INDUSTRY WATCH
THE COMPANY STRIVES TO BECOME A PUBLIC MULTIMEDIA CORPORATION THAT PRODUCES RICH , COMPELLING AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT FOR A FULL ARRAY OF PLATFORMS .
Even when content has been archived to tape , the IT group can deliver it to users rapidly . “ In the past , users knew they had to wait for content to be retrieved from the archive ,” said Reyes .
“ Now , it ’ s much faster than before . We have more drives and faster drives with the Quantum archive .”
Moving to the latest LTO technology also helped accelerate retrieval . By upgrading from LTO-3 to LTO-8 , Canal Extremadura can now store significantly more data on each tape . As a result , there ’ s a greater likelihood that each retrieval request can be satisfied without having to load multiple tapes .
The IT group is capitalising on the networking flexibility of the Quantum platform to support a range of client systems . Specifically , the storage environment is configured to offer fibre channel connectivity to 10 SAN clients plus 10-GbE connections to multiple NAS clients . Meanwhile , the metadata network uses 1 GbE .
Getting up to speed fast and streamlining migration
To make sure Canal Extremadura could make the most of the new archive solution , the Quantum team provided multi-day onsite training . “ We definitely like to know what we have in our hands ,” said Reyes . “ The training was very useful .”
Meanwhile , the Dalet implementation team helped Canal Extremadura migrate its existing archive to the Quantum environment – a process that included transcoding some archived content from legacy formats . “ The process took some time because we had a lot of data to migrate , but it was quite smooth ,” said Reyes .
Gaining rapid access to archived content
The StorNext File System enables Canal Extremadura journalists , producers and other team members to retrieve archived content much faster than before . Integrated online storage is part of the reason : with the StorNext environment , some content can remain immediately accessible on disk .
“ We have more than 100 TB of online storage from Quantum . So if someone has completed a project six months ago , it will probably still be online ,” said Reyes . “ For us , the Quantum StorNext approach works much better .”
How does faster archival retrieval help users ? “ Journalists might be in a hurry to assemble a new video for that day ’ s news broadcast ,” said Reyes . “ With a faster archive , we can help them meet their deadlines .”
Strengthening compatibility and simplifying support
Moving to the StorNext File System has helped consolidate a complicated archive environment that previously used systems from multiple vendors . Working with a single vendor eliminates some of the potential compatibility problems from the multivendor environment .
With the new archive , the StorNext platform facilitates smooth data movement from online disk storage to the tape library . That integrated environment works with the Dalet MAM system to support a complete production and post-production workflow , from ingest to archiving .
Ongoing support is also much easier now that there are technologies from fewer vendors . The IT group has a single point of contact for the Quantum environment if the company ever needs to address issues or make changes .
Moving forward with a multimedia transformation
The new archive environment provides the long-term scalability to support the company ’ s transformation from traditional TV and radio to more multimedia work . “ If we ever need to expand the archive in the future , we can simply add tapes – it ’ s very straightforward ,” said Reyes . “ With a scalable archive , our company can stay focused on delivering engaging content instead of worrying about where to store it .” p
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