FINANCE professionals may no longer have to attend costly, time-consuming seminars thanks to new technology. A Guernsey production company is pioneering web streaming that makes top-level expertise and insight from offshore centres viewable with broadband.

Spike Productions, based in St Peter Port, has been working with Xalt Offshore to produce finance industry update clips – widely used as training – for the web.

Xalt Offshore produces coverage of key topics in the offshore finance industry.

‘We produce the interviews with the top professionals of the sector about new issues in offshore finance,’ said Spike director Warren Mauger.

‘These may be about technological development or wealth management.

‘It is good for both professionals and investors.’

Catriona Fern, director of Xalt Offshore, said: ‘The new broadband broadcast will significantly enhance our ability to disseminate information about the industry to a much wider audience.’

Turnaround is also quicker. After an interview, the Spike team can edit and stream it onto the web, making it available in a matter of days.

This is a much faster process than producing DVDs, which can take up to 10 days.

Streaming is a way of compressing information to the extent that it becomes playable on broadband.

The technique is quickly entering the mainstream after being pioneered by controversial parties ranging from Islamist websites showing executions to pornography sites touting explicit

material.

‘I really do think web TV is the future,’ said Mr Mauger.

‘It’s gone from a niche thing to the mainstream in a couple of years.’

Spike is excited by being at the cutting edge, moving the new medium into the respectable mainstream.

‘The web streaming project is just one example of developments that a Guernsey business has an involvement in at the forefront of a global industry,’ said Mr Mauger.