Quantum StorNext, Q-Cloud, and Artico highlight IBC offerings
During IBC2015, Quantum will showcase its StorNext 5 shared storage architecture, which includes high-performance online storage, extended online storage and tape- and cloud-based archives. The company also will highlight StorNext Connect, a management and monitoring console that provides an at-a-glance dashboard of the entire StorNext environment.StorNext 5 is the next-generation workflow storage platform designed by Quantum to support content production, distribution and archive with the performance and reliability operations need to meet extreme production and delivery deadlines. It provides a unique combination of the fastest collaborative file-streaming performance in the industry and integrated intelligence to put the right data in the right place at the right time for maximum efficiency and the lowest possible cost. StorNext 5 achieves this by automatically moving data across different storage technologies while maintaining full control of the data. Because it has been engineered from the ground up to deliver superior performance in high-resolution, collaborative post and broadcast workflows, this end-to-end solution can both simplify and accelerate monetization of content in digital libraries.
New this year is Quantum Q-Cloud Archive, extending StorNext workflow capabilities to the cloud, allowing end-to-end StorNext environments to leverage cloud storage fully with no additional hardware, separate applications or programming while maintaining full compatibility with existing software applications. Q-Cloud Archive adds flexible, safe and secure off-site cloud archiving of valuable content to StorNext workflows. Users buy only the capacity they need and only as they need it, keeping assets archived long-term for re-monetization or simply as an off-site asset pool.
Unlike other cloud services that require complex setup, third-party gateways or unfamiliar software, Q-Cloud Archive works seamlessly with existing workflows. Users don’t have to worry about application compatibility or a learning curve.
Also new is StorNext Pro Foundation, a complete, integrated shared storage solution designed specifically for new users or new deployments in post, broadcast, corporate and government video. It gives smaller production workgroups a powerful and attractively priced solution for managing assets from ingest to delivery to archive. The underlying StorNext 5 platform also ensures that the solution can adapt as workflows evolve so that users can ingest more content from multiple camera sources, create more content and deliver it on time while preserving owned content for future monetization.
The company says StorNext Pro Foundation offers high performance and full Xsan compatibility, an ideal pairing for smaller workgroups looking to renew or upgrade, as well as for current StorNext users wishing to add smaller remote and local workgroups for graphics, rendering and EFX. The solution is available in system configurations of 48TB and 96TB, which respectively support five and seven Xsan/Windows/Linux SAN clients. In addition, StorNext Pro Foundation connects seamlessly with Quantum Q-Cloud Archive to simplify extension into cloud-based storage.
The company is also addressing the challenge of high-resolution workflows that come with increased complexity as they involve a greater number of ingest points, more delivery formats, many transcode steps and a significant dependency on quality control steps. Just handling the volume of content and large file sizes can lead to slowdowns, inconsistent operation and potentially risky asset loss situations. Quantum answers these challenges by seamlessly extending storage and workflow operations onto a low-latency, massively scalable Lattus object storage system. Lattus allows facilities to create a parallel workflow for non-real-time operations — such as ingest, transcode, rendering and delivery — by using IP connections to separate their network traffic from that of streaming real-time operations such as editing, color correction and audio sweetening.
Working with MAM and workflow automation, StorNext Storage Manager can migrate content from online storage to Lattus for monetization. Because it’s built on object storage technology, Lattus allows content to be maintained long-term more securely and with greater durability than RAID, with nearly unlimited scalability. If desired, content can also be seamlessly migrated or copied to tape archives or Q-Cloud Archive in an automated fashion. Using this model, users can maximize not only the efficiency of their operations but also their investment in storage technology.
Lastly, Quantum’s Artico intelligent NAS archive appliance will make its European debut at IBC2015. Introduced in April of this year, Artico offers broadcast and post-production facilities using scale-out NAS systems a flexible, low-cost entry point for establishing media archives — outside of StorNext environments — that can scale to hold petabytes of content across disk, extended online, tape and cloud storage. Artico incorporates StorNext Storage Manager policies to maximize storage efficiency and reduce total costs. When used in combination with any StorNext-qualified MAM system, Artico can move files seamlessly from online storage to a longer-term archive with no user intervention while maintaining full access to the files.