Vantage Consulting

Telestream Vantage is a robust and powerful media transcoding and workflow automation solution with extensive features. To maximize its value, it's important to keep the software up-to-date and optimize system configuration, especially workflows, to meet your operational needs.

Do you own or manage a Telestream Vantage system and if so do any of the following describe your situation ?

Your Vantage system was originally configured by a person who is no longer an employee, or is now on another team
Nobody on your team has the time, or expertise to focus on Vantage administration
Workflows in use were built using the capabilities of what may now be outdated Vantage releases
Workflows are 'clunky' and not optimized
Jobs process slowly in workflows, or hit bottlenecks
Workflows no longer fit your needs and/or are inefficient to use
Workflows are lacking in documentation and hard to troubleshoot
Your production environment around Vantage has changed, but the workflows have never been updated to reflect this
There were 'grand plans' to interface Vantage to other systems which were never implemented
Jobs fail unexpectedly or 'weird stuff' happens from time to time
When Support Renewal time comes around, you aren't sure if you are realizing the maximum value from your Vantage investment
You aren't really sure what features your current licensing supports, or what functionality it can provide
You haven't implemented new workflows because you don't want to add new licenses for the desired functionality
Your Ops team is spending too much time manually moving files around
Media Storage used with Vantage frequently runs out of space

If so, then I can assist with:

System reviews
System upgrades
Workflow review and analysis
Workflow design and implementation
Workflow refactoring and optimization
Identifying ways to best leverage current Vantage releases and associated features
Maximizing system capabilities within the constraints of current licensing
Optimizing system throughput and resource utilization
Integration of Vantage with other systems
Migration of workflows to Cloud processing
Workflow documentation
Training

If you would like learn more or discuss your needs, please send me an email or use the Contact Form and I will respond to you promptly.

FAQs

Are you competing with Telestream Professional Services ? - I am providing independent and personalized consulting services to help Vantage system owners and users. My aim is to draw on multiple years of experience as a Vantage power user to help realize the maximum value from an existing Vantage deployment and optimize the budget spend.

How can you help me save money ? - Operating any system involves multiple cost components such as the initial CapEx, ongoing software maintenance and support, hardware, OS licensing, networking infrastructure, storage and general IT overhead. Vantage is most commonly deployed to automate media processing tasks and reduce labor needs. If the system is no longer matched to your operational and business needs then the hardware and IT costs may have the potential to be reduced or optimized. On the Ops side there are likely further opportunities for automation and/or efficiency gains which can lead to reduced costs through refactoring of Vantage workflows or integration with other systems.

What's your background and experience with Vantage ? - I have been working with Vantage systems for 10+ years and during that time created scores of workflows which handle high volumes of content for nationwide distribution and airing on multiple broadcast TV outlets. A very large percentage of the Infomercials which air in the US have the 1-800 numbers and related graphics, plus associated voiceovers rendered in a Vantage workflow I designed and built. Similarly, I designed and built workflows which handle the bulk of Syndicated TV shows in the US, both for content ingest/prep and specifically for the splicing of show segments and national Ads to create 400+ hours of integrated shows for delivery to hundreds of TV stations each week. I have expertise in watermark encoding, managing the infrastructure (using Vantage) for Nielsens' highest volume encoding provider, as well as Teletrax, BVS and ATSC A-335/Project OAR. Many of the workflows I have created utilized metadata from media analysis driving media processing. I have made extensive use of XML docs, XSL Stylesheets and CML within workflows. I have deployed and managed multiple Vantage arrays with up to 11 nodes, running both on-prem and in AWS cloud infrastructure. I've worked closely with Telestream for many years, there a number of features and functions in the product which are direct results of my requests or suggestions.

Can't I just get Telestream Support to help me ? - If you have a technical problem with a system or workflow then that certainly fits squarely into the something that Support should work with you to resolve. However a review of systems and workflows may require a higher tier of support.

My system is not under support with Telestream, can you still help me ? - It depends on the situation and what your current needs are. If your system is out of support then you are not eligible to obtain or install either new Vantage releases, or ComponentPac updates. That limits the scope of any potential changes or workflow optimizations. I'll be happy to help with troubleshooting to the extent possible. I can also offer a system review and an assessment of your current needs with a view to helping negotiate support reinstatement, then making any subsequent changes or improvements.

Are you just going to encourage me to buy additional Telestream products ? - I'm not a Telestream sales rep and unaffiliated in any way (although I have a great relationship with many of their folks, and respect for what they do). My aim is to help find the most cost effective approach to maximizing the value you can realize from your Vantage investment. That may involve adjusting the licensing and/or support associated with your system, either by reducing or adding various elements.