ENPS
Encyclopedia
ENPS is a software application developed by the Associated Press
's Broadcast Technology division for producing, editing, timing, organizing and running news broadcasts. The system is scalable and flexible enough to handle anything from the local news at a small-market station to large organizations spanning remote bureau
s in multiple countries.
The basic organization of each news broadcast is called a "rundown" (US) or "running order" (UK). The run-down is a grid listing scripts, video
, audio
, character generator
data, teleprompter
control, director notations, camera operator cues, and timing estimates for each section of the broadcast.
ENPS integrates scripts, wire feeds, device control, and production information in a server
/client environment. On the server side, ENPS runs an identical backup server (called a "buddy") at all times as a fail-safe. If the primary server fails, all users are redirected to the buddy server until such time as the primary comes back on-line. All document changes are queued on the buddy and copied back to the primary automatically when it returns to production. Note that this is not a mirror server as the changed data is copied to the buddy, but there is no direct replication inherent within the intercommunications between the servers, so if the data is corrupted due to hardware failure on one server, this corruption will not be replicated to the "buddy".
Device control can be managed either through a serial interface, or the MOS (Media Object Server
) protocol. MOS functionality is included in the base ENPS license, but may be an extra add-on for the device that needs to interface with ENPS. MOS items such as video or audio clips can be added directly to scripts, and then used by third party software and devices during the broadcast.
The ENPS client is primarily driven by ActiveX
controls pushed from the Internet Information Services
(IIS) on the server side. The client, therefore, will only run in the Microsoft Windows
operating system
.
ENPS was originally developed by the Associated Press for use at the BBC
in the United Kingdom
as a replacement for the text mode
system BASYS (which developed into Avid iNEWS), and the Corporation has the largest installation of the system with over 12,000 users in 300 different locations http://www.enps.com/files/marketing/ENPS%20and%20BBC.pdf.
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
's Broadcast Technology division for producing, editing, timing, organizing and running news broadcasts. The system is scalable and flexible enough to handle anything from the local news at a small-market station to large organizations spanning remote bureau
News bureau
A News bureau is an office for gathering or distributing news. Similar terms are used for specialized bureaus, often to indicate geographic location or scope of coverage: a ‘Tokyo bureau’ refers to a given news operation's office in Tokyo; foreign bureau is a generic term for a news office set up...
s in multiple countries.
The basic organization of each news broadcast is called a "rundown" (US) or "running order" (UK). The run-down is a grid listing scripts, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
, character generator
Character generator
A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and can generate graphics as well as text...
data, teleprompter
Teleprompter
An autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
control, director notations, camera operator cues, and timing estimates for each section of the broadcast.
ENPS integrates scripts, wire feeds, device control, and production information in a server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
/client environment. On the server side, ENPS runs an identical backup server (called a "buddy") at all times as a fail-safe. If the primary server fails, all users are redirected to the buddy server until such time as the primary comes back on-line. All document changes are queued on the buddy and copied back to the primary automatically when it returns to production. Note that this is not a mirror server as the changed data is copied to the buddy, but there is no direct replication inherent within the intercommunications between the servers, so if the data is corrupted due to hardware failure on one server, this corruption will not be replicated to the "buddy".
Device control can be managed either through a serial interface, or the MOS (Media Object Server
Media Object Server
Media Object Server is an XML-based protocol for transferring information between newsroom automation systems and other associated systems such as media servers....
) protocol. MOS functionality is included in the base ENPS license, but may be an extra add-on for the device that needs to interface with ENPS. MOS items such as video or audio clips can be added directly to scripts, and then used by third party software and devices during the broadcast.
The ENPS client is primarily driven by ActiveX
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
controls pushed from the Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
(IIS) on the server side. The client, therefore, will only run in the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
.
ENPS was originally developed by the Associated Press for use at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as a replacement for the text mode
Text mode
Text mode is a kind of computer display mode in which the content of the screen is internally represented in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of character cells, each of which contains one of the characters of a...
system BASYS (which developed into Avid iNEWS), and the Corporation has the largest installation of the system with over 12,000 users in 300 different locations http://www.enps.com/files/marketing/ENPS%20and%20BBC.pdf.