21923 - SCTE Broadband Aug2023 COMPLETE v1 (1)

108 Vol. 45 No. 3 - September 2023 Issue spotlight on... Winners of the 2023 NAB Show Excellence in Sustainability Award, global media processing and delivery technology leader Appear take their sustainability commitments seriously, and talk to the SCTE about their achievements and vision for a sustainable future. Sustainability is THE buzzword right now. Lot of words, often a lot of inaction behind them. Is Appear any different? Sustainability matters to Appear because of the significant environmental footprint of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector due to energy consumption, e-waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Developing innovative, sustainable practices is essential to minimise these impacts and mitigate climate change, obviously a growing global priority. Some say embracing sustainability prevents innovation… We believe the opposite! It drives innovation. Companies that develop and implement eco-friendly technologies may gain a competitive edge by appealing to environmentally-aware customers and investors. As a company we recognise the urgency to review and improve practices across the entire technical supply chain to minimise environmental impact. Give us an example of what you’re doing in this area. As a company we are committed to ensuring that our products and operations create the lowest possible impact on the environment. We evaluate and test the energy efficiency of our solutions rigorously. Appear’s X Platform, for example, underwent a study conducted by a European Tier 1 telco comparing its energy and space efficiency with a market- leading competitor’s comparable server-based solution when encoding a UHD channel. Really? How did it go? The results showed that Appear’s X Platform achieved considerably superior energy and space efficiency, producing 38 times less CO2, 22 times less cardboard packaging, 7 times less watts per channel, 20 times less weight per channel, 20 times less rack units per channel, 40 times less electronic waste per year and 7 times less power expenses over a period of six years. That’s very impressive. We think this demonstrates Appear’s dedication to sustainability. How does Appear’s X Platform outperform its competitors’ solution in terms of sustainability? There are multiple aspects at work here. We believe that if our engineering is as elegant as possible, then our media processing and delivery solutions will always be more power, space and operationally efficient than our competitors. This approach has been a critical element in the X Platform becoming a world-leader in premium live event contribution. Its modular and tailor-made design contributes to these improvements, making it 5 times more space and energy- efficient than other leading providers. How do you ensure the environmental friendliness of your products and operations? All Appear products, including the X Platform, are designed and assembled in Norway using electricity sourced from hydro power production. This ensures a reduced carbon footprint associated with electricity usage. The company also complies with relevant EU directives, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, REACH and WEEE, demonstrating its commitment to meeting environmental standards and regulations. Spotlight on... Matt Williams-Neale Vice President Marketing, Appear Sustainability * for 10UHD channels