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OmniBus Systems has launched Sentinel, a proactive remote monitoring service for customers of the iTX automation and transmission platform. Sentinel provides an unprecedented level of transmission and automation support for broadcasters by using statistical analysis of real-time data in the log files to deliver a daily health report on the customer site. In the event of a potential support issue, the software alerts OmniBus support staff in the local time zone, who can then make phone contact with the customer.

Sentinel uses a small, passive application at the customer site to automatically gather data from the iTX log files and upload a series of system reports to OmniBus every 24 hours. The Sentinel software analyzes trends and identifies certain types of warnings and errors that the customer may be unaware of. If a site's health rating changes, the Sentinel software sends an automated alert to support staff. This service allows OmniBus to alert customers to potential errors or hardware failures before they happen, and to advise the customer when inefficient operating practices could be improved. Data from the Sentinel service also feeds directly into OmniBus R&D, supporting the continuous development and optimization of the platform.

"iTX is a very resilient system and much easier to maintain than the chain of devices it replaces in the conventional automation and transmission solution. But any sophisticated system still needs monitoring for the type of problems that crop up over time, such as drive or other hardware failures and configuration errors. These are not necessarily service-affecting and they may go unnoticed by the broadcaster, especially since iTX is designed to be self-healing,” said Ian Fletcher, CTO of OmniBus Systems.

“The Sentinel monitoring service means that any such issues are pointed out within 24 hours by our support engineers — usually before the customer is aware, and before a failure occurs. Support and maintenance overheads are coming under close scrutiny by many broadcasters, and for iTX users, Sentinel provides a further contribution to running secure, ultra-reliable automation and transmission with dramatically reduced costs,” Fletcher added.

Sentinel's confidential monitoring service is available to all OmnBus iTX customers free of charge with the OmniCare support package. More than 550 iTX channels are already being monitored by the Sentinel service.

OmniBus iTX is the next-generation solution that makes the conventional broadcast automation, master control and playout chain obsolete. OmniBus Systems is the award-winning provider of comprehensive broadcast automation, content management and workflow solutions.