EditShare Ark 2.0 for Media

EditShare LLC announced the availability of its new Ark 2.0 disk and LTO-4/LTO-5 tape-based backup and archiving solutions.

On display at the International Broadcasting Convention, Ark 2.0 boasted an array of media protection and workflow enhancements, most notably, its integration with EditShare Flow.

"Ark 2.0’s tight integration with Flow creates a unique and powerful media asset protection environment at your fingertips. As you backup or archive clips, they are added automatically to the Flow database and proxy files are generated during backup if they don’t already exist. Now searching for and previewing archived or backed-up clips through the Flow Browse front end is as simple as ever. When you find what you’re looking for based on proxy files, you can start organizing clips into a sequence and then just drag them into a Restore Job. Within minutes, the full-resolution clips appear in the designated EditShare Media Space," says Andy Liebman, Founder and CEO, EditShare. "Ark 2.0 has the intelligence to grow and expand as customers’ storage and workflow needs change. If your main storage system fails, you can activate Ark Disk 2.0, which then becomes a temporary, full-blown EditShare storage system. We are thrilled to ship Ark 2.0 at IBC 2010 and to present this remarkable asset protection system to the European market."

When combined with EditShare’s ingest, playout, storage, and asset-management products, Ark 2.0 provides the backup and archiving component of a seamless set of workflow tools that can meet the needs of broadcast, entertainment, or post-production environment.

New Highlights of Ark 2.0 – Protecting Your Media Assets

• Integration with Flow for Complete Backup – Integration between Ark and Flow ensures that all archived clips now have a record in the Flow database prior to being copied to Ark. Flow scans all clips to ensure that proxy files have been created. Ark updates the Flow database to keep a record of exactly where each archived clip is located. Flow users then can search and browse all clips stored on Ark.
• Integration with Flow for Complete Restoration of Files – Having a record in the Flow database of all archived or backed-up clips makes restoring files from Ark easier than ever. It is now possible to search or browse for clips even though high-resolution versions are ‘offline’ and stored only on Ark. Through Flow Browse, users can play low-resolution proxy versions, incorporate them into sequences, and then restore the desired high-resolution versions to any EditShare Media Space. From within Flow Browse, authorized editors can set up Restore jobs to occur instantly or at a later, scheduled time.
• Support for Multi-Drive Tape Libraries – Ark 2.0 supports a wide range of tape autoloaders and tape libraries that use standard LTO-4 and LTO-5 tapes. Autoloaders and libraries with multiple tape drives now can be used.
• Activation Feature for Ark Disk – A new activation feature allows customers to utilize their Ark Disk system as a rapid failover if one of their main storage systems fails. An Ark Disk system can be used as a substitute EditShare storage system until the main system is back up and running again.
• Improved Tape Management – The new Ark user interface graphically shows which tapes currently are loaded into a Tape Library and in exactly which slot they can be found.

Core EditShare Ark Benefits:

• Media Asset Tracking – Archive media, bins, and sequences with metadata intact, ensuring quick searches for online and near-line archives.
• Multi-format Support – Backup or archive P2, XDCAM, and other file-based media.
• Automated and Manual Backups – Schedule backups to occur in the background or during off-peak times.
• Turn into EditShare – In the event of a main storage system failure, Ark Disk can be activated into a high-functioning EditShare Storage Series system.
• Selected File Restore – Browse backed-up and archived clips in Flow Browse, preview their proxy files, and then restore only the high-resolution clips you need.