IBM scores entertainment industry win

In a technology partnership win for IBM, Thomson Multimedia, a consumer-electronics and media-services company, is its entertainment content and making it available electronically to Hollywood customers via a system built with Big Blue's end-to-end digital-media management products. On Tuesday, Thomson's entertainment services unit is launching Technicolor Media Asset Management (MAM)--a system to store, manage and distribute its digital content, including video, audio and visual effects. With the system, Thomson can create, edit and clone its digital-content assets. Thomson customers in the motion-picture and broadcast industries will be able to use MAM to order material online for downloading instantly.

The deal marks another win for IBM in the entertainment industry as it seeks to be the de facto solution for digital-asset management. This week, the company nabbed Warner Bros. Animation and Blur Studios as customers. IBM said its Thomson deal is initially worth more than $1 million in IBM service delivery and technology.