Signiant Media Shuttle System Ready for Multiple Users, Intros CloudSpex
Signiant will hit NAB with new file sharing capabilities for its Media Shuttle file transfer system, allowing multiple users to easily upload and download content from a shared file system. With super-simple interfaces delivered from the cloud, enterprise-class security, storage control and acceleration, Media Shuttle defines a new class of file sharing solution tuned for extreme files – high-value digital assets that may be tens or hundreds of gigabytes in size.
The winner of the 2012 “Best of IBC” Award, Signiant’s Media Shuttle software is already in use by large broadcasters, Hollywood production companies, media service providers and post-production facilities in every major market. With the addition of these new file sharing capabilities, Media Shuttle portals can now be quickly configured in one of three modes – Send, Share or Submit – to flexibly support the accelerated file movement needs of any project, team or media enterprise in a single, multi-purpose solution. By combining the best attributes of online file sharing and enterprise-class accelerated file transfer software, Media Shuttle now offers a viable next-generation alternative to FTP servers.
“At a time when files keep getting bigger and timelines shorter, Media Shuttle lightens the workload of users and IT administrators alike,” says Rick Clarkson, Signiant’s Vice President of Product Management. “It provides a secure, easy-to-use alternative to consumer-grade file sharing options from a company that has made its name addressing the complex file movement challenges of some of the most demanding media environments. Every day now we’re receiving more accolades from media organizations everywhere on the enormous time and cost savings of this approach.”
With powerfully simple branded interfaces delivered from the cloud, Media Shuttle’s three modes puts the power in the hands of users to send/receive, browse, upload, download or onramp to workflow any size file with minimal technical support. Any Media Shuttle portal can be quickly configured to accelerate person-to-person file transfers, allow users to quickly browse, upload and download any size file to any accessible file system directory for instant access to media, and let administrators configure their branded file transfer portals to deliver content directly to a network folder, providing an instant on-ramp to automated file-based workflow operations, such as virus checking or transcoding.
By maintaining the file cache within the secure control of the user’s network, Media Shuttle’s patent-pending cloud architecture ensures the security of high-value digital assets, and gives IT the power to determine where content is stored and how network resources should be allocated for maximum efficiency. On-premises, private cloud and public cloud storage are all fully supported. Unlike first-generation transfer software and rogue file sharing services, Media Shuttle provides comprehensive content tracking for IT visibility, compliance, management controls, delegated administration and customizable profiles for user access.
“Whether managers like it or not, file sharing is going on in all kinds of unauthorized ways across the corporate world and cobbled together solutions that can all-too-easily compromise security abound. Our research shows this is a large and growing problem for companies of all sizes,” says Terri McClure, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Media Shuttle promises to aid corporate IT departments in bringing employee sharing under one umbrella via a solution that includes all the security and reliability of an on-premises offering while appearing to the user in an easy to use cloudlike interface.”
Also new is CloudSpex, offering file validation application that matches file types and metadata against a cloud-based directory of published specifications to ensure that assets comply with customer-defined delivery format requirements. Signiant says that in a recent survey, media organizations reported file format rejection rates approaching 25% in many broadcast workflows, and that the process of identifying files that do not comply, providing feedback to the sender, and tracking a new delivery can frequently consume up to a half day of staff time per file. By moving validation out of the client and into the cloud, CloudSpeX provides a uniform mechanism for automatically checking files against a chosen specification across the entire content ecosystem It – greatly decrease errors that can impede time to air and drive up resource costs.