From HPCwire:
No clear FC application yet - but Sony does sell video servers with FC interfaces. The partnership with EDS is also interesting:
CNN BECOMES FIRST U.S. BETA TEST SITE FOR JUST-ANNOUNCED
SONY/EDS DIGITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
EDS' MediaVault(tm) and Avalon Archive Manager(tm) Technology Help
Power Sony PetaSite(tm) and DTF(tm) Tape Drives For TV News Leader
At NAB '98, Sony Electronics Inc announced that CNN will be the first
beta test site in the U.S. for the newly announced Sony/EDS end-to-end
digital asset management/archiving system. Just last week, Sony and
EDS announced they had teamed up to offer a complete digital asset
management solution for U.S.-based enterprises. This system is
comprised of the Sony PetaSite(tm) mass storage library, Sony DTF(tm)
tape drives, EDS' Media Vault(tm) software and Avalon Archive
Manager(tm) (AAM) software. Sony and EDS demonstrated this new,
comprehensive digital asset management system at NAB '98.
The system installed at CNN is part of its ongoing effort to
evaluate several approaches of how it will digitally archive and
repurpose its vast library of video assets including 18 years worth
of news footage amounting to over 700,000 video segments.
"Over the next several years CNN is committed to digitizing over
70,000 hours of its archive material," said Gordon Castle, VP of
Research and Development for CNN. "Our archive will be completely
integrated into the production, on-air and content sales business.
Powered by a system such as the Sony/EDS digital asset solution, the
migration to digital storage will be transparent."
"The Sony/EDS system is designed to provide CNN with a fully
integrated solution for digitally archiving and repurposing its media
rich assets," said Ichiro Segawa, vice president of Data Systems for
Sony Electronics' Business and Professional "The combination of DTF's
inherent speed and the scaleable capacity of PetaSite combined with
the intuitive nature of EDS' MediaVault and Avalon's Archive Manager
technology provides a powerful tool for CNN."
"EDS' systems integration expertise plus our MediaVault system,
combined with Sony's digital product line and storage capability
allows CNN to seamlessly migrate to a digital environment," said
Charles Ansley, president, EDS Communications Industry. "This will
become increasingly important as the industry moves to a digital "
"The enormous task of archive conversion to be undertaken by CNN
is indicative of the future of video production and delivery," said
Joy Foglesong, CEO of Avalon Consulting Group. "Treating video as
digital files will give CNN both the flexibility and efficiency needed
for the fast-paced news environment. Both Sony and EDS have a long
history of putting together quality solutions and we are pleased to be
included as part of their team."
EDS and Sony Electronics just announced a joint marketing
agreement to offer a comprehensive solution to meet the growing demand
for management of digital content and intellectual assets within U.S-
based enterprises, including entertainment facilities (film,
television, music), news organizations, advertising agencies,
publishing companies, government agencies and Fortune 500
corporations. Improving the archiving and accessibility of digital
media within companies allows those companies to repurpose and
redistribute digital media in a way that maximizes its intrinsic
value.
About the Technology
Digital asset management is an open framework or platform that
supports the acquisition, creation, manipulation, storage, archival,
retrieval, transmission, and display of digital assets. Digital asset
management applications include asset acquisition (applications that
log content into the digital asset management system); asset
management (applications that archive, browse, and query digital
assets); content creation (applications that generate digital
content); and asset distribution (applications that deliver and
display multimedia).
Media Vault is a scaleable client-server based solution supporting
all media types including video, audio, images, text and MIS data
over any distributed network environment including Internet and
intranets.
The Avalon Archive Manager (AAM) is a complete archive management
system for Sony robotic data tape libraries working in conjunction
with video servers. AAM provides a file level interface for these
robotic systems and handles all of the storage and retrieval
activities. AAM eliminates the need for an automation system or a
video application to implement the tedious, and often complex, logic
necessary to manage files on digital tape. The application or
automation system sends the request for material to be archived to
AAM. For subsequent use, the application or automation system
remembers that material is under AAM management and sends a request
to AAM to retrieve the video by the file it assigned to it.
The DTF drive one of the fastest drives commercially available
and supported by UNIX (r) and NT platforms provides back-up and
archiving capabilities for a variety of servers, workstations and
client/server computer systems that spans from mission-critical IT
environments to high-end graphics production and post production. The
DTF drive, a high speed/high capacity device, is based on a derivative
of Sony?s Digital Betacam (r) technology.
The drive currently combines a maximum capacity of 42GB of
uncompressed data per cassette with a sustained transfer rate of
12MB/sec (96 Mbps) over SCSI-2 Fast and Wide interfaces. All DTF
drives are compatible with the PetaSite system, the flagship and most
powerful member of Sony?s DMS storage library family. The PetaSite
system is a modular,flexible system that allows for a migration path
of storage needs from 5.4 Terabytes up to 2.3 Petabytes (2300
Terabytes) of data. The DTF drive is also supported by a full
complement of robotic autoloader and library systems.
For More Information Contact: Steve Alpert at 1-800-829-7669.
sony.com
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