CNBC (website) wanted to provide their viewers with a video wall displaying various financial graphics. The video wall would serve as a "live" backdrop to CNBC's main studio during the entire broadcast day and would be used to supply detailed graphics for spot reports as part of the 'Trade Center' set in the CNBC broadcast studio.

System Requirements

A low cost graphics system with advanced rendering capabilities was required to fulfill the need for a large number of individual cubes in the proposed video wall (42), each capable of generating different displays.

The system needed to provide an open, extensible control interface so that CNBC could extend it to support additional types of graphics and production enhancements.

The system had to be scalable to support additional rendering nodes (in this case, SGI O2 workstations) as CNBC's needs evolve.

CNBC Tradecenter Video Wall

Our Solution

The SGI O2 met the requirements for image rendering and was selected as the graphics platform. VDS provided CNBC with the O2 workstations and hardware installation, configuration and integration services.

We developed a custom OpenGL-based rendering engine that provided advanced display features including animation and transitions. The engine was designed with an open architecture so that it could be extended by CNBC as its needs evolved.

We also provided project management and creative services support so that CNBC could meet its aggressive schedule for design, development and launch of the Trade Center video wall. The entire project went from concept to completion an on-air use in under two months.