General Information
Burli NE is an on-premises, client-server desktop newsroom system. It runs on industry-standard, commercially-available Windows operating systems and PC hardware without need for vendor-specific hardware and is compatible with all current versions of Windows. Storage, database, ingest, web, and similar back-end servers work well (and are frequently deployed) in VM environments. Burli NE uses a combination of standard unicast IP networks and Windows SMB file access. It optionally integrates with an on-premises Active Directory for single-sign-on.
There is no MacOS version of Burli NE. It does, however, run well on Apple hardware running Windows in virtualisation (not all Apple hardware can/does) or via Citrix or Remote Apps. Burli NE clients run well on ARM versions of Windows; the database (MS SQL Server) does not.
We recommend Windows 11 for client machines and Server 2022 or Server 2025 for servers. We use Microsoft’s SQL Server database and recommend the 2022 edition. Smaller customers are welcome to use the free (but limited) SQL Server Express edition; mid-size and enterprise customers should use Standard edition for its data and processing scale and its backup and high-availability options.
Older Microsoft systems: Windows 10, 7, Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, etc. are no longer supported by either Microsoft or Burli and Burli NE will not be stable on them. Some (Windows 7, SQL Server 2012) are too old to support some data and protocols used by Burli NE and are simply not usable.
Requirements for storage, RAM, data formats, audio recording, and networking are all industry-standard are not especially demanding, but vary widely depending on newsroom workflows, existing architecture, and data volumes and should be discussed between the newsroom, IT department, and Burli.
System Requirements Guide
Our System Requirements Guide provides high-level information about Burli NE’s system design along with guidelines for newsroom and studio workstations and servers, and recommendations for backups and similar maintenance and management.
But we always urge customers to contact Burli Technical Support for further details and discussion about system architecture before they purchase or commission hardware for any Burli project.