With your OTT video workflow in the cloud, content will be your top priority – and you need neither cloud nor broadcast engineering expertise to make it happen. This eBook explains how you can add cloud-based OTT video workflows to your repertoire.

Topics include:

• The challenges of building end-to-end OTT video workflows (explosive OTT growth, abundant viewer choices + changing viewing habits, increased complexity, and more)
• The key solutions that take the guesswork out of processing, managing, and delivering video to viewers
• The four pillars of an economical and profitable OTT video plan – flexibility, agility, intelligence, and global scale – and why they are non-negotiable
• The best-tested ways to support OTT video workflows + real-world customer use cases

Click Here to Download the ebook.

Aldermaston, UK, 12 August 2019 - GB Labs, innovators of powerful and intelligent media storage solutions for the media and entertainment industries, has announced that North America’s National Hockey League (NHL) has purchased GB Labs’ MiniSPACE SSD 1RU storage system.

One of the drivers for the NHL’s move to GB Labs was the league’s need for high-performance storage coupled with ease of transport. Its existing storage system had proved to be unreliable, suffering from poor performance and inadequate portability.

GB Labs North American Channel Account Executive John Alaimo said, “A key component of what appealed to the NHL about SPACE SSD was its ability to provide simultaneous live ingest and direct connectivity for multiple editors, which opens up numerous opportunities for the multi-platform delivery of stylised content. Also, on top of the speed of the SPACE SSD range, it provides the performance, portability, and reliability they had previously lacked.”

Following discussions, the league opted for GB Labs’ MiniSPACE SSD 1RU to take advantage of its light weight, high-portability, fast SSD, and the reliability and performance of GB Labs’ acclaimed CORE.4 OS.

The NHL’s MiniSPACE SSD 1RU storage system directly supports eight editors; a data wrangler connected by a high-performance 10GbE in order to receive 1000MB/s I/O; and a 24-port switch for instances when extra editors are required.

The GB Labs system enables the NHL production team to easily transport its storage system and reliably edit entirely on location whenever required.

###

About GB Labs
GB Labs is the global leader in intelligent media storage, creating a shared storage ecosystem for the media industry. By understanding real-world industry problems, cutting-edge technologies have been developed for the unique "CORE" software that fulfils end users’ needs. Regardless of where the production is being filmed, how big the team is or the size of budget, GB Labs can provide a solution to ensure deadlines are met and throughout the whole process, content is secure.

Find out more at: www.gblabs.com or call: EUROPE (+44) (0)118 455 5000 or USA (+1) 661 493 8480.

GB Labs company contact:

Matt Worth
GB Labs
Email: m.worth@gblabs.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 118 455 5000

GB Labs Media Contact:
Kara Myhill
Manor Marketing
Email: kara@manormarketing.tv
Phone: +44 (0) 7899 977 222

Boston, MA, USA — May 20, 2019—EditShare, a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, Automated Quality Control (AQC), editing and media management solutions, today announced it has taken on a majority investment from private equity firm ParkerGale Capital (ParkerGale). Focused on profitable founder-owned technology companies, ParkerGale’s carefully curated portfolio is a mix of software-oriented businesses that are supported by the firm’s financial investment and in-house operating team whose mission is to help portfolio businesses rapidly scale and bring to market new innovative products and services. EditShare founders, Andy Liebman and Tara Montford, will continue to lead EditShare innovation and customer success and remain the company’s largest individual shareholders. Industry veteran, Conrad Clemson, will join the leadership team as EditShare CEO.

“We have created a company that not only delivers products and solutions that appeal to the media production market, as shown by our returning customers, but also to a company such as ParkerGale, which has had the insight to see how valuable EditShare has become. ParkerGale’s deep-seated history of helping profitable companies like ours achieve their next stage growth goals will enable our team to expand and develop the EditShare product range into even better solutions for our customers in the future,” comments Tara Montford, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Business Development, EditShare. “EditShare has always been extremely customer-focused and without our customers’ engagement, we would not be where we are today. Riding the momentum of double-digit growth over the last three years combined with the investment by ParkerGale, we will have the resources at hand to accelerate all our plans and deliver on our innovative roadmap while retaining that personal touchpoint with our customers.”

Deployed at thousands of facilities around the world, EditShare solutions are used to power the creation of many of today’s blockbuster feature films, captivating TV series, documentaries, sports programs, live events, educational programs, corporate communications and more. Its ultra-scalable distributed media management platform enables businesses of all sizes to drive media production workflows with greater ease. EditShare’s secure collaboration environment connects users to content and production tools, allowing businesses to hire the talent they require, anywhere in the world.

“We are proud to offer industry-leading solutions that enable our customers to respond to market demands with greater efficiency and ultimately take advantage of new opportunities to grow their businesses,” comments Andy Liebman, EditShare Co-Founder and newly appointed Chief Strategy Officer. “Our incredibly talented team is dialed into our customers’ needs and next steps. They are developing and delivering innovative solutions that facilitate collaboration and efficiency such as the EditShare Flow hybrid media management platform that can cut production time by as much as 50% and EFS Shared Storage Auditing, an important content security capability that helps mitigate content theft. Our innovations span all aspects of media production from an individual storyteller who is using the Emmy-award winning Lightworks to enterprise broadcasters automating productions with EditShare’s metadata-driven workflow solutions. With ParkerGale’s infusion of capital, EditShare will be able to execute much faster on the many more incredible product and workflow ideas we have for all of our customers.”

Leading the company through this next stage of growth is EditShare’s new CEO, Conrad Clemson, who recently led Cisco’s Video, Mobility, and Cloud organizations. “Andy founded EditShare in 2003 when he needed a more flexible and affordable solution for media sharing. His invention of high-performance Network Attached Storage for editing transformed the industry in a way others weren’t imagining at that time," comments Clemson. "EditShare’s history of leading the industry with groundbreaking innovations and solving customer problems before they even recognize them goes deep, and with this investment, the EditShare team will be even better positioned to continue to deliver transformative solutions to an industry that is in greater demand for it now more than ever.”

Devin Mathews, Founding Partner at ParkerGale concludes on the new partnership and expanded resources, “We couldn’t be more excited to embark on this partnership with the EditShare team. In our research, we were particularly impressed by just how much customers love the EditShare suite of products - a testament to the tremendous foundation this company has built.”

To learn more about the expanded EditShare leadership team and its solutions for media & entertainment production, please visit https://www.editshare.com/management

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV and film industries. Our groundbreaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance EFS central shared storage, AQC, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first three-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2019 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare® is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Alex Molina

Zazil Media Group

(e) alex@zazilmediagroup.com

(p) +1 (617) 834-9600

###

Basingstoke, UK — September 6, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, announced today that end-to-end full service post production facility Windmill Lane has invested in the XStream EFS scale out storage platform and Flow media asset management. The facility, whose portfolio includes commercial brands such as Virgin Mobile, Tesla, Toyota; feature films such as Terminal, starring Margot Robbie and Miss Julie, starring Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell; and music videos for U2, rolled out EditShare media workflow solutions to centralize its storage infrastructure and foster collaborative efficiency across the facility to meet the demands of international clients.

Tim Morris, partner and head of VFX at Windmill Lane comments, “Windmill Lane has built a global brand as a credit to the talent we employ and the forward-thinking approach to managing workflows. Our team embraced the promise of digital cinema cameras long before the more traditional post-production facilities did, and in doing so, we designed some of the most sophisticated processing workflows in the industry. Essentially we run a digital lab that mirrors the film labs of yesteryear in terms of processing rushes over night for delivery in the morning, with reports and look-up tables. With the addition of EditShare, we have put our lab on an advanced media infrastructure that accelerates production on all fronts, amplifying the benefits our world-class post production facility brings to clients while also allowing us to maintain competitive pricing models.”

Heralded as a cornerstone of creativity for over four decades in Ireland, Windmill Lane became world renowned for its recording studio, music video production and commercials in the 80s and 90s, with founder James Morris branching out to set up The Mill in London in 1990 and TV3 in 1998. Since then, the company has developed into a formidable force both in the Irish and international markets for its passion and expertise in commercials, feature film, TV drama and content creation.

Due to the breadth of services offered, projects often leverage multiple departments across Windmill Lane, a reality that ultimately resulted in many disparate workflows and a need for simplification throughout the facility. Initially, each department had its own storage infrastructure, making it challenging for other departments to share content and control versioning across workgroups. By implementing EFS across production and near-line in concert with Flow media asset management, media became easily accessible and shareable across departments, a marked improvement from past processes.

“Before we brought EditShare on board, departments had their own storage, and if we needed another department to work on footage the whole project would have to be moved onto the network. The result was multiple copies of the same thing and in different states of post production living on different storage environments,” says Gareth Rennicks, technology manager, Windmill Lane. “Just managing the whole thing was very difficult because you’re moving across the network, copying, pasting, changing; tracking the whole thing was a nightmare. EditShare is really what we were looking for, it enables building-wide accessibility and collaboration without sacrificing system performance, which is absolutely critical for our success.”

Tim Morris elaborates on the improved mobility of media, “It was not only moving files amongst our facility, but moving files to other media companies around the world that we needed to improve. The disciplines we require, but also the ability to move data around, is why we went for the EditShare solution.”

Much of Windmill Lane’s ingest work was left to the grading department, which utilizes Baselight systems, creating workload congestion for the technicians. Because the department was often ingesting daily rushes from feature films, the task often fell on them for the whole building. The time consuming process naturally cut into the working hours that colorists could spend on projects.

Rennicks continues, “The turnaround with feature films and commercial projects is incredibly tight - the grading department doesn’t have the time or resources to also function as an ingest department for the whole building. With Flow, we’ve automated this process and moved it away from the grading department. That’s the beauty of the EditShare media environment, it eliminates admin bottlenecks and lets the creatives focus on the creative.”

“Full service post production facilities such as Windmill Lane need to be able to quickly and comfortably cross leverage different departments to deliver a world class experience to their clients,” says Andy Liebman, CEO, EditShare. “EditShare EFS working in tandem with Flow media asset management removes the baggage from post production workflows, letting the creatives focus on client deliverables.”

For more information on EditShare XStream EFS, Flow media asset management and all other EditShare solutions, please visit: www.editshare.com.

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV and film industries. Our groundbreaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance EFS central shared storage, AQC, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first three-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

Basingstoke, UK - July 12th, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, announced today that Brisbane, Australia-based boutique post production house and one of the few women-led post houses in Australia, 3P Studio, has invested in EditShare’s XStream EFS 200 single-node scale-out storage platform to power its collaborative workflow. What started as a busy freelancing business by founder and artisan, Haley Stibbard, became a powerhouse post production house whose eclectic post production portfolio has grown to include high-profile commercial brands such as Subway, Allianz, Isuzu Motor Company as well as iconic and defining shows like Sesame Street.

When 3P Studio opened its doors for business on January 1st, 2017, the team temporarily worked off old hard drives that were backing up to other RAIDed drives overnight whilst also mirroring for redundancy. Since Stibbard built the stunning boutique facility from the ground up, the modern design took into account installing an EditShare shared-storage solution in late 2017. “I always knew that I wanted to install EditShare because I had used it before, and I really liked the way it supported the content flow. We just needed to save for the investment,” says Stibbard.

3P Studio installed the XStream EFS 200 model scale out shared storage solution connecting 10 creative Mac and PC-based workstations over 10-GB Ethernet comprising a mix of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, The Foundry’s NUKE, Maxon’s Cinema-4d, Autodesk Maya, 3D Studio Max, DaVinci Resolve for grading and the hero suite, Autodesk Flame Premium while Avid Pro Tools is utilized to provide audio post production. With advanced support for project and media sharing, EditShare features helped tremendously with the boutique’s retail clients who, more often than not, required an incredibly fast turnaround. It allowed the team to work simultaneously on projects with one person recording voice-overs while another artist works on the graphics and another edits. Stibbard notes, “Because the EditShare system is designed for content sharing, it makes the workflow as fast and as collaborative as possible. This means higher quality projects completed on time and of course most importantly, happier clients. EditShare enables us to freely pick and choose the creative tools we want.”

Stibbard comments that she could have purchased other gear, but the EditShare scale-out shared storage nodes were the solution to power her successful business. “I could have gone out and purchased a Mac Pro and hooked it up to a couple of hard drives. Would it have done the same thing? To a certain degree, but it hasn’t been tried and tested like in EditShare. After talking with the guys at EditShare and getting the rundown of the specs and performance reports, investing in EditShare gave me the peace of mind I needed. In addition, my previous experience with using EditShare on very demanding projects assured us that this system would take a beating and keep performing.”

For more information on 3P Studio and how it is using EditShare to take on the industry establishment, please see the full case study here: editshare.com/case-studies/cs-3p-studio

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV, and film industries. Our ground-breaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first 3-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

Boston, MA — April 4, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent shared storage and media management solutions, today announced a brand new standalone version of its Flow MAM software, designed for non-EditShare storage environments such as Avid NEXIS, Storage DNA and Amazon S3. As a fully software defined MAM platform, Flow has been completely re-engineered to maximize the value of customers’ existing storage infrastructure by adding an intelligent media management layer that can manage millions of assets across multiple storage tiers in different locations. At the core of Flow lie several workflow engines that enable collaboration through Ingest, Search, Review, Logging, Editing and Delivery, alongside a powerful workflow automation engine for automating tasks such as transcoding and delivery. Flow’s award-winning remote workflow features also provide the ability to review content remotely, as well as edit content on a timeline with voice-over and effects from anywhere in the world.

With a comprehensive suite of apps, Flow helps users manage content and associated metadata from ingest through to archive, offering unmatched collaborative features for fast, efficient workflows. “The power of our Flow MAM software is that it provides a unified view of all your assets, no matter where they are stored. On premise, in tape archives or in the cloud, Flow tracks and manages your content, making it available to use instantly and freeing up valuable time to focus on the more creative aspects of a production. And with this new standalone version of Flow, we are making these same great features and workflows available for your existing storage infrastructure,” comments James Richings, managing director, EditShare.

Along with over 500 software updates, this new version of Flow features a redesigned UI, unifying the user experience across web-based and desktop apps. Flow Story and AirFlow now have a similar look and feel, making it easier to switch between them in different scenarios. Flow has also introduced new capabilities to remotely view Avid Media Composer or Adobe Premiere edits in a web browser using AirFlow; Range Markers for enhanced Logging and Review capabilities; new software licensing with a customer portal and license management tools; and seamless integration with EditShare’s new QScan AQC software, making AQC available at any stage of the post-production workflow.

“This latest version of Flow offers a wealth of features for any storage environment. As shooting ratios increase and budgets decrease, managing your media assets becomes a critical part of any production, large or small,” comments Richings. “We are excited to release this new version of Flow and help users manage and monetize their assets regardless of their storage platform.”

The demand for remote workflows has also increased over the past year, as more people work outside of the traditional post-production environment. Out of the box, Flow caters to this increasing trend by enabling full remote access to content, as well as seamless integration with leading NLEs such as Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere. “We are seeing a huge demand from users to interact and collaborate with each other from different locations. The ability to work from anywhere without incurring the time and cost of physically moving content around is becoming much more desirable. Flow not only makes this possible, it also eliminates the complexity. With a simple setup, Flow helps you track your assets, automate workflows and collaborate from anywhere in the world... it really couldn’t be any easier. We are also introducing a new pay-as-you-go model, making asset management affordable for even the smallest of teams.”

Pricing and Availability

Flow will be available through worldwide authorized sales partners and distributors on the 30th of May 2018. Pricing starts from as little as USD $19 per user, per month and will be available through month, year and multi-year subscriptions as well as outright licenses. Existing Flow users with EditShare storage will be able to upgrade in Q3 2018.

Attendees to the 2018 NAB Show can book a private demonstration with an EditShare expert to discuss their workflow needs and how EditShare Flow 2019 can help at: editshare.com/book-demo-nab-2018.

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV, and film industries. Our ground-breaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first 3-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare LLC.

Press Contacts

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

EIGHTY FOUR, PA.—We now live in a world where organizations are more aware of cyberthreats than ever before. Cybercrime has now surpassed the profitability of illegal drug trafficking. Many organizations that interchange information are looking at myriad defensive measures to help keep business, industry and personal data secure. This elevated focus now includes storage systems as well as networks and other computer resources.

“There is no such thing as perfect security,” said cybersecurity firm FireEye in its annual Mandiant Threat Report issued in mid-2015. Threat actors have evolved to encompass a larger scope of targets and are using a broader skillset to achieve their goals. Determined threat actors are always finding a way through a gap in security; thus bringing the media and entertainment industry into sharper focus.

VULNERABILITY TO ATTACKS
As storage systems have become more entangled in network-based communications, they have become equally vulnerable to similar kinds of threats and attacks. System designers and network administrators who focus on managing storage must now consider advanced approaches to security aimed at protecting their most valued resource— their digital files as media assets.

Open standards are helping to drive storage vendors’ participation and interaction in finding effective methods for asset protection. Processes and procedures regularly being developed by a broad range of formal standards development organizations include industry forums and associations such as the Storage Network Industry Association and the Distributed Management Task Force. Teams working across all disciplines of storage and networking continue to provide a strong leadership role in establishing security criteria.

Standards organizations promote IT security objectives through parent committees (e.g., ISO/IEC JTC1 SC27) where security topics are addressed by active working groups that interact with industry to find acceptable and deployable preventative measures for security. Some of the groups address cryptography and security mechanisms (as SC27 WG2); security controls and services (as SC27 WG4); and the management of information and security systems for IT security evaluation and assurance.

Table 1: Cybersecurity work efforts of the INCITS (T10) and CS1 groups who provide direction and standards for industrySECURITY FOR STORAGE
Storage security standards groups, such as for Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) and Object-Based Storage Devices (OSD), are managed through the American National Standards Institute/International Committee for Information Technology Standards T10 committees. The CS1 cybersecurity group specifically addresses both network- and storage-related activities. (See the accompanying tables for examples).

Future service and applications standards supporting the implementation of cloud objectives and controls, as defined by ISO 27001 as Information Security Management, address areas of business continuity and outsourcing. Cloud computing and critical infrastructure security are another part of this CS1 group.

Principle industry associations and standards groups who focus on these evolving issues include:

The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards. The organization is the central U.S. forum dedicated to creating technology standards for the next generation of innovation. INCITS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute and is affiliated with the Information Technology Industry Council, a global policy advocacy organization that represents U.S. and global innovation companies.

The Distributed Management Task Force is a not-for-profit association of industry members working to simplify the manageability of network-accessible technologies through open and collaborative efforts by leading technology companies. DMTF members are dedicated to promoting enterprise and system management and interoperability.

The Storage Networking Industry Association is another prominent not-for-profit global organization, made up of member companies spanning the global storage market. SNIA’s mission is to lead the storage industry worldwide in developing and promoting standards, technologies and educational services to empower organizations in the management of information.

Working groups within SNIA’s purview include the Storage System Security group, which works to create standards for securing embedded operating systems and applications, as well as integration with IT and security infrastructure, such as external authentication services, centralized logging and firewalls. The SNIA Storage Resource Management (SRM) group is focused on securely provisioning, monitoring, tuning, reallocating and controlling storage resources so that data can be stored and retrieved. SRM also addresses storage management processes and procedures.

Table 2: Protection, techniques and mechanisms for security and storage, as addressed by the CS1 group of INCITSBEYOND SECURITY
Besides ensuring appropriate security for storage and private data systems, today’s media environments must also emphasize workflow performance and efficiency as the “time-to-delivery” continues to be compressed. It goes without saying that while the media and entertainment industry increases its expectations for collaboration and shared access, it still has to deal with more data and tightening of security, challenges that can no longer be simply ignored.

In today’s workspaces, storage systems must now be optimized for even greater sets of larger files. Despite increases in individual storage components (i.e., drives, tape, optical archive and even spilling over into the cloud), file systems and metadata controllers must now manage many multi-thousands to millions of files.

Recent demands are now driving file system management to the point where, in some cases, the “number of files being managed approaches billions of files,” according to Quantum/StorNext.

Beyond managing these near billions of files, enterprises now face a need for the retention of data reaching into decades. Using economical tiered storage—that is, low-cost high-capacity storage— is often mandated as the enterprise faces ever expanding retention policies of larger files with high data-rate resolutions. Organizations can, at a massive scale, extend their online storage by utilizing object storage, which reduces the bandwidth built into high-performance Tier 1 storage in exchange for more storage per cubic area of rack space.

TRANSPARENT ACCESSIBILITY
To increase productivity, simultaneous file accessibility and sharing must be achieved in both a SAN (storage area network) and a NAS (network attached storage) architecture. Regardless of the physical location, all files need to appear as though they are in the same location where they were last placed. Referred to as “transparent access,” user files should require zero intervention when asked for by either an editor, a storage tier or a media asset management system. Furthermore, this accessibility cannot change whether there are a few thousand or multi-hundreds of thousands of files.

Complex software analysis, such as that utilized in medical imaging or oil-and-gas exploration, requires high-speed storage components designed to ensure efficient workflow. Collaborative workflows, like those in medical or science applications, are routine functions for editorial media platforms. Multiple versioning with multiple elements (as in VFX or compositing) often must be shared across storage systems, which might be geographically separated by thousands of miles. This combination of requirements again opens the door for security violations; thus these workflows must also be as protected as the other topologies.

When producing thousands of versions of content for distribution (as in motion picture production), high storage throughput and consistent accessibility weigh equally against system performance and managed workflows.

These highly integrated systems also need reporting systems that can support continual analysis of performance as well as threat risks. Organizations can utilize an incident response plan to help analyze trouble, support, or if necessary, restore system functionality. For today’s complex and distributed environments, such plans may include network forensics with capabilities to track and protect data wherever it is disbursed.

When looking at how to provide a secure storage environment, questions that should be asked or solutions that should be provided include such topics as: How is your network traffic data captured today? What are the defensive measures that can help keep your data secure? Where does storage security begin for your organization?

If you’re not already looking at higher levels of system security and performance enhancements, then your facility and its assets might be at risk. You may never realize how much value there is in these assets until they are lost or compromised. It’s a new dimension in storage and system administration that heretofore wasn’t part of many organizations’ agenda, but may soon need to be.

Karl Paulsen, CPBE and SMPTE Fellow, is the CTO at Diversified Systems. Read more about this and other storage topics in his book “Moving Media Storage Technologies.” Contact Karl atkpaulsen@divsystems.com.