Founded in 1985, the European PressPhoto Agency (EPA) covers international news and events and provides a fast and reliable photo delivery to key customers. In May 2003, the EPA expanded its reach, transforming itself into a worldwide service covering events in Iraq as well as other parts of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The EPA’s network of 400 photographers delivers an average of about 900 images to print and electronic media outlets around the world each day. Most of the news agency’s key customers depend on active delivery means, and about 60 of these customers have their the photos delivered via satellite using a system developed by Mainstream Data.
This delivery happens in near real-time: As soon as the EPA’s photo editors finish editing the images, they are inserted into Mainstream Data’s satellite and Internet delivery platform, where they are encrypted and routed within seconds to clients and are ready for use within a few seconds.
EPA Technical Director Ole Bratz, based in Germany, shared with Satellite Business Solutions Managing Editor Julie Blondeau Samuel how satellite enables EPA’s business.

PROBLEM: Providing Photos Anywhere, Anytime

Being able to deliver 900 photos reliably, every day and in near real-time is crucial to the EPA’s business. For the company, “not having to rely on an end-user’s Internet connection is a big deal in some Eastern European, Middle Eastern and African countries,” says Bratz. The EPA must be able to deliver photos quickly and reliably, no matter what kind of terrestrial infrastructure the customer uses. That is where satellite comes into play.
As the EPA’s network throughput grows, a satellite solutions allows the company not to worry about the end-users’ Internet connections becoming a bottleneck to delivery.
On the price side, a satellite solution proves more economical than any other solutions, and the greater the number of clients, the more economical the solution becomes.

SOLUTION: A Satellite Network

Since January 2003, the EPA has been using Mainstream Data’s Medias Server, as well as other integrated solutions such as MediasFTP and NewsView for its satellite system. Mainstream’s suite of media content delivery solutions integrate broadcast satellite, two-way VSAT, Web, and Internet-push distribution plus content management and display applications.
The system uses the Telstar 12 satellite to distribute photos throughout Europe, Middle East and North Africa, providing dedicated bandwidth of 384 kilobits per second for all means of transmission and all delivery points. With this network speed, “we can deliver approximately three high-resolution photographs per minute,” says Bratz.
The EPA’s satellite service provider also recently introduced a Web-based monitoring application, Medias Hierarchical Alarm System, that gives the agency a window into the distribution of its photos to each and every end-user site and proactively detects and corrects problems, “sometimes even before the customers knows anything is wrong,” says Bratz. If any errors are not automatically corrected by Mainstream Data, clients can contact customer service or technical staff,  but “the majority of the network runs automatically,” says Bratz. Visit www.epa.eu.

Ole Bratz

Technical Director

European Pressphoto Agency