worldwide with the flexibility needed in our 24/7 news environment", said Greg Erlandson, director and editor in chief of the news service.

The CNS SCC MediaServer Cloud system has been positioned within Amazon's east coast AWS Virginia zone and uses SCC software to replicate itself in real-time to a DR system positioned within Amazon's west coast AWS Oregon zone. During the course of the CNS installation, SCC's technical team normalized and migrated large numbers of existing story, photos, graphics and video media files from legacy Commonspot CMS and MediaBeacon archiving systems over to secure redundant Amazon S3 IA storage.

CNS are now fully live with their SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system, a one-stop globally accessible editorial database complete with news budgeting and assignments workflows, rich text authoring and multimedia production workflows. As news media packages reach completion the system supports scheduled automated release to the CNS worldwide subscriber base via the SCC mobile client and in addition to a CNS WordPress enabled company website interfaced and populated automatically by the SCC MediaServer system.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

For the 19th year SCC is pleased to supply SCC MediaServer workflow and digital asset management technology to the Kentucky Mountain Workshops, October 19-21.

---

SCC has successfully completed the relocation of all Toronto Star Newspaper Group multimedia archive data, stored within their SCC MediaServer Enterprise DAM system, from traditional on-premise storage to Amazon (AWS) S3 Infrequent Access (IA) Cloud storage. The simple addition of SCC's Cloud Storage module enabled new functionality which allowed the existing SCC MediaServer system to automatically relocate all new and existing high-resolution data files to the cloud. The operation runs as a background task, completely transparent to active users of the SCC system.

SCC's Cloud Storage software makes use of the Amazon (AWS) S3 SDK allowing data to transfer over a secure (https) connection, and which provides sophisticated error detection ensuring that the data arrives fully intact prior to removal of the source file. SCC has also implemented advanced multi-part upload and download transfer technology, allowing large files (high-definition video for example) to be automatically split into multiple parts, transferred in parallel, and reassembled in S3. Multi-part transfer technology leads to much faster upload times for large files, and conversely also provides much faster download times resulting in an enhanced user experience whenever these large files are downloaded for re-use, or played back (streamed) in real-time from the cloud using SCC client software.

The high-resolution data migration included 6 million photos, 6 million pages, 25 thousand graphics and 8 thousand videos, with a total data size of 26.2 TB

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new SCC Media Browser plugin for the WordPress Content Management System (CMS). The plugin attaches itself to the WordPress paragraph text editor and allows users with appropriate credentials to login to an SCC MediaServer Digital Asset Management system, perform searches, browse object thumbnails and previews, edit captions, adjust sizing etc., and either choose to import selected objects to a WordPress Media Library, or import objects to the WordPress Media Library and at the same time automatically insert into the WordPress post or page record being actively edited. The plugin supports the import of images, graphics and video objects from an SCC MediaServer DAM system. The SCC Media Browser WordPress plugin is available for use at zero cost for any site maintaining an active SCC support contract.

A video demonstration of the module can be viewed by clicking on this link

---

SCC's Cloud Storage Module now includes support for s3 "multi-part transfer" and "transfer acceleration", two optional features of the Amazon s3 SDK which, when enabled, greatly increase the transfer rate (upload and download) of large digital files (high-definition video files for example) between on-premise networks and s3 cloud storage. Multi-part downloading has been further enhanced to support SCC's "instant-on" playback technology which allows high-definition video files stored within Amazon s3 and viewed within SCC's web client application, to commence playback immediately from any chosen point in the video, without the need to download the entire video file.

---

SCC is pleased to announce that v12 of the SCC MediaServer Digital Asset Management system is now released. SCC's MediaFactory processing engine, MediaServer search engine and database components, MediaGrid and Web client apps and Rest API codebases have been converted to UTF-16, offering wide character support for double-byte languages at the database column/field level of one or more MediaServer libraries. All functionality is retained regardless of the data language being stored, including highlighting of matching search terms.Also adds support for SQL Server 2019 and Windows 2019 Server.

---

SCC has signed a contract with the Catholic News Service to supply an Amazon (AWS) cloud based SCC MediaServer Enterprise Digital Asset Management system. The system will enable story editing and multimedia workflow and delivery functionality for CNS editors and content producers, and providing immediate access of all digital content marked for release to authorized CNS subscribers. The SCC system will replicate itself in real-time to additional AWS availability zones, providing a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

For the 18th consecutive year SCC is pleased to supply SCC MediaServer workflow and digital asset management technology to the Annual Kentucky Mountain Workshops held in Cynthiana KY., October 29-November 3.

---

SCC has signed a new contract with the McClatchy Company for a group wide Amazon (AWS) cloud based SCC MediaServer Enterprise Digital Asset Management system. The system will provide multimedia workflow and archiving capabilities to 31 publishing sites across the USA, enabling shared, rights managed access to digital content generated by each site in the McClatchy publishing group. As part of the design, the SCC system will replicate itself in real-time to additional AWS availability zones, providing a high degree of redundancy and protection for both the system and the data contained within.

---

The Shepparton News (McPherson Media Group, Australia) has upgraded its SCC MediaServer Enterprise system to version 11. As part of the upgrade, the company upgraded to the latest version of SCC's News Budgeting module adding the ability to plan story content for multiple products, including print, online and social media products, within a single streamlined budgeting workflow. At the same time, the Shepparton News also upgraded to SCC's latest staff scheduling and story/photo/graphic assignments workflow.

---

The Columbus Post-Dispatch, The Akron Beacon Journal, plus 8 additional daily newspapers and 40 weekly and monthly publications within the Gatehouse Ohio region are now operating live on a hosted Amazon AWS cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition DAM system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system, including daily system monitoring, monthly server and database patching, database and filesystem backups and monthly test restore services for the Amazon cloud infrastructure. As part of the installation SCC transferred 5 million stories, 2 million photos and graphics and 1 million PDF pages to Amazon S3 storage.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the implementation of their SCC MediaServer News Budgeting & Assignment Tracking Module at the The Florence Times-Daily (Tennessee Valley Printing Co.).

---

SCC has recently completed a custom development for the Portland Press Herald (Masthead Maine), allowing the company's SCC MediaServer photo assignment system to interact bi-directionally and in real-time with the company's custom built WordPress CMS, resulting in much greater efficiency and productivity for users of the CMS system.

---

SCC MediaServer v11 is now released, yet again increasing significantly the scalablity of very large centralized digital asset management systems. Version 11 now supports the hoizontal distribution of MediaServer data libraries across multiple on-premise and/or cloud-based database server instances. This enhanced load-balancing capability provides increased performance, dramatically reduced system backup times, and increased fault-tolerance over legacy vertically designed database systems. Version 11 also updates the dependency levels of all SCC MediaServer server components to support lockdown of host Windows Servers in compliance with PCI security standards council requirements, specifically supporting the removal of legacy SSL, TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 protocols in conformance with the PCI 3.1 standard. SCC MediaServer v11 is provided free of charge to all sites with an active SCC support contract.

---

The Palm Beach Post (Gatehouse Media) is now operating live on a hosted Amazon AWS cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition DAM system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system software, including system monitoring, server patching and data backup and restore services for the AWS cloud infrastructure. During the installation SCC migrated 3.25 million photos and 600 thousand pages to Amazon S3 storage.

---

The Virginian-Pilot is now operating live on the Tribune Publishing Company's centralized group-based SCC MediaServer Enterprise DAM system.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of an upgraded version of their SCC MediaServer Brightcove integration module, compatible with Brightcove's recent developer interface (SDK) upgrade. The SCC Brightcove integration module provides real-time automated archiving of Video content from a Brightcove portal into the SCC MediaServer DAM system.

---

For the 17th consecutive year SCC is pleased to supply SCC MediaServer workflow and digital asset management technology to the Annual Kentucky Mountain Workshops held in Mount Sterling KY., October 23-27.

---

The Austin American-Statesman (Gatehouse Media) is now operating live on a hosted Amazon AWS cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition DAM system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system software, including system monitoring, server patching and data backup and restore services for the AWS cloud infrastructure. During the installation SCC migrated 1.3 million photos and graphics, 2 million stories and 500 thousand pages to Amazon S3 storage.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the sale and successul installation of their new Amazon Cloud "Lightsail" SaaS bundle at Rosebud Media, Oregon. The bundle is a low-cost pre-packaged version of SCC's MediaServer Cloud Edition software, and provides 10 concurrent user licenses, SCC MediaFactory, SCC Web client, Budget/Assignment, Delivery and Cloud Storage (S3) Modules. SCC includes full management of the system, system monitoring, OS patching and data backup and restore services, and enables secure (https) access for Rosebud Media staff from anywhere on the Internet. During the installation SCC transferred 85,000 photos and 360,000 stories into the new Rosebud Media SCC system.

---

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Lee Enterprises) has upgraded its SCC MediaServer Enterprise system to version 10. As part of the upgrade, the company upgraded to the latest version of SCC's Budget/Assignment module adding the ability to plan story content for multiple products, including print, online and social media products, within a single streamlined budgeting workflow. At the same time, the Post-Dispatch has also upgraded to SCC's latest staff scheduling and photo/graphic assignments workflow.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new SCC MediaFactory channel, which interfaces to Google's YouTube video service, allowing the insertion of video data into one or more target YouTube channels. The new YouTube channel operates on a “watch” folder basis, allowing video files to be simply dropped into one or more watch folders for fully automated transfer to one or more target YouTube channels. The YouTube channel also supports metadata “sidecar” files in either XML or JSON format, allowing the video record in YouTube to be populated with meaningful, searchable metadata. Acting as our beta site, the Seattle Times has implemented the SCC MediaFactory YouTube Channel within their Amazon cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system, automatically inserting AP videos into YouTube for placement within their WordPress front-end CMS.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a new low-cost SCC MediaServer "Lightsail" SaaS bundle for Amazon cloud "Lightsail" server instances. The new SCC MediaServer “Lightsail” SaaS bundle is ideal for small to medium sized sites wishing to set up a text, photo, graphic and page archiving system, and/or a news budgeting and assignment system, and/or wire/staff photo & graphics desk, where the system runs entirely in the cloud, accessible from anywhere, and managed entirely by SCC.

---

The New York Daily News is now operating live on the Tribune Publishing Company's centralized group-based SCC MediaServer Enterprise DAM system.

---

SCC is pleased to have been chosen to convert and migrate story data from the Tulsa World's legacy story archiving system into the BH Media Group (Berkshire Hathaway) centralized SCC MediaServer Enterprise Edition system. As part of the data migration, 1.7 million stories will be exported and re-imported into the company's central SCC group-based system.

---

The Jacksonville Florida Times-Union (Gatehouse Media) is now operating live on a hosted Amazon AWS cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition DAM system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system software, including system monitoring, server patching and data backup and restore services for the AWS cloud infrastructure. The Florida Times-Union SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system currently holds 2 million photos and graphics, 1 million stories and 110 thousand pages.

---

SCC has recently completed a custom development for Cox Media Group, allowing the company's centralized SCC MediaServer graphics assignment system to interact bi-directionally and in real-time with the Google Sheets production workflow in use by Gatehouse Media Center for News & Design. Cox Media Group outsources graphics production to Gatehouse Media Center, and since going live, the new integration between SCC's assignment module and Google Sheets has greatly improved CMG users ability to communicate with the Gatehouse design center, resulting in greater efficiency and productivity.

---

The Tribune Publishing Company's SCC MediaServer Replication Module has fulfilled all expectations as part of the switchover of production from the company's Los Angeles based data center over to their Chicago based data center. Prior to the switchover, the company's primary (production) SCC MediaServer system was located in Los Angeles and replicating in real-time to the company's secondary (DR) SCC MediaServer system in Chicago. After the switchover the roles are reversed, data replication is now running in the opposite direction, and Chicago is now the company's primary (production) center. SCC is currently working with Tribune Publishing Company on the second phase of the project,to move their secondary (DR) SCC system from the Los Angeles data center to the Amazon AWS cloud. In doing so SCC has noted that data replication performance has increased substantially.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the installation of an SCC MediaServer Express Edition system for Volunteers of America MI.

---

For the 16th consecutive year SCC is pleased to supply SCC MediaServer workflow and digital asset management technology to the Annual Kentucky Mountain Workshops held in Frankfort KY., October 24-29.

---

SCC is pleased to have been chosen to convert and migrate legacy data from the Tampa Tribune's Merlin archiving system into an SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system. The data migration comprises 1.75 million photos and 2 million stories dating back to 1996

---

SCC is pleased to have been chosen to convert and migrate legacy data from the Tampa Tribune's BRS story archiving system into an SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system software, including system monitoring, server patching and data backup and restore services for the AWS cloud infrastructure. The SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system holds 3 million photos and graphics, 2 million stories and 1 million PDF pages.

---

SCC has upgraded the SCC MediaServer Enterprise system at Excelsior Newspaper (Mexico City) to version 10.

---

SCC has upgraded the Journal Media Group (Gannett) centralized SCC MediaServer Enterprise system to version 10. The upgrade enables SCC’s cloud storage module, allowing high-resolution assets to be automatically moved from on-premise storage over to Amazon S3 storage. The increased redundancy provided by Amazon S3 significantly reduces storage costs by removing the need for off-premise duplication of data, and removes performance impact of localized backup processes.

---

The Nation Media Group (Nairobi, Kenya) has upgraded their primary and subscriber (replication) SCC MediaServer Enterprise systems to version 10.

---

SCC has successfully migrated legacy BRS and Newsbank archives from the Bradenton, Biloxi, Hilton Head Island, Macon and Columbus (GA) McClatchy Newspaper sites into the McClatchy group centralized SCC MediaServer Enterprise DAM system.

---

NBC News Digital has added sister site Telemundo to their centralized SCC MediaServer Enterprise system. The SCC system acts as a centralized photo and graphics desk and archive for the NBC News group.

---

The Detroit Free Press (Gannett) has upgraded their SCC MediaServer Enterprise system to version 10. As part of the upgrade, the company has also added the SCC AV Support Module and the SCC Replication module. The SCC AV Support module provides fully automated audio/video encoding and archival services and includes built-in support for FFMPEG, Microsoft Expression Encoder and Amazon AWS Elastic Trancoding services. SCC’s Web Browser Access Module features an integrated HTML5 audio/video player which supports progressive playback of the archived media, even when located on cloud-based storage. The SCC Video Support Module includes an interface to Brightove video portals for real-time archival of Brightcove originated audio/video content. The SCC Replication Module allows a second “subscriber” MediaServer system to be installed at a remote “DR” site, holding a real-time replica of the primary SCC MediaServer system.

---

McClatchy Newspapers recent acquisition, The Durham Herald-Sun, is now operating live on an SCC MediaServer Express system.

---

Advance Newspapers New Jersey, Michigan and Syracuse sites have been added to the group’s existing centralized SCC MediaServer Enterprise system. The SCC system acts as a live photo desk, feeding content to Advance Newspapers Saxotech Mediaware publishing system, and also acts as primary archiving system for published content exported from the Saxotech system.

---

West Australian Newspapers (Perth, Australia) has upgraded their SCC MediaServer Enterprise system to version 10. The upgrade enables SCC’s cloud storage module, allowing high-resolution assets to be automatically moved from on-premise storage over to Amazon S3 storage. The increased redundancy provided by Amazon S3 significantly reduces storage costs by removing the need for off-premise duplication of data, and removes performance impact of localized backup processes.

---

The Seattle Times is now operating live on a hosted Amazon AWS cloud-based SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition DAM system. SCC provides 24x7x365 support for the SCC system software, including system monitoring, server patching and data backup and restore services for the AWS cloud infrastructure. The Seattle Times SCC MediaServer Cloud Edition system currently holds 6 million photos and graphics and 2 million pages.

---

SCC is pleased to announce the availability of a new "WordPress Integration" channel type for SCC MediaFactory v10. The new channel connects to the open source WordPress content management system and allows the automatic uploading of images and graphics (media) and stories (posts) marked for delivery from an SCC MediaServer system. The module was originally developed for the Seattle Times where it is used as part of their production workflow. The WordPress Integration channel is also installed and operating in production at the Digital First Media Bay Area News Group (BANG) newspapers.