Why BLAM?

The thinking, motivation and vision behind the PLAtform

BLAM logo
BLAM was ‘born’ from our individual experience in broadcast engineering & operations together with Blue Lucy’s ten years consulting to tier one media operators.

From design through to realisation BLAM's six key tenets....

Combine core capabilities

‘Static’ MAMs without workflow orchestration do not provide the level of automation required for today's high-volume operations. Equally workflow platforms that lack a comprehensive MAM component are insufficiently nibble to support the complexity of a modern media operation. Automation platforms that neglect the human operations negate the efficiency they deliver.

BLAM combines these core capabilities to deliver maximum efficiency, control and visibility.

Integration, Integration, Inte..

The most significant business value and operational gains come from integrated software and services. But operations built on supplier driven ‘ecosystem’ models are closed and are rightly described as vendor lock-in traps. Such approaches tend work only as long as long as it commercially suits the members of the vendor cartel.

BLAM has been designed to provide the integration layer between systems allowing technology abstraction but driving operational cohesion.

Microservice not monolith

BLAM follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall functional capability is structured as a collection of loosely coupled services. The architecture is robust, resilient and conforms to the separation of concerns paradigm. The singularity of purpose is a key tenet and means BLAM is easy to maintain and extend.

BLAM is comprised of more than 450 microservice "BLidgets" which are orchestrated by the Workflow Runner service. BLAM is the most readily extensible media integration platform.

No code, low code, code

BLAM has been designed to be accessible to operators with varying levels of business and technical expertise. BLAM conforms the ‘no-code’ paradigm and includes a drag-drop-connect-connect-configure workflow builder which is atomic, intuitive and means that business analysis can rapidly build and maintain complex operational workflows. In addition to the 450+ BLidgets the workflow builder allows scripting in C# or Python.

Lower level, developer, access is provided through the open API which is supported by an SDK - the SDK we use in development.

No Forking Branches

Media is a complex operational business which has seen decades of evolution. There is an inevitable need for bespoke software components in all but the newest of operating models.

It is still common for vendors fork code to create a version specific to a customer. This approach presents significant risk to operators. BLAM has been structured so that Blue Lucy does not manage numerous code branches or build scripts for different customers. BLAM has a single code base with any customer specific code limited to BLidgets. Don’t end up on a vendor’s branch, it’s the road to nowhere.

Run Anywhere

‘Cloud native’ sounds very modern, but binding an operational capability to the cloud, particularly specific cloud providers, is ‘cloud dependant’, the antithesis of the ethos behind the service orientated model. Media operations simply do not fit into a an on-prem (ground) OR cloud model.

BLAM is a containerised, infrastructure agnostic platform enabling a controlled migration to the cloud or more typically a 'hybrid' cloud-ground operating model.

BLAM COMMERCIALS

CONSISTENT + CLEAR + COST-EFFECTIVE

  • BLAM is provided on a PaaS / SaaS model, this places the onus on Blue Lucy to perform and constantly innovate.
  • BLAM is licenced as a flat quarterly rate based on functionality, not throughput, transactions, or the number of users.
  • BLAM is constantly evolving and is directly informed by customer needs and the latest innovations in the industry.
  • BLAM enables operators to retain ownership of material and service provider relationships removing the ‘lock in’ risk and ‘service tax’ expense.
  • BLAM does not obfuscate data or object keys meaning migrating to another service provider is hassle free. You won’t want to of course.
  • BLidgets written to deliver a customer project are licenced to operators under our standard model, not billed on development ‘day rate’.

 

BLAM Opportunities

FULLY FEATURED + CUSTOMISABLE = rapid business value

  • BLAM’s self-service no-code drag-drop-connect-configure workflow development tools reduces implementation time and cost.
  • BLAM’s microservice architecture supports extremely rapid development for new features, functions, and connectors.
  • BLAM is an integration platform enabling operators to rapidly build service orientated, technology abstracted systems.
  • BLAM enables cloud-ground hybrid systems which seamlessly connect traditional broadcast systems to modern cloud-based services.
  • BLAM is a true multitenant platform allowing service providers to offer flexible operational services at scale on a single ‘back-end’ platform.
  • BLAM is a fully featured ‘off the shelf’ platform ready for operation – BLAM delivers business value from the outset.

 

Why

Blue Lucy logo

FOCUSED Blue Lucy delivers complete system solutions focused on business outcomes.

We take ownership of the delivery with an operational and business-centric approach.

ACCOUNTABLE Blue Lucy provide a full software integration capability which extends beyond asymetric "on-boarding".

Capabilities including operational analysis, software development, data migration and support operational transition to service.

PRODUCT-LEAD Blue Lucy is a product lead technology company.

We are a focused on our single platform product, and our success is dependent on the continued success of our customers.

EXPERIENCED Blue Lucy is led by a team with extensive experience in the media & broadcast industry – principally from the operator, not the supplier, side.

BLAM was born from the clear business requirement we saw when were in your shoes.

INDEPENDANT Blue Lucy is a self-sustaining, debt free ‘bootstrapped’ business focused exclusively on delivering customer benefit.

We are not beholden to PE investors relentlessly driving ‘shareholder value’ or customer shareholders monopolising product direction.

More about Blue Lucy