MUMBAI: Media and entertainment companies have been sailing on the cloud of cloud computing. And one of the companies that is bearing the fruits of this is Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of media and entertainment services leader Prime Focus.
PFT today announced that it has secured orders worth Rs 2 billion in the previous quarter from existing and new clients in India, and the US which are to be executed over the next three to five years.
The company was unwilling to name the clients on account of NDAs with them. All it said was that the new clients include the world‘s largest news aggregator, a prominent Indian studio and a new Indian television channel, each of which have signed multi-year deals for PFT‘s Hybrid Cloud Technology - Clear, a cloud-based Media ERP and technology infrastructure platform that helps manage the business processes of M&E companies.
PFT works with major content owners like Star India, Eros International, Sony Music, Viacom 18, Multiscreen Media BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), the IPL (Indian Premiere League), Hindustan Unilever, The Associated Press, A & E TV Network, Netflix, Schawk! and WPP.
Says PFT founder, president & CEO Ramki Sankaranarayanan: "Increasingly M&E companies are adopting cloud technologies across the enterprise content operations. They are not only migrating to digital file-based workflows but starting to adopt a Media ERP solution to manage the business processes around content. Clear‘s proven credential of managing over 300,000 hours of content is helping the growth of our order book."
Meanwhile, parent company Prime Focus today announced that it has entered into an initial non-binding memorandum of understanding with US-based Medient Studios. Under this, Prime Focus and Medient shall execute a definitive agreement within 90 days for the provision of production and post-production equipment, work flow technology and skill transfer by the former for the latter‘s megastudio project.
Medient chairman & CEO Manu Kumaran has ambitious plans to develop a 1500 acre site in Effingham, Georgia, in the US which will house movie studios, entertainment facilities and a campus at an initial investment of $90 million. He estimates that the Prime Focus contribution is worth in excess of $40 million.