Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1175944
e can all agree that media con- sumption has changed dramatical- ly. However, storytelling is also undergoing a radical transformation. Alongside the proliferation of content platforms, includ- ing OTT channels, has come an explosion of content creation. HBO and CBS were among the first major networks to make digital forays with HBO Go and CBS All Access. ESPN Plus is now up and running and Disney is slated to debut its own streaming service this fall. The speed at which content is created and its quality will be critical in differentiating streaming media compa- nies from one another. The sheer amount of content being created and the multitude of ways that media is being experienced creates pro- duction and distribution pressures — from the need for greater production speed and mobility to more intelligent ways of finding and managing assets. Further, media organizations must accommodate international versioning issues, including language captioning. NEW CAPABILITIES AND ALTERED WORKFLOWS As these forces exert pressure, technol- ogy providers are rushing to keep pace, innovating to deliver scalable, flexible and intelligent architectures to meet the new demands. Ecosystems capable of scaling and managing assets logically and flexi- bly, together with sophisticated storage technology are addressing the challenges of our ubiquitous 'always-on' live environ- ment. This enables content production and distribution from anywhere to any- where, and on virtually any device. For media companies, highly integrat- ed ecosystems that include sophisticat- ed MAM systems and shared storage deliver tangible advantages. In addition to resource and cost efficiencies, in- creased productivity, and higher-quality content, functionalities like integrated metadata sharing help companies expand their assets and leverage content across brands, critical to staying competitive in today's cost-driven production environ- ment. Many of the tools that facilitate this collaboration, speed and mobility are remarkably easy to deploy and use, but underneath the hood are some sophisti- cated technologies. A COMMON INTERFACE A common, easy-to-use interface built on a web browser is needed to enable necessary stakeholders to easily access, view and even contribute to content. It must be an extremely lightweight and quick-to-launch client that can be used in a web browser anywhere with very little training. It should also seamlessly connect to a data center housing storage and the servers that run the infrastructure or to cloud or hybrid environments. The ability to move from on-premise to hybrid to cloud provides the portable capability so critical to today's speed-driven, remote and highly-integrated workflows. NEW SEARCH FRONTIERS AND ANALYTICS Software-defined storage architecture is designed to accommodate the shift to the cloud while supporting on-premise and hybrid workflows. On-demand access to a shared pool of centralized storage can be quickly provisioned, repurposed and tailored to each workspace's capacity. With storage, the faster it goes, the more expensive it is. An integrated eco- system with a sophisticated MAM system can move assets where they should be at a given time, so you can avoid purchasing more production storage. A ''media-aware' system keeps assets close when needed, nearline when appropriate then further away to archive. It's also a game changer amid increasingly sophisticated services and workflows, like cognitive services. ENTER AI If you have millions of assets, you'll need to do some very sophisticated searching, which is possible by linking together all storage. But that's just the beginning. Through services like phonetic indexing, indexing the spoken word of ingested content, you can search on phenomes, or just the voice of what was being said. Or use it to complement a metadata search. There is a wide range of services that can be tied together as your infrastructure gets more sophisticated. It's possible, for example, to upload content to a cloud computing platform like Microsoft Azure and use AI-driven cognitive service capabilities to create metadata that's searchable within your ecosystem. Functions like speech-to-text, facial recognition and character or image recognition become searchable metadata. BETTER ASSET MONETIZATION All of this technology really drives toward a fundamental benefit: the best use and monetization of assets. Most of all, intel- ligently and economically storing assets and enabling users to easily access and manipulate those assets, wherever they are, lays at the heart of these systems. More advanced AI-driven metadata search can uncover content you might not even know you have, therefore revealing new media and revenue opportunities. The way we tell stories is evolving but the content is always the star. We need to make the most of it — knowing how to find it, where to store it, and how it can work for us. HOW AI, MAM AND STORAGE ARE REDEFINING STORYTELLING BY DAVID COLANTUONI VP OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AVID BURLINGTON, MA WWW.AVID.COM W AS STORYTELLING EVOLVES, CONTENT REMAINS KING S P E C I A L S E C T I O N : S T O R A G E