IBC 2017: Cloudian, Cisco, and Important Trends in Media Storage

It’s been a few months since we’ve reported in on the storage trends we’re seeing in the media and entertainment segment. Last time was at the 2017 NAB Show, in April, when object-based storage was the big thing (still is.) Why, because more and more content providers want a way to store video in the cloud, yet still be able to access it and manipulate it, on the fly and at scale.

Heading into IBC this week, we’re seeing tons more nuance and momentum around object-based storage. And as trend-spotting goes, when nuance and momentum get together, it’s a pretty good indicator of a growing market segment.

The nuance is the overall progression of the category. In general, nuance happens when stuff starts getting more tricked out, because the people who use it want more out of it. Example: The widespread desire, from media and entertainment creators, for S3 (Simple Storage Service) compatibility with their local storage arrays.

The logic goes like this: There’s a lot of footage — long tail, archival and otherwise — still sitting around in formats that can’t be directly (or indirectly) accessed. Maybe it’s still on physical tape; maybe it’s digital, but not in a way that can be easily retrieved or manipulated, in an online sense.

Simultaneously, S3 is rising as a much-used way for content developers to API (Application Program Interface) into both public and private clouds. Some may already be using S3 to get to the assets they stored in the public cloud; more are adopting it as a way to get into the stuff stored on their own, private clouds. Later, should they want to shift it to a public cloud, they can use that same S3 interface. Less work, less fuss of re-learning; more agility, more happiness.

The momentum is the expansion of the tapestry of vendor partners building solutions together — because another clear trend is the shift away from proprietary, “one or two vendor” solutions, and toward those committed to open source and working together in their customers’ behalf.

Which brings me to our announcement this week that we’ve expanded our partnership with the fabulous folks at Cloudian, who are building ways for content providers to use S3 for private cloud access. Specifically, Cloudian’s “HyperStore” object storage software is now available as part of our Media Blueprint, and is certified as compatible with our UCS S3260 storage server and integrated UCS Manager.

It’s all about solving for capacity-intensive media formats, at scale, and regardless of object size — from Terabytes to Petabytes. Plus, HyperStore makes it easy for content developers to apply S3-compatible storage on Cisco servers and industry-standard servers.

(Without chest-pounding too garishly, it’s worth noting that our UCS line of servers is used by 85% of Fortune 500 companies, and have broken over 100 world records for sheer performance. Which is to say: They’re pretty badass.)

So: That’s what we’re seeing as a major trend going into this year’s IBC, and as it relates to media and entertainment providers. It’s all about object-based storage for long-tail and mainstream video assets. On top of that, it’s all about working with an ecosystem of partners conversant in S3, as a way to API into those assets. Why not come by and check it out? We’re in Hall #1.A71. Hope to see you there!