N1 makes the news with Optical Disc Archive
Optical Disc Archive is helping the Balkan region’s CNN news affiliate manage its substantial content library – and get quality programmes to air even faster.
- Regional broadcaster needed fast, flexible archive solution to efficiently manage over 10,000 hours of content
- Required deep archive solution with performance and reliability superior to data tape
- PetaSite ODS-L30M 30-slot master library unit with 136 TB capacity, scalable to 800 TB
- Library interfaced to IBIS iFind media asset management system via XenData middleware
- Quick restores of library material compared with tape supports faster, more efficient programme making
- Future-proof solution minimises cost and uncertainty of storage technology migration
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The speed is incredible. Gone are the two-to-three days waiting for archived news material to be restored and available for journalists to work with.
Igor Jovic
Chief Technical Director, N1
Delivering quality news coverage across the Balkans
With major production centres in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb plus smaller hubs across the region, N1 provides 24-hour news and current affairs on TV, web and mobile platforms reaching more than 20 million people. As a regional news channel affiliate of CNN, N1 has exclusive access to video and newsgathering resources from CNN International for transmission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia.
Standardising on the highest quality
‘Ours is a unique setup in the region and possibly in Europe’ explains N1’s Chief Technical Director Igor Jovic. ‘Our newsgathering and broadcast operations need the highest professional standards, as well as efficient co-ordination between our three production centres. We have a policy of using the most cutting edge, advanced technology in the world. That is what we get by standardising on Sony.’
Sony has supplied N1 with live production equipment including cameras and vision switchers to equip studios and control rooms at its three main production centres, as well as XDCAM camcorders for electronic newsgathering. In addition N1 has selected Optical Disc Archive to manage its substantial library of digital content.
Scalable archive supports efficient on-air operations
Central to broadcast operations at N1 is a future-proofed, scalable archive solution that integrates smoothly into daily content production. “We are trying to achieve something that’s different from other TV news competitors in the region by innovating with new technology,” says Jovic. “When it comes to archive, the most important thing was a reliable solution both now and in the future.
‘We examined the use of digital tape storage, but selected Optical Disc Archive because we are 100% sure we can retrieve media at any time in the future. That’s something we can’t be confident about as current generations of tape archival media are superseded.’
Sony provides total library solution
To manage its growing archive of over 10,000 hours of content, N1 chose Sony’s Optical Disc PetaSite ODS-L30M library. Currently providing a capacity of 136TB, storage size is scalable to over 800TB. The archive is interfaced to the IBIS iFind media asset management system via XenData middleware.
Sony Professional Solutions Europe provided a complete solution to meet N1’s required on-air date, offering full system design as well as project management for implementation of the XenData application. As total solutions supplier to N1, Sony delivered and implemented the system through local reseller ProVideo.
Optical Disc Archive meets the needs of deep archive applications where data tape does not provide adequate performance. An ideal second copy broadcast archive solution at remote sites, it’s also ideal for business continuity/disaster recovery, post and production back-up and for video, film and stock footage archives or AV national archives. The system can also be used for news and sports clips that need to be near-online and as an on-line browse and proxy clip store.
Reliable today, ready for tomorrow
‘If technology advances – which it inevitably will – we are future-proofed with storage going forward’ states Igor. ‘As and when the next generation of drives are released we know that the Optical Disc Archive strategy will work. We wanted to invest in a system at the outset so that we don’t have to think about migrating our media to another system – or another version of a system – in five, ten or twenty years time.’
Platform confidence wasn’t the sole reason behind N1’s technology choice. ‘Speed of access was vital’ notes Igor. ‘Our production teams are revisiting older material from the deep archive to supplement bulletins on a daily basis. Restoring material from PetaSite is not only reliable but it’s fast, especially for the small size video files we tend to produce.’
‘Each Optical Disc Archive cartridge can carry thousands of small files as well as full programmes, but the ability of production teams to search, access and retrieve particular content from the Optical Disc Archive efficiently was very important. It means that we can incorporate the archive as a living part of daily production and maximise it as a resource.’
‘All our journalists can now see where their files are and from any desktop workstation they can pull files from the deep archive to central storage for editing and straight to air. The speed is incredible’ says Igor. ‘Gone are the two-to-three days waiting for archived news material to be restored and available for journalists to work with. The Sony PetaSite archive solution integrated with XenData middleware is a proven and reliable long-term archiving strategy.’
