Hello Simon, great having you here on the Ortana team! You’ve been working in the media industry for many years, tell us a bit about your journey and what you’ve been up to the past few years.
Simon Harper: Thank you. It's great to be a part of the Ortana team! Yes, I have worked in and around the media industry for many, many years! I suppose my road to Ortana Media Group is a familiar one; I began life as a computer engineer and advanced to sales and pre-sales at a variety of resellers before moving into distribution.
During this time video editing, compositing, and 3D animation were starting to take off on desktop computers. This really caught my interest (it was certainly more interesting than desktop publishing!) When Apple released the first QuickTime beta, small digital films could be created and viewed at 15 frames per second at a whopping 160 × 120 pixels! It was like magic back then. Digital video was going to be where I headed next!
Flash forward a few years, and I ended up at Apple as UK Business Development Manager for Pro Apps, just as Final Cut was gaining ground in the industry. Working in and around broadcast and post production (primarily in Soho) and visiting customers creating VFX shots using Apple’s Shake on films like Lord of the Rings (our Shake demo footage was actually scenes from that film!), the technology was becoming increasingly fascinating as well as infinitely powerful.
After leaving Apple, I worked for a number of US and EU-based tech businesses, assisting them in establishing reseller channels in Europe and the UK, and more recently at Sony Professional Solutions Europe as Channel Manager and then Product Manager for their MAM and optical archive solutions. Again, I was establishing specialist channels throughout Europe and ensuring that they had all they needed to sell, support, and market our products.
Most recently, I managed the global reseller channel at Object Matrix (one of Ortana's key partners), ensuring channel partners around the world were nurtured and supported as much as possible.
It seems that you and Ortana Media Group are a great match. What attracted you to the company?
Simon Harper: Thank you! Bringing my expertise with channel partners and managing relationships, the plan is to help Ortana to grow over the coming years. What drew me in? To be honest, I believe it was mostly the people; I'm a people and product person, and Ortana offers the right balance of great people with an amazing product platform.
The more I learn about the Cubix Platform, Cubix Appliances, and Kiosk Cloud, the more I realise how versatile and unique the technology here is. My first few days at the company have been very welcoming, and I see an exciting future ahead of me.
There’s a lot going on at Ortana with the recent Iyuno-SDI Group investment and the Ortana exhibiting on IBC Show next month. What can customers and partners expect from the show this year?
Simon Harper: There is a lot going on. The investment will allow us to accelerate various aspects of the business while also assisting us in building a solid foundation of support for our current resellers and technology partners. Ultimately, this will ensure that our consumers have the greatest possible experience with Ortana's products and solutions.
Of course, this year's IBC will be significantly different from prior years, but I am sure we will see many familiar faces wandering the hallways and possibly much too many beers consumed in the early evenings...
My primary aim is to meet as many of our existing partners as possible, as well as prospective new ones. If anyone is going to IBC, please let us know since we'd love to meet you! We are growing as a company and now is the time to expand our reach into multiple territories.
We will be showing some of the most recent integrations and product updates on the booth. If you are around IBC show this year, come over to our stand and say hello!
If you want to discuss becoming an Ortana reseller partner, please contact Simon directly at simon@ortana.tv and come by and say hi at our stand at IBC Show 2021!
You may also book a demo with the Ortana team during the IBC Show by clicking on the link below:
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