Masstech Wins Storage-Related Patent

Masstech has won a US patent for its dynamic Distributed Redundant Adaptive Cluster (DRAC) in-house developed technology. The company’s innovation enables multiple broadcast applications to operate on two or more servers to achieve robust redundancy for mission critical systems in broadcast environments.

The company says the invention takes a unique approach to distributing heavy data loads as well as balancing out the risks of potential failure. It uses multiple servers to provide failover capability and distribute activities along communication channels for efficiently storing, managing and transferring data load in an archive. Multiple servers can operate in a redundant system failover mode, thus ensuring smooth continuous operation without human intervention.

The two communication channels include one low cost communication channel, while the other channel is capable of higher data rate (but at a higher cost) communication. DRAC efficiently separates the high bandwidth data traffic from the lower bandwidth traffic and also introduces much desired failover redundancy into the broadcast system.

Broadcasters can optimize resources more effectively and have the flexibility of the DRAC system scaling to the size, scale and bandwidth requirements of any facility.

The DRAC technology is available in Masstech’s TOPAZ v7.5 streamlined asset management system and Vice President of Engineering, Bob Coleman says the patent is an acknowledgement of the innovation and broadcast industry insight that serves as the rock-solid foundation of Masstech’s technology.

“While our product range has evolved over the last decade to include rich enhanced features that serve the needs of broadcasters, we have also continued to observe, identify, and invent technologies needed to move the broadcast industry forward,” he says.