1. Warner Bros
The Warner Home Entertainment Group, a division ofWarner Bros. Entertainment
(www.warnerbros.com), isresponsible for all business units involved in the
digitaldelivery of entertainment to consumers. The entertainmentbusiness is in
transition because theconsumer, empowered by new technologies, has anactive role
in the entertainment process instead ofbeing a passive recipient.Warner is
transforming itself into a digital end-toendbusiness. This change has been driven by
a dispersionof how customers want to consume content.As customers have turned
to digital media, theWarner production systems have done so as well. Atthe front
(production) end, filmmakers are increasinglyusing digital cameras. At the back
(distribution)end, Warner is implementing digital distributionthrough broadband
communications links, DVD, andhigh-definition television (HDTV). Warner’s
digitaltransformation enables the studio to deliver productelectronically worldwide
over existing and new digitalplatforms.
In some ways, the film industry resembles a cottageor boutique industry. Companies
are formed for productionof one film, or a few films, and then are dissolved.Therefore,
the film industry revolves aroundvery short-term production and is very
expensive.Until recently, there was a comfortable period oftime—several months—
between the time a film wasreleased in theaters and the time a studio had tostamp
and distribute the DVD version. DVDs, the Internet,broadband, and cheaper, high-
volume storagehave changed all that. Now, the industry musthandle three different
types of DVDs (DVD, HDDVD, and Blu-ray Disc), Apple iTunes and other
mobiledevices, plus more aggressive demand fromvideo-on-demand (VOD). These
technologies putpressure on studios to create alternative contentvery close to the
initial release date of a film.Warner Bros. has made the earliest and most
farreachingcommitment to new technology in the industry.Currently, it is partnering
with Hewlett-Packardto transform the studio’s entire film production anddistribution
process to an all-digital, file-based system,and to create an information technology
architectureto make this process possible. Hewlett-Packard is providinga digital
media platform, consisting of software,hardware, and services. The platform
managesrich digital content and relies on service-orientedarchitecture.
To see the huge scale of Warner’s project, considerthat in 2006 the company
produced more than2,500 different DVDs, delivered more than 180 hoursof video
programming weekly over its global digital media exchange, produced and/or
distributed morethan 50 television series, is in the process of digitizingmore than
6,000 feature films in its storagevaults for DVD release, and released numerous
films,three of which earned more than $200 million—astudio and industry record for
a single year.For all of its films, Warner now has a film versionplus a digital version.
Both versions, as well as additionalinformation regarding rights, royalties, and soon,

2. make up what Warner calls an “E-master” andare stored on servers at Warner Bros.
Warner tried toleverage existing techniques for database managementto handle the
large E-master files that thecompany was creating. However, the
communicationslinks that interconnected the storage serverscould not manage such
huge files. Therefore, filescould not be moved in and out of Warner’s repositoryin a
timely fashion; nor could they be quicklyfound.To resolve this problem, Warner
worked withHewlett-Packard to develop high-performance storagesystems that
permit Warner to manipulate thefiles at the speed the company must have.