Making the rules
Why adopting an intelligent archiving policy is the secret to building a successful digital archive.
Leading the way in file-based production
In the new multi-platform, on-demand digital world, the hunger for televisual content has never been higher. For broadcasters and other media companies, one of the key challenges is to successfully implement a suitable and safe digital archive in which to store and access this ever-increasing content mountain.
Unfortunately, in many cases this is easier said than done. Storage is finite, speed and access requirements differ and security is paramount. If managed incorrectly, it can be costly and unnecessarily time consuming.
So, what is the solution?
Technically all content could be stored forever – but that is neither practical nor affordable. An increase in storage density does mean that it is possible to store more content in the same amount of space but, as the resolution of media also increases, so storage size has to go up to compensate.
At the same time, there is no single type of storage to fit all requirements. Fast storage is expensive for long-term archive while cheap, slower storage is impractical if there is an immediate requirement to access content or footage.
Similarly, the cloud is ideal if an archive is to be made available globally, but security concerns remain and costs rise for long-term storage, while data tape has huge capacity but affords slow access.
Therefore, when it comes to putting together a successful digital archive, the answer does not lay solely in the type or amount of storage used but it in how the content is organised. Adopting an intelligent archiving policy and storage hierarchy is the secret to building a successful digital archive.
To do this, questions first have to be asked about the content itself, questions like: What is the business case for keeping the content? What quality of video will we need? How often and quickly will we need to retrieve an asset from the archive?
Once these questions have been answered it is possible to organise content into a hierarchical tiered structure, defined by use, availability and value, and then put in place an appropriate storage solution to fit those requirements.
Optical Disc Archive
Using Sony’s Optical Disc Archive (ODA) system is one such option. Benefitting from the reliability of optical discs to store data safely and securely, users can choose from various sizes of archive – from a single standalone USB drive that appears just like a hard disc drive on a computer, right up to a library option that can handle 1.7 petabytes.
It is simple to operate and makes use of cheap physical media that has no moving parts and allows fast random access to content. As such, ODA can be used for both long-term deep archive and for near-online use.
And because it uses optical discs, data can be stored for 100 years or more without requiring a special climate controlled environment or any migration. It is not the only option. A hybrid archive solution is also feasible, combining fast nearline storage with an ODA for example, as Sony has done with Object Matrix. Every archive is different.
The crucial element is having an intelligent archive policy in the first place. By doing so, and implementing it within an appropriate storage set-up, broadcasters and media owners can put in place a digital archive that is secure and cost-effective and well suited to today’s content-hungry world.