Ortana Media Group are delighted to welcome the newest member to our growing team. Based on the West Coast of the US, Ed Añonuevo will help expand our Global Support team as we move to provide our customers with ‘follow the sun’ support.
Check out Ed’s interview on the Ortana Blog to hear more about his journey as well as his thoughts on the future of media technology.
Hello Ed, and welcome to the Ortana Media Group! You’ve been working in the information and communication technology sector for many years - could you tell us a bit about your journey in the industry?
Ed Añonuevo: It’s been quite a journey and an adventure to say the least! I began my career in the Philippines (where I was born and raised) as an IT & Telecom technician for Telus International of Canada for about three years before emigrating to the United States. The skills I learnt at Telus led me to a job with a Nortel/Avaya vendor, where I provided technical assistance as well as some IT and project management. During this period, I learnt a lot about phone networks and telecom circuits. My networking experience finally led to a position with British Telecom.
At BT, I was the lead for the transmission team that supported the company's wide area network, which included numerous technologies such as PDH, SDH, MSH, and DWDM. Backhaul connections from T1/E1s to 10G pipes carrying BT's phone, internet, and video services.
We had an NOC set up in a follow-the-sun configuration and worked directly with field engineers around the UK. It was a fast-paced, high-pressure atmosphere, since our primary responsibility was to determine the core cause of any problem and restore services. Unfortunately, BT chose to close its California operations after 5 years, which led me to a position as an IT Security administrator at a nearby public university. I supported the entire Long Beach campus.
After a couple of years, I wanted to branch out and pursue a career in journalism and broadcasting. I worked with DirecTV Latin America (previously AT&T) as part of the regional infrastructure team, which supported three broadcast centres in California, Colombia, and Argentina, as well as business units across Mexico and South America.
I assisted in the management of the physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructures that contained a variety of applications and services. Before taking on this post, I spent a few years co-leading the Service team, which oversaw both linear and non-linear operations. We provided end-to-end support for the complete process, from signal gathering or intake through compression (encoding/decoding), ad-insertion/automation, data-insertion (guide, interactivity, entitlement, etc), monitoring and control, distribution, broadcast, and so on.
Your experience seems to be crucial for an innovative technology company such as Ortana. What attracted you to the company?
Ed Añonuevo: Two things attracted me to Ortana. First and foremost, the Cubix platform is an excellent product. It's a brilliant solution, in my opinion. I believe it is powerful, innovative, and agile when compared to the other products available on the market today. Second, I believe in James’ vision for the company and his ability to lead. Ortana is growing and expanding, and I feel that exciting days are coming!
I believe you have seen the tech industry evolving very fast in the last few years. Which latest innovations do you think are crucial for media companies to stay ahead?
Ed Añonuevo: For broadcast, media and entertainment there is 5G technology, IoT, AI/ML and AR/VR. Cloud service providers are continually offering new cloud ideas and solutions. I believe that, in general, businesses must be agile, able to pivot, and open to change rather than being trapped in the past, believing that they are too large to fail. Consider the history of Netflix and Blockbuster, for example. We also live in the information era, which means that businesses should be data-driven, employ some level of automation, and make use of the insights gained.