What Is Meant by ‘EOL’ in the Product Timeline?
As is the case with everything, products in the broadcast and media industry eventually reach the end of their life.
The term ‘end of life’ refers to the process taken to cease the development of a product line, and in turn, eventually cease the support for users still engaging with and implementing the products into their workflows. Initially, organizations that are ceasing a product will still provide support for a number of years before officially removing the product from any lines. Avid Airspeed, the ingest solution platform, has announced that support will officially cease by 2027, making it vital for media service providers to explore Avid Airspeed replacement solutions like Cinedeck Ingest.
The announcement has also sparked a conversation amongst the industry surrounding the process of product EOL, and what broadcast and media organizations can do in the event that their systems undergo this change.
Product EOL: Causes and Concerns
When a product reaches EOL, this inevitably causes issues and concerns for the organizations that are still implementing it. Even if the product is still being supported for a few years yet, the expectations and performance of the product will undoubtedly change.
Products that have reached EOL have often been discontinued for a substantial reason, which can ultimately decrease the productivity available when using them. This could result in disruption across a systems’ operations, and downtime that ends up being costly for everyone involved. Not just this, but when a product status is labeled EOL, the parts are more often than not discontinued or made much harder to obtain. This significantly increases the cost of maintenance should something go wrong, making the solution more expensive and difficult to maintain in the last stages of support and onwards. Not to mention the difficulties that arise with compliance that takes a dive as soon as broadcasting infrastructure no longer meets the regulatory standards, which is the likely case for most EOL products.
What Determines the Average Lifecycle for Ingest Products?
When it comes to the lifecycle of products in the ingest sphere, such as the Cinedeck for post-production workflow efficiency, there are many factors that can determine the initiation of EOL protocol.
It is widely accepted that technology is expected to, and often does, last for as long as the market demands. The availability of parts also plays a huge role, with this factor single-handedly initiating EOL protocol in a number of discontinued product lines amongst the industry. Many agree that approximately five years is average for the lifecycle of a product in the broadcast and media industry, although this is, of course, dependent on external factors. Products might simply mature over time, also, to be eventually replaced with more updated technology, perhaps incorporating recent trends such as media automation and AI. Development drives changes in products constantly, and this will occasionally alter the path of the product’s life.
Best Practices for Seeking a Replacement
With Avid Airspeed ceasing support in 2027, it has been speculated that the EOL for this product came about due to the lack of parts available and the predictable development of the systems involved. Market demand may have also played a role, with the plethora of dramatic shifts in the industry perhaps causing a divide in consumers as to their requirements.
Avid Airspeed is a multichannel video server specializing in ingest solutions, designed to enable organizations in managing feeds, live acquisition, and content production. In the industry as it stands, there are many replacements available, including Cinedeck Ingest as an Avid Airspeed alternative. It has been suggested that Cinedeck Ingest might offer more in the field of workflow support, alongside more recording and file format options, software-based flexibility, and potentially smoother integration with other workflow tools. For this reason, it acts as a suitable Avid Airspeed end of life solution.
When seeking a replacement for an EOL product, it would be wise to consider the ways in which an organization’s workflow has developed since the product was implemented. Features and trends arrive and leave suddenly in the industry, so when a product reaches EOL, it can be a great time for organizations to consider shifting to a new product line.
The Importance of Prioritizing Integration
With Avid Airspeed officially announcing an ‘end of support’ date, it is definitely worth considering the benefits of switching providers, especially with the industry shifting and developing the way it is. Cinedeck Ingest: Cost-effective Avid Airspeed replacement acts as a reasonable choice for those who are looking to shift away from an EOL product line and reinvest in prioritizing integration with other workflow tools.
When moving away from an EOL product to leverage productivity and performance, one of the most important considerations to take is to prioritize integration with other workflow tools. With the rise of integration promoted by other big names in the industry, most ingest solutions now offer integration with other solutions to create a specially designed environment for broadcast organizations to work within. Exploring ingest solutions available in the industry is a great place to start and can open up a plethora of opportunities for any broadcast organizations dealing with an EOL product replacement.
To learn more about the features that Cinedeck Ingest offers as a real-time media review alternative to Avid Airspeed, visit our website or get in touch to explore how you can make sophisticated decisions and leverage the rise of media automation within the broadcast and media industry.