Ctera: Edge Filer for M&E With Edge Media Edition

Ctera Networks Ltd. introduced a media filer to its Edge product line that delivers performance, cloud scale, and modern collaboration to enable creative content teams to produce and share digital assets from any device and any location.

The Edge Media Edition is designed to meet the requirements of M&E content creators, packaging 128TB usable local capacity, SSD/NLSAS tiering, 8K video rendering, and native support for macOS and Adobe creative products and services. Unlike traditional NAS systems, the company’s filer is part of a global file system that spans multiple sites, desktops, and clouds, enabling truly distributed file services with elastic scaling and no single point of failure.

“CTERA allows us to modernize how we store and manage creative content across our globally distributed locations,” said Menakshi Sehwani, regional CIO, EMEA, Wunderman Thompson. “By removing the limitations of our previous storage systems, the new CTERA media filer enables JWT to take full advantage of cloud scale and global collaboration while delivering the edge performance we need to execute on world-class projects for our clients.“

The company’s media filer provides transparent migration from existing NAS with preservation of share structure and file permissions. Intelligent cloud tiering optimizes local capacity for current projects and pinned files, while cloud security risks are mitigated through source-based encryption, firewall fencing, virus scanning and Active Directory integration.

Edge Media Edition highlights:

SMB/NFS file services with Windows ACLs
Cloud-based global file system across distributed sites and endpoints
Global de-dupe for optimal cloud storage and WAN efficiency
On-demand streaming of large files from the cloud
128TB local usable cloud cache
Hybrid SSD/SAS with Active-Active controllers
macOS Spotlight integration
Adobe suite compatibility
Antivirus and DLP scanning
Cloud archiving and DR

Click to enlarge

“Content creation and distribution in the media and advertising industry have always placed major demands on storage systems,” said Steven Hill, senior analyst, applied infrastructure and storage technologies, 451 Research. “CTERA’s new Edge Media Edition offers a hybrid storage environment for creative professionals that combines cloud and multi-platform support for dense, collaborative workflows and the performance to support high-def video production.“

In a recent survey of media storage decision makers conducted by IDC, performance was the industry’s top concern with public cloud services (43% of respondents). With the introduction of the company’s media filer, media firms no longer need to sacrifice cloud capacity for the predictable performance of a local NAS.

“Media firms have lagged behind on cloud transformation due to the challenging nature of modern media workflows,” said Oded Nagel, chief strategy officer, Ctera. “The new media filer provides the perfect cloud bridge for data-intensive environments, combining high local performance tuned for media-rich workflows with efficient cloud scaling.“

The firm’s media filer is available as part of the Edge H Series. The Edge Filer product family also includes the hyperconverged Edge X Series and the virtual Edge V Series.

Resources:
Evaluator Group: Solving a Critical Problem in Media and Advertising
Blog: Introducing the CTERA Edge Media Edition
CTERA Edge Media Edition
Edge-to-Cloud File Services for Media and Advertising
e-Book: Cloud Storage Trends at Media Companies
Video case study: JWT
Solution Sheet: CTERA for macOS
CTERA for Media and Advertising