New Partners for NetApp in Media and Entertainment

Every frame of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or hit TV program has to be ingested, edited, transcoded, and delivered, creating complicated workflows as content is shared across teams and across locations. Streamlining these processes requires integration between the front-end software tools used at each step with networks of back-end hardware. Storage is a critical part of this back-end infrastructure, and when integrated with front-end applications, it delivers the capacity, bandwidth, and performance that power broadcast production and content delivery.

NetApp, Inc. announced the expansion of its media and entertainment technology alliance ecosystem to include new partners Actus Digital, Digital Rapids, Marquis Broadcast, MXFserver, Rorke Data (an Avnet Company), Signiant, Vidispine, and Vizrt.

These partners join long-standing technology Alliance members ATTO Technology, Dalet, and Quantum in demonstrating interoperability with NetApp storage solutions to solve the next generation of content production, management, and delivery challenges.

Solutions from the NetApp Technology Alliance Program are on display on September 7-11 at the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) in Amsterdam.

"NetApp continues to foster and forge strong alliances with technology innovators who share our vision and passion for helping customers simplify workflows and unleash creativity," said Brendon Howe, VP, Product and Solutions Marketing, NetApp. "An example of the success we are delivering with partners is the petabytes of storage we’ve deployed through our media and content management solution, which is the storage foundation for several world-class postproduction and broadcast media operations."

NetApp media/entertainment storage platforms include:

• Media content management solution for high-bandwidth workflows
• Fabric-attached storage (FAS) for shared application media workflows, media transactions, and analytics
• NetApp StorageGRID for cloud or on-premises distributed content repositories

NetApp works with its alliance technology partners to test and integrate these technologies with partner applications. Together, the NetApp ecosystem provides a combination of enterprise IT resiliency and media bandwidth, capacity, and cost-effectiveness for media and entertainment workflows. These tested workflows include content ingest, media asset management, edit, transcode, file-based quality control (QC), file delivery, and archive solutions.

MXFserver and NetApp
Enable Collaborative Editing Environments
FilmPartners BV, creator of postproduction management software MXFserver, and NetApp are building out collaborative editing environments with enterprise open storage. MXFserver works with the top three broadcast editing platforms to consolidate their operations onto efficient and scalable NetApp storage. Due to MXFserver’s open structure, all media can be easily accessed, transferred, managed, and exchanged without the use of additional software, improving project manageability, while supporting all the project sharing and bin locking edit workgroups are used to.

Signiant, Inc. and NetApp Speed File Movement
The growing size of media files and the explosion of media delivery platforms are driving the need for efficient, file-based content delivery workflows. And the advent of global media companies with reservoirs of content on multiple continents is causing a rethinking of how the storage layer itself should manage the millions, and now billions, of video clips being stored and accessed.

NetApp and Signiant confirm interoperability between the intelligent file transfer layer and the storage layer. Media organizations have a business-critical need to move and store digital media as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, while applying enterprise security and maintaining complete control over the exchanges. By extending the Signiant file movement workflow to NetApp storage systems, this joint solution helps media companies meet these requirements.

Dalet Collaborates with NetApp
on Full-Resolution Workflow Infrastructure
Long-standing NetApp Alliance Partner Dalet Digital Media System recently collaborated with NetApp to install the infrastructure for an end-to-end production workflow with both proxy and high-resolution video into one of the largest national broadcast operations in Europe. The flexible broadcast workflow, built on the NetApp E-Series platform, supports high-bandwidth production groups needing 10,000MB/s.