DMI deploys Facilis TerraBlock for shared storage

Facilis has delivered a 96TB TerraBlock shared storage system to Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI). The TerraBlock system is positioned at the heart of DMI’s new media management and content creation facility, which has been designed, installed and commissioned by systems integration specialists, Dubai-based Wecom Global. The entire system became operational in early 2015.

With a combination of TV, radio and press outlets, DMI has developed a pioneering reputation in new digital media operations in the Arab world. It attracts a large and growing international audience through its ability to break news swiftly through its multi-platform publishing operations.

A new production workflow enables entirely new and radically different collaborative working practices within the broadcaster’s creative department. Two Facilis TerraBlock 48TB systems work in unison to dynamically power a workflow where content is ingested and then edited on any number of 80 client workstations using Adobe Premier. The workflow around the facility is managed by a CATDV Media Asset Management (MAM) where material is taken from the shared storage system and worked upon simultaneously by multiple editors in an entirely transparent fashion.

Once completed, files are transferred to an archiving system which is supplied by StorageDNA. Facilis and StorageDNA have a strong track record providing shared storage and LTO LTFS archiving technologies in creative media environments as together they deliver faster and more cost-effective media pipelines. TerraBlock is a high bandwidth shared storage system for post production and content creation, while DNA Evolution’s LTO LTFS technology streamlines archiving and archive asset management, and offers advanced media workflows from LTO tape. Close integration between the TerraBlock and the archive enables editors to quickly and intuitively access material from the archive and drag it back into the production workflow.