Support Growing Video Content with Effective Content Management

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][mk_dropcaps style=”simple-style”]D[/mk_dropcaps]emand for compelling video content is on the rise—and that’s probably great news for your production or post-production studio. But rapidly rising demand can present some storage challenges you’ve never faced before. As you work on more and more projects, your production files and video assets can consume a lot of capacity in your primary storage environment. Your used capacity will only increase as you move into higher-resolution formats that generate larger files.

It’s simply too expensive to keep everything in primary storage. Owning and operating active storage systems can cost hundreds of dollars per terabyte every month. If you max out your capacity, you’ll be forced to add new drives and increase your ongoing expenditures.

To control costs and free up capacity on primary storage systems, many organizations are adding more storage tiers. Incorporating object storage, data tape, or cloud storage into your environment lets you off-load completed projects and infrequently used files to more cost-effective systems.

Still, other challenges remain. What content should you move, where should you move it, and when should you move it?

To find out the answers, you’ll need to answer these questions:

• Which older files do your team members still need for their current projects?
• Do you know the location of all the files associated with each completed project that you’re planning to archive?
• If your team needs to retrieve archived files in a month or a year—will they be able to get what they need quickly, without having to ask for assistance?

[mk_fancy_title tag_name=”h2″ style=”true” color=”#393836″ size=”14″ font_weight=”inhert” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”18″ font_family=”none” align=”left”]Four key attributes for a content movement solution[/mk_fancy_title]Optimizing your storage environment requires a data management platform that enables you to match the right files with the right storage tier at the right time. As you consider your options, look for a platform with the following four key attributes:

1. Intelligence: Find a data management platform with intelligent, policy-based management capabilities. An intelligent platform lets you set data migration rules based on the frequency files are used, the time elapsed since projects are completed, and other criteria. For example, you could set a policy that if a video asset isn’t touched in 30 days, it will be copied from primary storage to object storage. If isn’t touched in another 30 days, the copy will be moved to data tape, and the original will be deleted from primary storage.
2. Flexibility: Your data management platform must support a full range of storage technologies—from flash arrays to object storage, digital tape libraries, and cloud services. Each type of storage serves a unique purpose, and supporting multiple storage types enables you to finely balance performance, cost, and accessibility.Your data management platform must also support all of the operating systems and applications your team members use. It shouldn’t be more difficult to use Adobe Premiere Pro on a Mac to access archived files than it is to use Sony Vegas Pro on a Windows machine.
3. Visibility: As you add tiers and expand your storage environment, you need to make sure your team members can search for and find the files they need, no matter where those files are located. Your data management platform must provide visibility across every tier, including digital tape and cloud storage.
4. Efficiency: Waiting a few hours or a few days to retrieve files is probably not an option. Your team members need access to archived files right away—without having to ask for assistance from your technical staff. An editor shouldn’t have to ask an IT administrator for help finding physical tape cartridges either. Both your editor and your IT administrator have more important things to do with their time.

[mk_fancy_title tag_name=”h2″ style=”true” color=”#393836″ size=”14″ font_weight=”inhert” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”18″ font_family=”none” align=”left”]Improving content movement with Quantum StorNext[/mk_fancy_title]If you need support for continued growth of video content while controlling costs, implementing Quantum StorNext® data management software with your multi-tier environment might be the answer. StorNext provides intelligent, efficient, and flexible content movement across multiple storage tiers while enhancing visibility into that content.

Want to learn more about StorNext software’s content movement capabilities? Read our e-book, Optimize Your Storage Environment for Growing Volumes of Video Content.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]