April 2015 – At NAB 2015, two companies on the show floor were showing critical infrastructure for both terrestrial and cloud based development flows. Editshare was showing their MAM solutions as well as improvements in their local storage products, and Signiant their improvements in the cloud based transport mechanism for content files.
Signiant was showing several their new products updates at the show – Media shuttle and Flight both got enhancements. Media shuttle is a cloud based SaaS product that is targeted towards any size project from single user to multiple member team projects. There is also an Enterprise version of the product. This version addresses the enterprise’s IT groups desire to want corporate approved methods for authenticating users. The enterprise package supports SAML 2.0 authentication which is a secure way of authenticating users without their passwords being stored in the cloud. This allows the product to feature federated login, single sign-on, live submit & unattended delivery, and a drag & drop interface. The system not only delivers the content, but the associated metadata. The tool is designed as a single technology solution for the consolidation of all file transfers on a project and keeps track of all the file movements and users in one place
For many projects use cases come up requiring unattended delivery of content. The new Auto Delivery in Media Shuttle provides this capability via a native application running on the end user’s computer, along with a means of configuring folders for automatic upload or download. With the release of their Media Shuttle mobile app, users can submit video content, such as breaking news, sports, or user-generated video, directly into their production workflow from their iPhone or iPad. The system manages interrupted transmissions and has an auto-restart feature to insure complete and error free transfers.
The system is currently optimized for moving project data blocks for a 4K/UHD content creations. Most of these moves are done with the auto delivery system, and the network is optimized for these large files. On a routine basis, clients are transporting daily data sets that are on the order of a 10TB block.
Signiant also showed enhancments to their Flight product. This is a customer/independent user targeted tool for large file transport. Fight was built with security as a fundamental part of the design. Flight employs multiple layers of security along with end-to-end encryption architected such that if one layer is breached the file content remains unreadable. Files are encrypted at rest, during transfer and retain a further layer of encryption while held in cloud storage. Both the Media Shuttle and Flight products are pure SaaS products in the cloud with a subscription based use model. As the system is optimized for large files, the technology incorporates transport acceleration file transfers. This allows the system to be part of a central multi-user multi-site collaboration system.
On the MAM side and local content creation is EditShare. The company was showing their local storage solutions that are the foundation of content creation. Their storage subsystems are all contained in the XStream product line. The whole product line integrates Flow Media Asset Management, including AirFlow, enabling facilities to make media accessible through their own private cloud.
Editshare Storage Solutions
The XStream storage product family includes: (1) EditShare XStream EFS which is a distributed, fault-tolerant “scale out” storage system that offers enterprise-class storage capabilities and collaboration features to a broad range of production and broadcast facilities from under 100TB all the way up to five Petabytes; (2) EditShare XStream HT which is a high-performance, scalable shared storage for production companies, post facilities, OB trucks, news operations and schools that needs media and project sharing. It is available in configurations from 32TB to 480TB of storage; (3) EditShare XStream ST which is a cost-effective shared storage solutions for media and project sharing and is available in 24TB or 48TB configurations; and (4) EditShare Field 2 which is a high-performance portable shared storage that is designed for instant in-the-field collaboration or office environments that require media and project sharing in a small, quiet box.
The On the MAM side the EditShare Flow 3.2 release features scan and proxy support for 4K and image sequences, enhanced remote editing options, and new automation capabilities for transcoding and file delivery workflows. Flow’s expanded format support means clients can better manage, preview and archive a variety of 4K formats such as ProRes 4444 XQ, Sony XAVC and RED (.R3D) files as well as “single-file-per-frame" formats including DPX, CinemaDNG, ARRIRAW, PNG and TIFF.
The Flow enhancements include improvements to AirFlow. This is a Flow module that enables facilities to make media accessible for collaboration through their own private cloud. Additionally, it allows users to use a web browser interface from any location to batch-download original media files and Flow proxies accelerating workflow & content development.
