Encompass Deploys Harmonic MediaGrid Storage to Power Digital Media IP Workflows

Encompass Digital Media has deployed a Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage system to serve as high-performance central storage for the company’s mission-critical media capture, management and distribution services. Offering a robust media-optimized file system driver and exceptional near-symmetric read/write performance in a high-density design, the platform-agnostic MediaGrid system supports a highly efficient IP-based digital media workflow while lowering the total cost of ownership.

“After putting the MediaGrid shared storage system through its paces and comparing its performance against competing solutions, we found that the Harmonic system won in every category and metric,” says Alan Young, chief technology officer at Encompass. “In addition to being a cost-effective, high-performance solution, the MediaGrid system has the advantage of being backed by Harmonic’s exceptional service and support team. All of these factors make it easy for us to establish efficient workflows that adeptly address the changing demands of our clients and the media marketplace.”

Boasting nearly a petabyte of usable storage and 9200MB/s of IP bandwidth, the new MediaGrid ContentStore 5840-based system installed at Encompass facilitates storage and editing of content up to 4K/UHD. Supporting a majority of the industry’s playout servers, the system seamlessly accepts content from ingest, stores it in a central repository that is available to nonlinear edit systems, and delivers finished content to the appropriate server for playout.

In addition to enabling work with higher-resolution content, the MediaGrid system delivers exceptional performance by using dramatically less rack-space and power resulting in a lower cost per terabyte. With system connectivity established via 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Encompass also realizes the flexibility and cost benefits that come with IP-based media and data transport. In providing design, installation and training services, Harmonic helped Encompass ensure that its network infrastructure is optimized to support very high-capacity, media-focused workflows.

Unlike many competitors, Harmonic provides its storage solutions with unlimited file system driver licenses. Because the company’s file system driver works well with all major operating systems, editors and media management solutions, users such as Encompass have the freedom to integrate any number and variety of third-party systems with the central storage system. The renowned Harmonic file system driver ensures that the MediaGrid storage system yields the same performance at 99 percent capacity as it does at 1 percent. As Encompass continues to expand its business, the Harmonic system will facilitate smooth scaling of bandwidth and capacity without interruption to ongoing operations.

“Encompass provides essential services to many of the world’s best-known media companies, and these services require a reliable central storage solution that enables the movement of massive files with relative ease,” says Doug Triblehorn, regional vice president for North America Broadcast at Harmonic. “The MediaGrid ContentStore 5840 delivers this performance along with compelling cost benefits that set it apart from all other large-scale shared storage solutions.”