distributed asset management strategies, peter thomas, sr. director, chief solution architect /...

Peter Thomas, Sr. Director, Chief Solution Architect / Center of Excellence | October 2013 Distributed Asset Management Strategies

2 FIAT/IFTA World Conference Dubai 2013

Introduction

§  Today, television operations are truly global •  Broadcasters operate bureaus around the world •  Large sports events are both covered on-site and from the home base •  Entertainment companies have regional offices in many countries

§  Different missions, but common requirements •  Ubiquitous access to the corporate memory •  Add local value to global operation •  Seamlessly exchange assets between locations •  Collaborate globally


Challenges

§  Considering that in a distributed environment, assets could reside •  In a corporate archive on a main site (or more than one) •  In local archives on a remote site •  In an ingest or production system on any site •  Local to a user in the field or working from home

§  What do I want as a user working with the assets? •  Wherever I am I want consistent information around available assets - Metadata consistency and access in a distributed environment

•  Wherever I am I want fast access to the essence that I need - Minimize latencies due to file transfers

•  I want no surprises - What do I do if there is trouble on the network…


Why is this of interest for Archives?

§  Archives are •  The corporate memory •  A vital production tool •  A vital part of today’s diverse content distribution landscape

§  Archives have to •  Provide a timely and efficient service to their organizations •  Ensure consistent management of the knowledge around the corporate assets •  Ensure compliance with rules and restrictions around the use of these assets

§  This is a little bit more challenging in a distributed, file-based environment §  Understand upcoming options, advantages and challenges


Possible Set-ups

Main Site

Remote Sites

At Home In the Field

(Partial) Asset Replication

Main Site

Main Site

Main Site

Full Asset Replication

Remote Site

Remote Site

Partial Asset Replication


Main Site

Remote Sites


Main Site

Remote Sites


(Partial) Essence Replication



Possible Set-ups

Main Site

Remote Site


Main Site

Remote Site



Main Site

Remote Site


Main Site

Main Site

Main Site


Remote Site

Remote Site



Centralization Local Media Caching

Archipelago Hub and Spoke


Centralization Everything can be found in a single location

§  Advantages •  Metadata is implicitly consistent •  Consistent access to all assets •  Easy to deploy and administer •  Minimum hardware cost

§  Challenges •  User experience heavily depends on the network •  Network failures are fatal •  Remote ingests have to go directly to the main site •  If the central site is down, everything stops…

§  Potential •  Clever ingest and production tools that combine local and remote experience •  Translates easily to Cloud deployment models

Main Site

Remote Sites



Local Media Caching Locally required essence is available at the remote site

§  Advantages •  Metadata is implicitly consistent •  Consistent access to all assets •  Fast access to locally cached media •  Local media processing possible

§  Challenges •  Network failures are still quite fatal – loss of access to the metadata •  Remote ingest metadata has to go directly to the main site

§  Potential •  Clever ingest and production tools that combine local and remote experience •  Translates easily to Hybrid Cloud deployment models

Main Site

Remote Sites




Archipelago Loosely coupled sites that exchange assets as needed

§  Advantages •  Remote sites are mostly self-sustained •  Fast access to all local assets •  Local ingest, production, and archive,

capabilities §  Challenges

•  Metadata may go out of synch due to conflicting updates •  Ownership of objects needs to be defined, and may change •  Replication strategies can be complex – what goes where, why, and when? •  Higher hardware cost

§  Potential •  Clever ingest and production tools that combine local and remote experience •  Can be deployed in a Private Cloud or Hybrid Cloud model

Main Site

Remote Sites




Hub and Spoke Fully replicated main sites, partially replicated remote sites, field & at home users attach anywhere §  Advantages

•  Very resilient and flexible •  Fast access to all local assets •  Local ingest, production, and archive,

capabilities §  Challenges

•  Metadata may go out of synch •  Ownership of objects needs to be defined, and may even be difficult to decide •  Replication strategies probably are very complex… •  Difficult to deploy and administrate •  Highest hardware cost

§  Potential •  Clever ingest and production tools that combine local and remote experience •  Hybrid Cloud friendly, and allows companies to “breathe”

Main Site

Main Site

Main Site


Remote Site

Remote Site




Example: Event Coverage NBC Sports London Olympics Highlights Factory – Setup

London

Stamford

New York City

Archive Footage

Proxies & High Res

•  Highlights EDLs •  High Res Selects

Archive Footage

Hialeah

Archive Footage

High Res Selects

High Res

OPIS Logs


Example: Event Coverage NBC Sports London Olympics Highlights Factory – Details

§  Archipelago with Local Media Caching §  Event site in London with new content

•  Event content replicated to New York and Hialeah for fast access •  Event content metadata retained in London for productive access •  Live logging and sports statistics import into system at the event site •  Content replicated to the Stamford Archive site for post-event availability

§  Archive site in Stamford •  Access to historic Olympic content •  Used to enrich the stories and highlights around events and athletes during the

games


Example: Event Coverage NBC Sports London Olympics Highlights Factory – Lessons Learnt

§  Major take-aways •  Object ownership was clear, hence no issues with metadata inconsistency •  Local media caching sufficient to overcome long distance network latencies •  Network outages are very unlikely •  Archipelago made the use of archive content somewhat cumbersome

§  However, the combination of in-depth background stories using archive content and the current event footage made the coverage so successful

§  NBC decided to move to pure Local Media Caching for Sochi •  The main site will be Stamford •  Local media caching in Sochi and some sites in the US •  Ingesting content immediately replicated to the main site •  Local production and media processing capabilities on the event site


Example: Enterprise Archive YLE METRO

§  Centralization •  Single system in Helsinki •  Manages all kinds of media •  File ingest, file delivery to work-in-progress systems •  Network access for everybody, including remote sites and remote users

§  Major take-aways •  Network has proven to be very robust, no fatal outages •  File transfers introduce latencies, so News ingests into production systems - No “Central Ingest”, the system manages finished goods

•  For this use case, Centralization is a very efficient approach


Example: Media Operations Typically Hub and Spoke

§  Challenges •  Combination of branded or licensed content and local programs •  Transfer to sites that prepare content for local distribution (linear and non-linear) - Local ingest & registration, QC, localization, compliance, segmentation, promotion, distribution - Archiving of original (localized) masters and transmission masters

•  A factory, primarily driven through planning and scheduling metadata §  Media Operations companies tend to “breathe”

•  Cycles of centralization (minimize footprint) vs. regionalization (use local talent) •  Local sites need resilience and a certain level of independence

§  Hub and Spoke is a good approach •  Also true for News organizations and broadcasters with global footprint


Archive Specific Challenges

§  Metadata consistency and object ownership •  Who can modify which part of the metadata when and from where •  How do I avoid conflicting updates •  What are the strategies for reconciliation in case of conflicts

§  Making assets accessible to users •  Access to multiple systems vs. federated search vs. central index •  Pre-staging to remote sites – knowing in advance what will be needed •  Remote editing vs. file transfers – use local talent while minimizing latencies

§  Management •  Understanding what is where •  Virtualizing business functions (e.g., “central ingest”) •  Sensitive partial replication (who needs what, why, and for how long) •  Housekeeping

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