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Beam is the first platform of its kind to reach the film, broadcast and production industry. The platform helps production companies maintain, grow and manage their critical technology infrastructure. The platform is a truly unique approach to solving many of the downtime and security challenges that exist within production workflows. 

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Simply by uploading an inventory list with the model # and manufacturer, engineers get access to a rich set of critical data to keep productions on-air, on-time and on-budget. Using this linked inventory/asset list, the Beam platform provides data on all critical security patches, firmware updates, documentation, contact information, and much more for every vendor and every piece of hardware, software or service within your production infrastructure. To date, Beam Dynamics has data on over 5,000 vendors, close to a million products, and 100M unique data points on those products.

The platform is founded on three main platform pillars. We first provide users total control of the data surrounding the technology and equipment they own, bringing together all relevant information in a common user interface. Second, through our equipment linking algorithm, we organize all updates and notices that affect your inventory. And finally, through a simple migration process we do the heavy lifting of getting your information into Beam and/or linking it to your existing asset management systems via the Beam API. 

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Total Control

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We take your inventory and enrich it with data, tags, and product intelligence. The data is organized into a clean user interface that can easily be searched, filtered and even exported to .csv for reporting purposes. 

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We utilize tags to create logical groups of equipment or technology so that the product mix can be grouped by Studios, Control Rooms, Rack Rooms, ENG, Rental or any custom tag you choose. This makes it easy to get a grasp of “what is where” within your environment. With the use of tags, inventory lists can now have more detailed location and rental information. 

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Once a user has found the product that they need more information on, they are taken to an equipment page that dynamically updates with relevant product information. On the left we store and manage all your internal information, like photos, purchase data, asset information and other internal data items. On the right side, Beam pulls in all of the relevant data related to the product. All manufacturer updates related to this product are displayed, manuals, quick start guides and other documentation is front and center, and facts & questions for the product are easily searchable. Beam acquires and updates this data so that you never have to. In addition to the dat the BEAM provides out of the box, we also make it easy to upload and link your own documents, contacts and resources that are internal to your organization (like workflow diagrams). This internal information can be linked to a product, a manufacturer or any one of the tags that you created. 

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Updates

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A critical component of keeping productions and workflows running smoothly is updating equipment regularly with new firmware, software and security patches. Using your linked inventory list we are able to actively monitor for every related update, end of life announcement, known issue notice, and much more that relates to your products and vendors. Once an update is pushed from any of the 5,000 manufacturer/vendors that Beam tracks, we identify which products or services it relates to within your inventory and then push the update directly to you (if applicable) and tell you which of your assets are affected by the update. The update details provide links back to the manufacturer’s announcement so that you can make any required downloads directly from the vendor website or portal to avoid possible file corruption. 

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In addition to notifying you of an update, we also provide a workflow to prioritize, assign and track your updates to ensure that the update is actually performed. This is an important step for corporate IT compliance and department heads to confirm that updates are actually performed by your team. The workflow is intentionally simple so that we can supplement any existing task management tool rather than replacing it. 

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Migration 

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The crux of the Beam platform is connecting the assets and technology you own to the correct resources directly from vendors. We’ve developed a patent pending matching algorithm that accurately matches your asset to the correct information related to the unique model # or software version you own. Beam will ingest your inventory lists, clean and organize them, and  then make matches. It’s a simple process that is almost fully automated and does not require much effort on your side. 

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In addition to the mass ingest of your inventory initially, the platform allows you to quickly add 1 or more new assets manually within the platform. You can quickly search and filter through a list of hundreds of thousands of unique products to make the match yourself, and if a product is not in the Beam data set you can still add it and we’ll get to work acquiring the data on that asset for you. 

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Conclusion

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Beam is already becoming the go-to tool for some of the largest media and production companies on the planet. We’ve seen our early adopters experience less downtime on set, better management of their technology assets, and the ability to make more accurate decisions as it relates to their critical technology infrastructure. Take BeamON for a spin today and see why this platform has taken the industry by storm virtually overnight.

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