Cisco announced that the Dubai-based Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC Group) has completed the implementation of an innovative network that will help the broadcasting giant to distribute data and live and prerecorded video content over a Cisco networking architecture.

MBC has further deployed a Cisco Unified Communications solution including Presence, Unified Messaging, MeetingPlace collaboration platform, Video and Wireless Telephony to support greater employee mobility and improve collaboration and workflow between the offices and production studios.

The new Internet Protocol (IP) network will connect the broadcaster's Dubai head office to 16-branch offices and three production sites in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon.

The deployment of Cisco's broadcast solution will reduce the time and cost of delivering content across large distances and reduce the reliance on satellite connectivity.

Amjad Edris, chief technology officer at MBC, said: 'The liberalisation of the communications sector in the Middle East has led to an exceptional boom in the number of free-to-air channels. Due to the very timely and sensitive nature of broadcasting, as well as the rapid growth that our operations are witnessing, we turned to Cisco to deploy a very strong and reliable platform that can handle our requirements.

Edris added: 'Cisco has provided us with a scalable broadcast solution based on IP architecture, by interconnecting disparate networks, we have opened the possibility for collaborative working with our regional offices and production studios as well as managed to centralise network management and significantly reduce operational costs.'

Delivering and distributing content across an IP infrastructure provides broadcasters with an alternative to the expensive satellite method. Even where geography demands the use of satellite technology, IP complements it in a variety of applications including local content delivery and interactivity.

Sam Alkharrat, managing director for Cisco, Gulf and Pakistan said: 'MBC can now integrate Cisco Unified Communications applications over the IP network, using Cisco's advanced capabilities. The new state-of-the-art infrastructure will also help MBC harness the power of Web 2.0 in order to effectively organise and categorise content, improve collaboration, open new communication channels, and link into its business processes.

We are very pleased to participate and help enable this very important transformation for MBC,' he concluded.

Cisco's solutions include Cisco Unified Communications, call centre solutions to serve as the broadcaster's IT help desk; security solutions including Cisco ASA5500 Series firewalls, Cisco Network Admission Control, Cisco Security Mitigation and Response System, Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switches, fully loaded to serve as the core and edge of the network and a host/network intrusion detection system.

The overall implementation features Cisco's latest technologies, which include a range of routers to enable WAN connectivity as well as integrated wireless networking, Wide Area Access Services (WAAS) and the Digital Media System. The same solutions will be implemented in all the branches.

MBC Group includes 6 television channels: mbc1 (general family entertainment), mbc2 (24-hour movies), mbc3 (children's entertainment), mbc4 (entertainment for new Arab women), MBC Action (action series and movies), and Al Arabiya (the 24-hour Arabic language news channel); two radio stations: mbc FM (Gulf music), and panorama fm (contemporary Arabic hit music); as well as O3 productions, a specialized documentary production unit, and Middle East News agency (MEN), a video news gathering agency.

Dubai-based Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC Group) cruised ahead of any competition to lead the pack of international winners at the Promax/BDA World 2007 Awards competition - one of the most prestigious global events recognising achievements in broadcast and electronic marketing and design.

With a total of seven gold, nine silver, and eleven bronze awards, MBC Group was the single participant picking up the largest total number of awards, up against nominations from 168 different networks the likes of ABC, BBC Worldwide, CBS Television, FOX and National Geographic.

'The MBC Creative Services team is just thrilled that so much of our work has been recognized as absolutely world class by the judging panel at this year's awards,' says Fadel Zahreddine, MBC Group Director of Creative Services.

'The whole TV viewing experience is about much more than just the content featured, which is why we spend so much time, energy and creative talent at MBC Group to brand and package our content in a visually stimulating way. We work hard to create the best 'home' for both programs and brands - offering a channel environment second to none.'

"We saw an amazing array of design work among the competitors this year," said Lee Hunt, the interim managing director of Promax/BDA.

"Designers are continuing to push the creative envelope in producing extraordinary images that grab the viewers' attention while also telling a very important visual story for the networks and programming these designs represent."

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze statues, award recipients will also have their winning entries added to the permanent collection of Promax/BDA media at the United States Library of Congress as part of The Robert Neer Promax/BDA Promos TV Collection, containing over 6,900 winning promotional spots from Promax/BDA competitions worldwide since 1999.