Today, broadcasters are building collaborative and distributed content storage infrastructure systems that deliver performance for real time, multipurpose workflows to keep up with the demands of modern multiformat content strategy.

As videotape gradually disappears from the broadcast plant, storage in a digital file format becomes imperative. Content and data storage management has become an increasingly important concern for today's broadcast engineering. The migration away from videotape is having much wider consequences beyond a change in production workflow. More users and viewers are expecting content to be available from any source, at any location, in any format, to any device, anywhere, anytime. Today, broadcasters are building collaborative and distributed content storage infrastructure systems that deliver performance for real time, multipurpose workflows to keep up with the demands of modern multiformat content strategy. To empower an any-to-any system, storage infrastructure must enable organizations to create, manage, and reach a broader audience. Broadcasters recognize the need to move to file-based workflows as they represent effective and cost-efficient ways of doing business. The emergence of over-the-top (OTT) television and TV Everywhere distribution, combined with the deteriorating availability of tape stock, is the primary driving force behind the broadcast transition to file-based workflows. In addition, nowadays, consumers are demanding more and more mobile content and file-based workflows that help make distribution in local or affiliate stations and the quick retrieval of archival content quicker and easier.

The processing of content as files enhances business of multinational media publishers to global service providers and post-production companies. Seamless data storage life-cycle management with automation, asset management, nonlinear editing (NLE), and video server solutions to a centralized storage repository or archive is now a reality.

Before considering data archiving for long-term storage and retrieval, on-line or near-line accessibility from initial content ingest, edit, manipulation, play-out of sequences or clips while ensuring interruption-free operation is vital. Compared with the physical transport infrastructure used for baseband interconnections, IT-based backbones supporting file-based operations offer extensively higher aggregate bandwidth between media processors including logging systems, NLEs, graphics systems, quality check (QC) systems, transcoders, and audio processors. Users of massive storage file infrastructures can be categorized into three groups - production and post, air play, and on-demand. Ideally a mass storage system must be as accessible and user-friendly as an external hard drive.

File-based workflow uses an IT infrastructure that is, designing, operating, and maintaining the system in an IT issue, with constraints that real-time video puts on network topology, bandwidth, and security. For instance, a single uncompressed SMPTE 292 (1.485 GB) signal requires at least 10GigE. Because television files seldom need more than 440 MB, common GigE hardware suffices for faster-than-real-time transfer of files. Because broadcast files are considerably lighter, the overhead available is more than adequate to move files several times faster than real time or to move multiple files over one link at the same time.

Securing content in a file-based workflow is critical. IT designers should be explained all aspects of topology and security needed to be vetted before starting a complex file-based workflow system, so that they work well with real-time video services. In an ideal world, the storage system would be infinite in size and speed and never require upgrading, but in reality, tiered storage is required.

SOA

IT technology offers a tool that is well-suited to developing workflows. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) allows individual processes to be plugged in using Web services interfaces. Tasks and metadata are passed over standardized protocols from one process to the next. An SOA management plan allows process monitoring and defining the workflow across multiple applications. For instance, content may need to be moved from an archive, analyzed for file structure, moved to the appropriate transcoder drop folder, transcoded to iPhone format and delivered to a Web server for consumer access. One might manage all of the steps manually or define the workflow in SOA and allow the content to move from one application to the next without intervention, reporting back at each step any errors to the SOA system while modifying metadata in relevant databases along the way.

Problems Associated with File-Based Workflows

Though file-based workflows help make distribution to local or affiliate stations and the quick retrieval of archival content much easier, there are still issues that need to be addressed. For the actual functional setup, a strong combination of IT and broadcast expertise is required. As each distribution outlet has its own unique file format, there are multiple transcodes that need to be performed on a large amount of content in a short span of time.

Broadcasters delivering content to online outlets including iTunes and Netflix must tackle the same QC issues as they do with traditional broadcast outlets. QC checks for audio, video, and associated metadata must be in place. As each distribution method calls for its own specific file format, with associated parameters, these result in an increase in the volume of content being managed by an ever-decreasing staff. Automation is an important element, as it lessens the load, but it is only effective when combined with a strong human support team combining IT and broadcast engineering expertise. In developing and maintaining a file-based workflow, both IT and broadcast considerations must be taken into account. On the IT front, it must be ensured that the storage and server are adequately managing the actual operation of the equipment. On the broadcast side, the quality of the content that is being processed and aired must be managed.

With the demand for Internet and mobile content to be of the same quality level as a traditional broadcast, media outlets need to rethink each part of the content that is being broadcast, from audio and video to ancillary data. Soon, viewers will be demanding closed captioning for mobile content, and loudness regulations will make their way to the mobile arena. Broadcasters can prepare for these changes now by accommodating the transcoding of these different file formats, as well as preparing files to meet audio and video standards.

NAS as a Solution to Problems Associated with File-Based Workflows

The high performance scalable Network-Attached Storage (NAS) with a single file system provides solutions to many problems in today's file-based broadcast workflows. Software-based management of broadcasting operations is now achieved with greater efficiency and at lower cost than was possible with more complex proprietary hardware systems a few years ago. Innovations in management software combined with the use of commodity computing hardware have resulted in lower up-front capital expenditures as well as lower operating costs due to increased management efficiency and the use of modular scale-out architectures.

Data on a direct attached device cannot be shared with others for collaborative work and it is difficult to coordinate and manage. NAS and Storage Area Network (SAN) with a shared SAN file system allow the stored content to be shared between multiple clients. With the increasing performance of networked storage and in particular, cost-effective Ethernet-based NAS, the utilization of direct-attached storage (DAS) for fast data access in post-production environments is decreasing.

As NAS storage devices provide direct file access to content, without an intermediary file system, it has become a very important element in file-based workflows.

Major benefits of implementing modular software-based broadcast solutions include a truly concurrent nonlinear approach to media access, substantially better agility to offer new formats, functions or customized workflows, significant cost reductions (by moving away from proprietary hardware), and easier management and scalability with the inherently modular architecture.

With the move to a more flexible and agile application infrastructure, the need for a more scalable storage infrastructure becomes necessary; otherwise, the inefficiencies are simply moved to the storage end of the workflow with no benefits realized from the overall architecture.

Despite many specific steps ranging from content capture to playout, there are three areas to address in order to alleviate key pain points. The first is content acquisition, or ingest, which may involve content in many different forms and formats. This content can come directly from digital cameras, downloads from a central distribution point, or satellite feed, or even from the digital capture of analog content. At a national or network level, there may be a great many different content formats involved. At a regional and local level, these formats tend to be more limited but still represent a challenge. Some of the content acquisition pain points are the cost of storage media and the time required to ingest.

The second major step in content creation and distribution involves various types of processing such as editing, graphics generation, closed captioning, and appropriate metadata manipulation such as indexing to enable advertisement insertions and media management functions - operations referred to as post-production. Some pain points in this process are the cost of storage needed for creative work and the scaling of the same to meet the needs of evolving content formats and resolutions, especially for a multi-seat facility. In particular, bandwidth and management of real-time and near-line content in post-production to support server process speeds can be a significant issue.

The third function is actual distribution of the prepared content and formats to the appropriate distribution channels. A significant amount of processing is needed to transcode potentially massive amounts of content into formats appropriate for various distribution technologies such as over the air broadcast, cable or satellite feeds, streaming or downloaded internet distribution, and mobile phone distribution. Pain points in content distribution are the cost of high performance storage for centralized and edge content delivery, the bandwidth needed to handle multiple channels of simultaneous content distribution, format transcoding speeds, and providing a large enough library of content to satisfy the increasing demand for long tail content.

While optimizing the utilization of storage within each of the distinct processes outlined above, a key challenge is reducing the time it takes to move content across these processes. This is especially critical in news operations where the time to air from the occurrence of the live event to playout can have a major impact on channel ratings.

As the broadcast and electronic distribution industry moves to higher definition content, it requires even larger content files, requiring larger storage volumes. The access to this content must maintain its required performance and quality. It must also accommodate multiple (and new) formats when required. The requirements of higher resolution content make the pain points in file-based workflows even more heightened.

Managing File-Based Media

File-based workflows require management of media across the facility. The last five years have seen the gradual demise of videotape. The next five years should see optimized workflows develop to take advantage of the freedom from the constraints of tape-based workflows. For ingest and playout, in which islands of storage remain, the facility can employ a clip management system to ensure that the correct versions of the content are stored appropriately. Any file-based model will incorporate content management and all available levels of content management offer a balance between ease of implementation cost and complexity of solution.

Without consolidated management of files, the facility has no way to manage the same files on multiple file systems. This type of file management requires users' understanding of the storage system's folder structure, failing which creates problems that cascade throughout the workflow.

A second level of management addresses the storage system at the clip level. In this case, the management system associates with all of the files that make up a clip, enabling interaction to occur at the clip level and reducing the possibility of human error. Clips can be automatically moved, transcoded, archived, or deleted depending on a set of business rules that drives the workflow forward as specific criteria are achieved.

An important part of file management is managing the metadata. The system must keep track of the content, the metadata describing it and its heritage, and also when and how it has been used and the expiration dates for the rights. Modifying the content in one database often requires changes to another related database. Keeping them all in sync requires good planning at the time of implementation and a locked-down approach to details in operation.

SOA and business process management, with workflow orchestration controlling the processes, is making its way into the media sector, with much better visualization at the macro levels of the processes, which leads to manageability to deal with shifting patterns of advertising. Storage that can handle content creation and distribution can lead to new revenue opportunities.

Time and technology has changed that for the better, and the broadcast and film industries are looking for new revenue streams and ways to enhance existing revenue streams. As dreamers, consultants and visionaries recognize and agree on the necessity of active storage for progress, it will be the broadcast engineers' duty to make it reality.

On market and technology trends

Harris is seeing an increase in the market demand for online media storage. The company continues to see decreases in cost per TB (terabyte). The reduced prices have been driven by a migration from higher-priced enterprise fiber channel storage to enterprise SAS drives with greater capacity and lower cost per TB. Overall, the demand for storage products is increasing in India.

On factors driving the market

Many customers in India are making the transition to digital HD video, some from SD and many others migrating straight from analog tape to HD. The higher resolution of HD corresponds to a requisite larger storage capacity. Furthermore, in a trend where we see India as a worldwide leader, many customers are creating very large, high-capacity, high-performance online shared storage systems. With the price gap between online storage and nearline storage, and even tape archive closing, these customers are discovering that it makes sense to provide instant access to large libraries of media for everyone involved in the production and transmission workflow.

On sales trends

Harris worked with several major broadcast partners in India last year to deploy major online storage systems that form the backbone of new production and transmission facilities. We placed our first installation of NEXIO Farad, our new high-performance online storage product, in India and have been pleased to follow that up with several more deployments. This is a trend we see growing in the region, demonstrating the market acceptance of Harris' advanced technology.

On USP of your products

Storage is a critical component of the overall Harris broadcast server, editing, and graphics business. Broadcast customers rely on 24/7 access to their media, the delivery of which is critical to generating revenue. The Harris strategy is to provide a flexible, scalable range of storage solutions to meet every level of broadcast requirement in terms of capacity, performance, availability, and economy. This message has resonated well in the India broadcast market and we look forward to continued success in 2012. Our latest developments have allowed us to capitalize on system using large channel counts and large numbers of edit seats while using high data rate codecs such as DVCPRO, AVC-Intra, and our latest addition, Avid's DNxHD.

Broadcast storage needs are undergoing a constant evolutionary process. Requirements for bandwidth and capacity have increased steadily and that will continue, just as it has for standard IT storage. However, the requirements for broadcast storage can differ significantly from standard IT. The critical success factor for broadcast storage is to deliver video streams, 24/7 - every frame on time, every time - in order to keep channels on-air. Continuous, predictable data delivery becomes more important than individual transaction/frame preservation.

On market and technology trends

The market in India for storage is very strong and has shown significant growth over the past couple of years. This is especially true for networked, shared storage systems as many facilities in India move from tape-based to file-based workflows. As the market is very price sensitive, only cost-effective storage products like MediaGrid can do well in India.

On factors driving the market

With more broadcast operators and a continuing increase in the amount of media production, the demand for storage will continue to increase. Specifically, the move to HD, move to Web delivery, and storage consolidation to shared storage are the primary drivers. This is a fast growing media market and a market that consumes a lot of storage. We see this trend continuing at least as strong if not stronger in the next few years to come.

On sales trends

2011 was another strong year for storage sales in India. Due to the continued growth of media broadcasting and production, we expect 2012 to be another good year for storage sales.

On major customers

Major customers in India include PrimeFocus, Start TV, Zee TV, Zoom TV, and Samachar.

On USP of your products

Harmonic has a storage division based on the Omneon MediaGrid product line. This product is a highly scalable, all-Ethernet networked storage product optimized for media workflows. Over the past year, we introduced version 3.0 of the MediaGrid product line, which dramatically improved the price/capacity while delivering the industry's leading performance for media applications. Moving beyond broadcast applications, we will be focusing efforts on post-production workflows in 2012, including uncompressed editing over Ethernet, something that has been typically done with complex and expensive FC SAN storage systems.

In order to feed the insatiable media growth and still stay profitable, India-based broadcasters and media service providers should look for storage solutions that are not just low cost but can also deliver high performance for their media workloads in a reliable manner. Omneon MediaGrid is the only Ethernet-based storage solution in the market that can deliver this.

On market and technology trends

Regarding the storage media market and technology, being a pure compression company, Thomson Video Network is concentrating on the MPEG Server segment and feels that a huge potential is there in this segment. For price and other commercial aspects, India and regional market is always considered as a price conscious market for manufacturers and Thomson has taken a strong note for commercial expectations of customers in India and regional market.

On factors driving the market

For MPEG server, the market is responding well and a big growth is expected in the coming year because of regional channels and digitization of the cable TV.

On sales trends

For Thomson Video Networks, FY 2010-11 was a great year, and a big share in growing market is expected in the coming year. In FY 2011-12, the company has deployed it's compression technologies to cable TV head-end, for more than 500 channels.

On USP of your products

Sapphire Channel-in-a-box is a full featured broadcast playout server, which works with compressed streams. This makes the server a multi-channel record/ingest and playout device in a single chassis. It is possible for the user to implement the Sapphire broadcast server in various ways depending on his/her requirements.

With an advanced multiplexer, the Sapphire broadcast sever can de-multiplex incoming streams and perform complete PSI/SI/PSIP management before generating multiple fully compliant (DVB or ATSC) outgoing transport streams. A unique audio/video processing engine is also embedded in the Sapphire broadcast server for frame-accurate splicing and logo/graphic insertion, enabling full master control functions.

With built-in automation features, the Sapphire broadcast server is able to manage a number of independent playlists for each channel or transport stream. A Sapphire playlist consists of segments (or a block of segments) for playback with each segment pointing to a live source (i.e., any incoming live program), a delayed live source, or a pre-recorded clip, which has been stored in the Sapphire's library. It is possible to start and stop each segment using a scheduler, GPI inputs, SCTE-35 in-band triggers, or any combination of these. Thanks to its unique splicer, the Sapphire broadcast server performs seamless and frame-accurate transitions between the live and/or file segments.

On major customers

Reliance DTH, Sea TV, Agara, Nextgen, Pune, GTPL, Ahmadabad, Severn Star, Mumbai TV Today, Mega TV, MM TV, and iTV, Dhaka