IFE Adopts High-Tech System to Monitor More Than 2,300 TV and Radio Stations for Compliance With Election Laws
Volicon Observer(R) Digital Video Logging Systems to Track and Monitor Campaign Advertising in 150 Mexican Cities
BURLINGTON, MA--(Marketwire - December 18, 2009) - Volicon today announced that the Federal
Electoral Institute (Instituto Federal Electoral or IFE) has adopted a
high-tech approach to enforcing compliance with new political advertising
laws to ensure fair and ethical elections. The IFE has installed the
Volicon Observer®, a state-of-the-art broadcast monitoring and logging
system from Volicon, in IFE offices throughout Mexico. The installation has
received an award for "best alignment of technology to the business" from
CIO Mexico magazine.
The Volicon Observer is a digital system that continuously records multiple
channels of live radio or television broadcasts, and archives the
recordings to a server. Since the system runs over an IP network, users can
search for and access video clips using their Web browsers and share them
with other parties via e-mail. At IFE, the Observer-based installation acts
as a media monitoring tool to ensure that political candidates comply with
new Mexican election laws.
"We are pleased to provide solutions that help facilitate fairness in the
electoral process," said Eli Warsawski, president and CEO of Volicon. "The
use of new media monitoring tools and technologies such as the Volicon
Observer provide high value for commercial and government concerns
worldwide."
"The Observer is well known in the industry for its reliability and
technical excellence, and its superior performance in field tests gave our
clients at IFE the confidence they needed to proceed with such a
large-scale project," said Jorge Castañeda, president at Excelencia en
Communicaciones, the Volicon dealer and systems integrator that supplied
the solution.
The IFE has deployed Volicon Observer systems in 150 Mexican cities to
monitor a total of 2,376 television and radio stations. Candidates for the
legislative elections are required to submit a prerecorded audio sample
from each of their commercials. Every time the commercial is broadcast, the
Observer automatically matches it to a stored audio sample and then issues
a "content matched" alert, giving the operator immediate access to the
video clip in which the segment occurred. Custom software developed by
Excelencia en Communicaciones generates reports that detail when each
commercial runs, how often, and on which stations. Operators are able to
view the reports, as well as the flagged video clips, from any computer in
the network via the Observer's browser interface.
"The IFE's media monitoring project is one of the most ambitious of its
type ever undertaken in the Latin American broadcasting community," said
Warsawski. "The fact that the Observer won out in an international bidding
process, with bids from numerous global organizations, is a huge
endorsement of Volicon's ability to meet very complex requirements. We're
excited that the Observer will play such an important media monitoring role
throughout Mexico."
About IFE
The Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) is an autonomous public agency
responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico; specifically, the
election of the President of Mexico and the members of the Lower and Upper
Chambers that constitute the Congress of the Union. The IFE was formally
established on October 11, 1990, based on a series of constitutional
reforms approved in 1989, and the issuing of new electoral legislation in
August 1990 (the Federal Code of Electoral Institutions and Procedures,
currently in force). For more information, visit www.ife.org.mx.
About Volicon
Volicon is the broadcast and cable industry's most efficient, reliable, and
cost-effective automated multichannel video content logging and monitoring
system for compliance, media analysis, content repurposing, and quality of
service. Its Observer® real-time, digital video monitoring and logging
solutions are based on Volicon's patent-pending Video Monitoring
Architecture (VMA). VMA is comprised of a multichannel video streaming
engine, interactive search, content analytics, and service monitoring and
alarming capabilities. Volicon products and services meet the demanding
requirements of broadcasters, cable and IPTV service providers, and
enterprise and government organizations looking to improve broadcast
product quality, enhance video management, and lower costs. More
information is available at www.volicon.com.
Photo: www.wallstcom.com/Volicon/Observer.zip
Contact Information: Agency Contact:
Susan Warren
Wall Street Communications
+1 631-261-1013
Volicon Contact:
Julius Perl
Vice President, Marketing
+1 781-221-7400