Mr Carmine Masiello: Being a finalist for the Green IT Award showcases the environmental benefits achieved not only by eBUS, but by every client we serve around Asia.

Visual content management and distribution company eBUS Media Networks has emerged one of the top winners of this year’s Green IT Awards, with a solution that slashes CO2-e emissions by up to 95 per cent even as it boosts productivity in the media industry and reduces time-to-air for television commercials from weeks to hours.

eBUS was founded in New Zealand in 2005, and set up its global headquarters in Singapore in 2010. “Singapore is the perfect hub for operations to expand through Southeast Asia. It’s got the people, infrastructure, location and all the facilities to run a global operation,” said Mr Joshua Rea, Market Advisor.

Singapore provides the base for the company’s core management team, as well as its software development and support operations. eBUS is also looking to strengthen its research and development (R&D) activities here.

The company’s R&D efforts are aimed at creating IT solutions that will address multiple pain points currently faced by the Asian media industry. “eBUS plans to become the backbone of the video content business in Asia,” said
Mr Rea.

eBUS is the recent recipient of a grant from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), to accelerate the team’s R&D efforts in Singapore. “We’re currently entering an exciting new stage of growth for the company. The eBUS Media Exchange Hub represents a significant extension to our platform that will further satisfy the rapidly changing needs of the media industry. IDA's assistance has been invaluable in helping us grow the product and expedite our time to market,” said the company’s Technical Director Mr Will Beattie.

Members of the eBUS ecosystem involved in the delivery of advertisements for television include the advertisers, creative agencies, media agencies, regulatory authorities, production houses, post-production houses and broadcasters.

Today, TV commercials and video content are still physically delivered on tape to broadcasters around Asia. The process is widely acknowledged by international markets as being inefficient in terms of time, monetary costs and resources, as well as being risky. In geographically vast markets such as India, Indonesia and China, in particular, the physical delivery of tapes involves significant logistical overheads, which could present a huge problem for advertisers, agencies and content producers. To address these pain points, eBUS has developed a cloud-based solution called eBUSdelivery that enables media companies to deliver television commercials, trailers and on-air promotions to broadcasters, web and mobile media where and when they are needed.

“Our solution can deliver a television commercial from a post-production house to broadcasters internationally within hours instead of weeks, and everyone involved in process can have an understanding of what is going on. It is a lot faster, and more reliable in terms of the television commercial actually getting to its intended recipient. There is also complete transparency and accountability, and it saves time and money.”

With eBUSdelivery, users can choose delivery speeds, be notified of the expected delivery time, track the television commercial throughout the whole process and access a library of their previous deliveries online.

Beyond these benefits, eBUSdelivery also presents a strong environmental proposition by eliminating the need for tape production and traditional delivery methods. In Asia today, many television commercials are still being delivered to broadcasters using plastic polycarbonate video tapes. Besides the large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the manufacturing and disposal of these tapes, there is also a large carbon footprint arising from the way these tapes are delivered using couriers, flights and train services.

eBUSdelivery is estimated to help reduce CO2-e emission by about 95 per cent compared to traditional tape delivery, and 70 per cent compared with the use of in-house servers. This is based on analysis conducted in accordance with PAS2050:2008, an international specification for the assessment of the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of goods and services. eBUS can work with clients to identify the environmental benefits and cost savings specific to their business through the use of eBUSdelivery.

“Everyone involved with eBUS is extremely proud of the innovative avenues we’re exploring with sustainability,” said Mr Carmine Masiello, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of eBUS. “Being a finalist for the Green IT Award showcases the environmental benefits achieved not only by eBUS, but by every client we serve around Asia.”

The Green IT accolade is part of the Singapore Sustainability Awards organised by the Singapore Business Federation. Other winners in this category were the National Library Board and Tak System Integration. The awards were presented by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Mr Teo Ser Luck during a Gala Dinner at Grand Hyatt Singapore on 11 July 2011.