Leading digital cinema company Arts Alliance Media (AAM) is
pleased to announce its partnership with Shanghai Film Company Ltd (SFC) to
supply SFC’s digital cinema network with AAM’s market leading software. AAM and
SFC will begin the deployment immediately.
SFC is a subsidiary of Shanghai Film Group, which has been one of the
leading companies in China’s film industry for over 100 years. SFC will become
the first Chinese exhibitor to use AAM’s Lifeguard software to power a Network
Operations Centre (NOC). Initially, the NOC will service around 2,000 digital
cinema screens across the country. The NOC will grow over time to serve many
more screens in the rapidly growing Chinese digital cinema market. Lifeguard
provides centralised equipment monitoring and issue resolution capabilities, enabling
a comprehensive maintenance service to be provided to cinemas.
In addition to the Lifeguard software, AAM’s Theatre Management
System (TMS) software will be deployed by SFC to manage and control all screens
in the digital cinema network, providing content, scheduling and playlist management.
Earlier this year, Arts Alliance Media and DMCC/SARFT (The Administration of
Digital Film Content / The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio,
Film and Television of China) also signed a letter of intent for a technical
partnership to allow AAM’S TMS to fully integrate with DMCC’s system for
digital cinema programming in China.
Roger Zhu, General Manager of Shanghai Film Company Ltd, said of the
partnership “We were impressed with Arts Alliance Media’s software solutions,
and believe that the AAM TMS and Lifeguard are the best products to power cinemas
and our NOC. We will be working closely with AAM to integrate the technology
with the existing equipment across our estate. We look forward to accelerating
the creation of our NOC team to support an increasing number of screens across
China with a reliable service to eliminate missed shows.”
John Aalbers, Chief Executive Officer of Arts Alliance Media added:
“Partnering with a company of the calibre of SFC is a great way to mark Arts
Alliance Media’s progression into China.
SFC is one of the most iconic film companies in China with a long and
rich history dating back to the 1890s. It is an honour for us to partner with such
a prestigious company and we are thrilled by the prospect of our software being
used to support the exciting Chinese cinema industry.”
Arts Alliance Media has extensive experience in digital cinema NOC
systems, having run a UK-based NOC for eight years. Currently the AAM NOC
services many thousands of cinema screens around the world. Lifeguard was
developed by AAM using this expertise and is now available to exhibitor and
integrator partners globally. Lifeguard accurately maintains equipment records,
centrally monitors all digital cinema hardware and alerts the user to any potential
issues. Users can view data from all cinema equipment, no matter where the site
is located, through a central web-based interface. The system provides a
powerful incident management system allowing the NOC to quickly identify high
priority issues that require addressing. At the core is a comprehensive
knowledge base to ensure maximum efficiency.
