Mark Coleman at pixitmedia talks about the company’s ngenea data orchestration that gives a global view of data assets to help users find, access, monitor, manage, work in and share data.
Data and video content growth in the media and entertainment industry has been remarkable, driven by the demand for digital content, the rise of OTT and FAST platforms, cloud computing and AI and ML technologies. Mark Coleman, Global Account Manager at pixitmedia, believes that data, often considered the crown jewels of any organization, holds critical value. If taken proper advantage of, data opens new avenues for growth and innovation.
Here, he talks about using ngenea data orchestration software that pixitmedia develops to gain a global view of data assets, and using that visibility to find, access, monitor, manage, work in and share data.
Visibility and Control
“If you and your organisation find the complexity of data-centric workflows challenging to navigate, you're not alone,” he said. “As the media and entertainment industry grapples with data growth, several challenges such as scalability, real-time data processing, security, collaboration, and managing data across multiple global locations have emerged. The question then becomes, how can we address these infrastructure challenges and remove the complexity and overhead of data movement?”
While data management and orchestration are important, the true value comes when an organisation gains real insight into its global data and content assets. Moreover, organisations are also seeking ways to retain full control over their data and avoid being locked into a specific platform, vendor or technology stack.
Real Insight
Data assets may be located across diverse and distributed on-prem and cloud storage environments. “When we talk about delivering 'real insight' and a 'clear view,' we mean that that ngenea users have the ability to thoroughly analyse their data,” Mark said. “This analysis covers understanding the data's capacity, location – whether stored on ngenea, another file system, or in the cloud – and global distribution. The user can also dive deeper to examine the number of different file formats and determine the last time each file was accessed.
ngenea supports remote finishing workflows.
"Users have considerable flexibility to move their data in and out of their system without proprietary restrictions. For example, they can initiate data transfers or other tasks without having to manage storage configurations or check on the specific locations of data sources and destinations. Using the software does not involve data or vendor lock-in, or proprietary formats, avoiding data, bandwidth and capacity taxes, or per/TB charges."
For data with varying or unknown access patterns, ngenea can automatically determine and move data into the ‘right cost’ resource according to value and usage as work teams and business needs demand. It can be another storage silo or a cloud/object storage. It can also rate-limit tasks to handle insufficient network bandwidth or end target performance limitations. If the end target's capacity is reached, ngenea will alert the operator of the incomplete task.
These features ensure user control over data, so organizations know the exact cost to store data and are able to choose where it resides at all times.
Unified View, Simpler Workflows
Mark noted that Pixitmedia’s strength lies in global collaboration, as evidenced by how content in ngenea is ingested, indexed, stored, processed and delivered. ngenea unites teams globally by making data available in multiple locations. "By presenting a single namespace and only moving data when needed, ngenea maintains a consistent unified view of project assets, enabling seamless collaboration," he said.
"ngenea wraps existing file, cloud and object storage into a global namespace and places it within a single view of the data, retaining the full path and filename. When integrated with pixitmedia’s pixstor search functionality, users and applications can find, read and access migrated data directly across distinct storage pools through a unified workflow."
The company works with other technology providers, in order to keep its customers' workflows are as straightforward as possible and that data is available to all applications within the digital supply chain. Through the use of ngenea’s open APIs, pixitmedia has developed robust integrations with cloud hyperscale and media & entertainment software applications.
Mark said, "This flexibility means users can decide how and where ngenea integrates into their workflows. Also, ngenea is versatile in that it can be either front-facing or operate behind other software applications, contributing to simpler global workflows for data management, movement and orchestration."
Provider Collaborations
Some of these provider collaborations include Wasabi cloud storage, which uses ngenea's data orchestration to move data between their global storage regions, minimizing data duplication. Perifery has integrated ngenea into its AI+ content management application to support users' ability to search for historical content across locations, types and collections, thereby improving search granularity.
Ngenea is now integrated with Lens, 7FiveFive's management platform for optimizing secure remote editing workflows. Ngenea facilitates the setup of workstations in the cloud, and the movement of data to the required location. FilmLight's Nara also incorporates ngenea, reducing the storage and time needed to transmit and access dailies and rushes across facilities reviewing raw content for colour correction.
The integration between Grass Valley and pixitmedia enables multi-site media workflows for live events and pre-recorded content. AMPP plus ngenea makes multi-site and cloud workflows for timely, complex broadcast and media workflows easier and more certain. With its open data management and APIs, manufacturers and developers can integrate ngenea into their existing workflows.
Business Challenges and Goals
For users, these integrations all look continuous and connected. Since their data and content are exactly where they need it to be, they can access, manage and process their media assets without having to understand the underlying infrastructure.
Mark said, “Central to pixitmedia's approach is a deep understanding of each client's business challenges and goals. This understanding forms the basis for developing a tailored system that meets their needs precisely. This approach addresses immediate challenges and establishes a foundation for continuous improvement and adaptation.
“Also, because our approach is software-defined, we can deploy anywhere, relieving companies of the burden of managing physical data silos and simplifying control of data. pixitmedia is able to architect the right workflow to fit customers' requirements, helping them optimise their resources and achieve maximum ROI with their legacy storage infrastructure, whether on-prem, in the cloud or in a hybrid system.” pixitmedia.com
