IBC 2016: Imagine Communications debuts shared storage system

Imagine Communications introduced Imagine Communications IOX Storage, an all-purpose shared storage approach optimised for its Versio playout and automation and Telurio Over-the-Top (OTT) and cloud DVR solutions. Versio IOX Storage and Telurio IOX Storage enable media companies to seamlessly and cost-efficiently expand the performance, scale, flexibility, reliability, and collaborative capabilities of their media storage operations. 

Designed for high-performance and advanced content distribution environments, Versio IOX Storage and Telurio IOX Storage have been architected to enable media companies to shape and configure storage resources to meet the exacting needs of each operation in the workflow, including production, playout and distribution. Both solutions will be showcased at IBC 2016.

Increased demand for higher-quality content and multiplatform distribution is testing the limits of today’s storage solutions and putting pressure on media companies to move sophisticated workflows to more adaptive and flexible environments. A new breed of storage solutions that leverages the latest technology advances of the IT industry and is designed for software-based, next-generation environments built on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) platforms, Versio IOX Storage and Telurio IOX Storage open up the opportunity for media companies to improve the performance, reliability and cost-efficiency of their current workflows, as well as evolve their storage resources and operations to accommodate future market requirements.

“Today’s storage systems must evolve to enable media companies to fully exploit the agility and versatility of next-generation virtualized playout and distribution environments,” says Brick Eksten, Chief Product Officer, Imagine Communications. “We created an adaptive storage solution architected with our market-leading playout and distribution solutions, helping to ensure that our customers can fully modernize their operations by supporting today’s workflows with storage fully optimised for the performance, scalability, adaptability and reliability of tomorrow’s hybrid and virtualized environments.”

Imagine Communications’ Versio IOX Storage and Telurio IOX Storage solutions employ a tiered architecture that enables application-specific performance tuning. Imagine Communications IOX Storage offers media companies a single, unified solution that delivers best-in-class performance and is capable of adapting to meet the precise storage requirements of disparate workflows.

Versio IOX Storage is specifically designed for the playout and channel-creation requirements of broadcast and production facilities, including news, sports and live-event applications. Versio IOX Storage provides sharable and scalable storage throughout the content lifecycle, while offering high levels of digital asset protection. Initially configured to seamlessly extend an existing Storage Area Network (SAN) environment, Versio IOX Storage is designed to evolve into a multi-use Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance that is capable of meeting, or even exceeding, the performance and cost efficiency of current SAN solutions.

The state-of-the-art storage solution delivers multiple capabilities and benefits:

• Flexible capacity and bandwidth – Capable of scaling to 5 petabytes of usable storage and 48 gigabits-per-second bandwidth, Versio IOX Storage enables the seamless scaling of storage and bandwidth as business needs grow, without disrupting existing media operations or interrupting on-air operations.
• High availability – Versio IOX Storage uses RAID-601 to protect against drive, controller and storage chassis failures to enable continuous broadcast operations, with no performance degradation even in the event of multiple, simultaneous failures.
• Facilitates collaboration – A true shared-storage access solution and single repository for content from ingest, production and playout operations, Versio IOX Storage eliminates file copying procedures to provide a fast-turnaround editorial environment and a shorter time to air for media companies struggling to keep pace with escalating consumer demand.
• Reduces capital expenditures – Versio IOX Storage is an economically attractive entry-level storage solution that works with existing solutions and supports a pay-as-you-go expansion model.
• Easy to manage – The new Imagine Communications storage solution allows unattended drive failover and rebuilds, supports remote monitoring and diagnostics and features an information-rich, web-based graphical user interface.

Versio IOX Storage also breaks new ground in terms of versatility, reliability and performance. In addition to supporting both Ethernet and Fibre Channel client connections, the next-gen storage solution provides 10s of gigabits-per-second of assured streaming bandwidth, even during periods of degradation or during the rebuilding of failed drives.

Versio IOX Storage is fully compatible with Imagine’s market-leading Nexio Farad storage solutions and can be seamlessly added to existing installations, providing a disruption-free expansion path for existing customers. Versio IOX Storage offers continued support of existing advanced features, including RAIDSoft striping for increased bandwidth and Intrinsic Mirroring to ensure high availability of content.

Telurio IOX Storage was designed for the specialised storage requirements of video service providers and other media companies offering OTT and cloud DVR services. It provides a scalable, high-availability solution for storage of continuously recorded channels for time-shifted and catch-up TV.  With flexible capacity, Telurio IOX Storage can support tens, hundreds or thousands of recorded channels with short or arbitrarily long retention windows.