Publicly traded iNTELEFILM (NASDAQ: FILM), based in Minneapolis, is launching intelesource.org, a video archiving and retrieval system. The service works by digitizing commercials and coding them with a variety of info that allows agencies and their clients to create an online database which they can use to search, sort and view spots.
iNTELEFILM plans to utilize intelesource.org for companies that fall under the iNTELEFILM umbrella; its current holdings include bicoastal Curious Pictures, bicoastal/international The End, bicoastal/international Chelsea Pictures and New York-based Populuxe Pictures.
For agencies that sign on to the service, intelesource.org will digitize and encode the agency’s spot masters and will provide custom Web browsers used to view the database resources. The database has 22 fields of information for each spot, including director and production company; a description of the spot; agency creative credits; Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI) codes associated with the spot; and client and product information. The site will be password-protected so that only authorized users will be able to access the database; an agency can also administer to its clients selected information and spots, the latter of which can be viewed in either MPEG-4 or MPEG-1 formats.
Jim Gilbertson, iNTELEFILM’s COO, said that intelesource.org reflected iNTELEFILM’s strategy to utilize the Internet to create "efficiencies" for advertising agencies, and added that it would reduce the costs associated with shipping tapes.
The software used for intelesource.org is proprietary to iNTELEFILM, but the company is implementing the service in conjunction with three other companies. New York-based AT&T Corp. is providing the data centers that will house intelesource.org’s servers; Excalibur Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: EXCA), Vienna, Va., has provided the service’s software architecture which iNTELEFILM has customized for intelesource.org’s use; and Boca Raton, Fla.-based The Source Maythenyi, a company that compiles research for advertising agencies, will be marketing and operating intelesource.org.
iNTELEFILM’s development of intelesource.org was catalyzed when the company was contacted in the summer by AT&T’s Growth Markets division, a marketing arm that wanted to utilize AT&T’s resources to offer services to advertising agencies.
"AT&T develops a lot of products, and at times … they have to define who their users are," said Gilbertson. "They identified that they wanted to work with agencies. In their strategic initiative of working with agencies, they identified us as somebody who could potentially open the doors for them with our relationships."
Gilbertson declined to comment on the exact ownership stake held by the four companies involved in intelesource.org. "I don’t know if I want to get into the structure of our deal, other than to say that [intelesource. org] is [iNTELEFILM’s] product, and we work with AT&T and the other companies [such as] Excalibur," he said. "Each party brings a certain amount to the table in a variety of forms."
Gilbertson contended that bandwidth would not be a problem for clients using intelesource.org because AT&T’s data centers, which will house the intelesource.org servers, were positioned close to end users and could only be accessed by intelesource.org users. "You’ve got a large pipeline going both ways and you’ve got a defined user base," he said. "So you avoid that overcrowding [of other Internet connections], and therefore the video can be streamed very quickly." AT&T maintains several data centers across the country in locations such as New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Gilbertson described intelesource.org as part of iNTELEFILM’s overall intent to move into broadband endeavors, and said that the company intended to leverage its production resources to eventually provide broadband content. Gilbertson added that intelesource.org enabled iNTELEFILM to make contact with companies that provide broadband forums and software.
"This has opened some tremendous doors and relationships that have put us in the arena to have the right conversations with other Internet companies that need or want content," he said. "[These companies] need effective content that promotes buying decisions, promotes emotions, and all the things that we do through the commercial production process." (At press time, iNTELEFILM entered into a content provider relationship with Hitplay Media; see sidebar story, this page.)
iNTELEFILM is now introducing intelesource.org to potential agency clients. While the service currently has no clientele on board, Gilbertson said that a number of agencies had seen demonstrations, and that "the interest is very high in [intelesource.org]. We’ve had several clients say they’d like to get started on it right away." He added that intelesource.org would eventually be offered to production companies outside the iNTELEFILM umbrella.
Several calls to AT&T requesting comment on intelesource.org were not returned.
