AccuWeather.com needed an efficient, cost-effective way to repackage its local weather information to build revenue via syndication. They needed a system that could automatically assemble new content packages from existing produced media and transform it for playout across a wide range of websites as well as mobile networks and devices. They also needed a system that could reliably support the creation and delivery of many thousands of clips per day.

Agility Web

Agility Web is the media industry's premier solution for fully automated, round-the-clock broadcast-to-Web publishing. With unparalleled reliability, it automatically ingests content from any source file, preprocesses for optimal online viewing, simultaneously encodes it into any number of Web formats, and delivers finished files to servers or content delivery networks for consumer viewing.

Increased Capacity, Effortless Workflow

- Scalable architecture increases output twelve-fold for massive syndication
- Automation reduces reliance on slow, expensive manual processes
- Built-in load-balancing speeds turnaround, ensures fault-tolerance
- Enterprise-level design integrates with asset management, media archive systems

World's Leading Weather Authority

Since 1962, AccuWeather.com has become the world's leading weather authority. A staff of more than 100 meteorologists backed by over 200 graphics, technical, programming, and support personnel make up the powerhouse that serves over 250,000 customers worldwide. AccuWeather.com's specialized weather services support a variety of industries, including many of the Fortune 500 companies, making it a world leader in commercial weather services. AccuWeather.com takes pride in their unparalleled record of accuracy, reliability, customer service and innovation.

New Media Opportunities

AccuWeather.com's data has long been publicly available in newspapers, Internet sites, and television broadcasts but a few years ago the demand for AccuWeather.com's video content took a new form. Verizon was interested in repurposing AccuWeather.com forecasts for distribution to their mobile subscribers as part of its V CAST service. To support the demand AccuWeather.com custom-built a system that would allow them to record and distribute forecasts to mobile subscribers across the United States.

"If you can imagine a use for weather, we'll respond to it," said Gene Dupler, Senior Technical Manager. "Initially we developed our own system and within months we had created a phenomenal product that updated several times a day. However, as time went on and other companies wanted us to replicate what we were doing with Verizon, we realized the homegrown system wouldn't be able to handle the volume."

Production Bottlenecks Limit Revenue Potential

As the demand for AccuWeather.com's video content grew to include Verizon V CAST and Sprint Wireless, Dupler realized that he must look for alternatives to their system. It became essential for AccuWeather.com to continue to rollout video efficiently and quickly and to have the flexibility to customize content and add new formats. In addition, the system had to be robust and reliable enough to ensure on time delivery of massive amounts of content every day. "Scalability became a big issue as our sales opportunities began to climb," said Dupler. "Our engineers and support personnel were spending too much time on routine production tasks rather than responding to new business opportunities."

Automated Multi-format Publishing Solution

Realizing that they needed to make a change, AccuWeather.com searched the Web and spoke to every vendor that claimed to provide a solution for their production bottleneck. After reviewing all their options, AccuWeather.com chose Agility from Anystream. "We chose Anystream because it was the only solution that enabled us to cost-effectively automate the process of capturing content, customizing it for various partners and delivering it to these partners in a variety of media formats," said Dupler.

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