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Snell has announced that the company will showcase version 3.0 of its ICE Channel-in-a-Box at IBC2012, newly enhanced with added features and integrated functionality that extend the solution's cost benefits.

ICE v3.0 features making their debut at IBC2012 include integrated 3D and 2D graphics and CG functionality with timeline editing control and the ability to populate fields automatically with graphics from Morpheus automation schedule events, as well as from external data sources such as RSS feeds and Web-based news and weather services. All of these new graphics capabilities combine to support simple delivery of a richer, more sophisticated on-screen product without reliance on external systems.

To complement ICE's HD and SD simulcast capabilities, as well as the system's ability to provide a clean output, Snell has added a delay server that enables users to record the output of a channel for delayed playout services. While ICE has always boasted flexible audio features including multiple audio voiceovers, Snell will be introducing full Dolby E processing within the system as well as mono/stereo audio shuffling and audio clip playout at IBC2012.

Snell has also announced integration with the Quantum StorNext File System and StorNext Q-series disk arrays, enabling up to 10 ICE units to share a massive 36TB of storage. The scale-out, high-performance SAN technology allows content ingested on any ICE to be available for playout instantly on any of the other ICE units, providing the utmost flexibility for multi-channel environments.

"The ongoing development of ICE reflects Snell's commitment to streamlining our customers' master control and playout operations while enabling them to maintain the highest-possible quality" said Karl Mehring, senior product manager at Snell. "ICE is already the most feature-rich channel-in-a-box platform on the market, and we will continue to add additional functionality in order to integrate more of the broadcast chain into our solution. This will allow our users to reduce the complexity of their operations, as well as the costs associated with operating and maintaining outboard equipment."

In addition to performing key functions critical to delivery of a wide range of programming, ICE manages all of the processes required to prepare pictures, sound, and ancillary data - including captions and subtitles - for frame-accurate, secure, high-quality SD/HD playout. Bringing this unique and robust array of capabilities into a single compact solution, ICE enables operational cost savings of up to 75 percent compared with conventional playout models.