Steve McDowall

Support for production staff and administration of broadcast infrastruction

Provide day to day support for a news broadcast production facility of Media Composer and Newscutter workstations attached to a fully redundant Avid Interplay network, including iNews, Capture and Command services, interfacing with both an ISIS 7000 storage environment as well as content delivery systems from Signiant and Vantage. Responsibilities include the system management of assets, as well as supervising the day to day IT operations on both the Broadcast networks within the facility. Additional duties include the integration of new equipment and systems into the facility. • Work closely with other members of the Broadcast IT department to develop new systems and workflows that streamlines production, post production, and media delivery • Provide on-site technical support during breaking news events for entire broadcast IT infrastructure • Act as point person for troubleshooting any issues that may arise with Avid Interplay, Telestream Vantage, Front Porch/Oracle DIVA Archive, and SpectraLogic T950 Tape Library • Administer, maintain, and troubleshoot any issues that arise with both Signiant and Aspera file transfer systems • Work closely with the Director of IT Broadcast to select potential third party vendors for new hardware and broadcast systems; Meet with vendors to further discuss hardware and software systems • Supervise the Archive and Media Management departments to ensure that the ISIS, Isilon, and MediaGrid workspaces are being properly cleaned and maintained. Meet with individual departments to discuss existing workflows to see where they need improvement and develop new workflows if needed • Perform daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance for Avid Interplay, Capture, ISIS, INews(clients, Command and backend servers), Avid editing systems, and Front Porch/Oracle DIVA Archive System

Responsible for managing the day to day operations/support of facility's network infrastructure in how it relates to the production of media across various production tools in picture and audio. Install, configure and maintain a large AVID editing facility. Proficient in Rec 709 monitor calibration with the use of Spectracal Calman 5. Provide support for all Windows, Linux, MAC Corporate IT and Broadcast Post Production systems. Provided configuration services with network firewalls and performance optimization with multi-floor, mulit-zone and multi-band WAP system for reliable Wifi throughout the facility.

Provide support for all Windows, Linux, MAC Corporate IT and Broadcast Post Production systems for CVLT Productions. Installed, optimized and maintained a Nexenta ZFS file server to act as a main production server for all Final Cut Pro, Windows based Adobe CS Suite and CGI workstations. Migrated all production data off an outdated MAC file server and onto the new Nexenta ZFS file server. Maintained a 40 node (640 Core) windows based render farm hosting both Smedge and Autodesk 3dmax render engines. Created a live backup system for the Nexenta file server. This system provides hourly snapshot protection, raided Mirrors for very fast performance and a nightly tape back up for extra protection. Designed a LTO5 tape archiving system with the use of a Quantum scaler i80 and Retrospect software. Proficient in Rec 709 monitor calibration with the use of Spectracal Calman 5 and i1profiler. Provided a detailed inventory for the company’s IT assets. Provided extensive information on several budgeting projects including a large CGI department expansion project. Troubleshooting on Autodesk Flame, Smoke and Davinci Resolve workstations. Responsible for all other IT related items in the office.

Provided over 17 years of daily support for all Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Corporate IT, and Broadcast Post Production systems for over 75 employees and freelance staff members. Maintained all information technology hardware, software, printers, copiers, peripheral devices and telecom systems. Designed, installed, configured and maintained the office's entire LAN/WAN, video editing facilities, telecom infrastructures, and three separate render farms to increase production time in the graphic arts departments. Assisted production and editorial staff with encoding, transcoding, and capturing of audio/video media. Responsible for maintaining six AVID video editing suites, AVID Unity Server, ethernet port server, media indexers, fiber optic switches and all associated devices. Experience with media asset systems, their associated video compression technologies and NAS environments. Designed, installed, configured and maintained voice over IP and point-to-point WAN between the Bethesda office and the National Crime and Punishment Museum 1-800-CRIMETV Hotline. Over 10 years experience as an Asset Manager responsible for over 2 million dollars worth of office equipment, broadcast production equipment, software and all other technology hardware. Acted as technical liaison between staff and www.amw.com website staff. Facilitated the transfer of information between America's Most Wanted and law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Provided remote network administrative support to America's Most Wanted West Coast Bureau in Los Angeles and several individual producers located in other major cities throughout the country. Responsible for maintaining six AVID and Final Cut editing suites, AVID Unity Server, optic switches and all associated devices. Completed a conversion project migrating AMW production facility from an AVID Unity Server Environment with 6 edit rooms to an Apple Xsan Server with 7 Final Cut Pro Suites all with fiber optic connectivity. .