Maximising Your Archive...

SGL's FlashNet content storage management system delivers unrivalled levels of resilience, flexibility and adaptability. Regardless of the size or environment, its clustered architecture and open approach provide secure, future-proof business solutions that grow with the customer, writes Lee Sheppard, SGL's Director of Product Management.

FlashNet can control and manage all aspects of attached storage systems, whether to near-line, disk, tape or optical disk. The software presents the broadcast archive as a single storage repository, ensuring a seamless integration into all types of workflows. SGL has developed an unrivalled integration programme providing broadcasters and content owners with a truly adaptable and flexible video archiving solution.

SGL ensures that all of its customers' assets are fully protected, with many archive systems used as part of Disaster Recovery workflows or ready to be made DR-capable quickly and easily. Its scalable FlashNet architecture provides a clustered system of multiple servers, or nodes, each in constant communication. Each cluster node has identical software installed, and each is connected via a fibre channel into the archive devices – generally disk storage and one or more tape libraries. At the heart of the cluster is a Microsoft SQL database, which is usually installed across two servers running a Microsoft cluster for automatic failover.

The past few years have seen a sea change in the industry's approach to archiving, with the archive moving much further forward in the production process where it is now alongside ingest.

SGL has been at the forefront of this change. With the successful take-up of LTFS, fully supported by SGL, broadcasters and content owners can benefit from true interoperability between what were once disparate systems. Now material can be acquired directly to disk and dragged-and-dropped to data tape and transported back to a facility.

Material can be moved directly into the LTFS archive, which removes the need to re-ingest content to the archive and also enables large amounts of data to be transported and archived on a single LTO tape. To banish the 'end of the line' archive message, once the tape has been loaded into the archive, duplicate copies can be made automatically to back-up the valuable material. The archive system can also automatically copy the content to a disk portion of the archive so that craft editors can start working with the material as swiftly as possible.

The cloud is also becoming part of the storage hierarchy, which SGL is integrating into its strategy. The new version of FlashNet, which will be launched this spring, brings to fruition SGL's new integration with Aspera. Using FlashNet, broadcasters and content owners can transfer media to the cloud at a guaranteed speed providing an additional means of storage and disaster recovery workflows.

SGL is exhibiting at CABSAT on booth B3-42. The company has partnered with broadcasters and Systems Integrators for many years, and is now an established brand/company in the region. SGL FlashNet is installed and is delivering efficient broadcast archives to the leading broadcasters throughout the region including: AD Media, MBC, Qatar TV, Al Baghdadia, Al Aan, and Al Kass.

The article is also available to read in BFV online.

(IT/JP)