Making Sense Of The Storage Terms

SAN, NAS, LTO, Object – what do these storage terms mean? Nick Pearce-Tomenius, sales and marketing director of Object Matrix demystifies these technologies.

- Nick Pearce-Tomenius

For traditional broadcasters in particular, providing instant access to video content has become a real challenge. That is mainly due to the fact that they have been using traditional storage methods, and have not modernised to meet demand. As their content catalogue grew and their needs changed, they had to add more storage and what they ended up with, is several silos of storage that did not connect and are not remotely easy to navigate.

In an environment where technology progresses apace, one of the biggest challenges for broadcasters is simply understanding what the right storage technology is for them. Here is a quick look at some of these:

In the beginning, Linear Tape Open (LTO) is where it all began for many broadcasters. It is a tape-based storage solution, which was designed to be an open format technology so that any manufacturer could build solutions in this format. It has gone through many format changes and updates, and the latest version uses a single-reel tape cartridge. The idea behind that is to maximise capacity as it certainly can store a lot more data than ever before.

Of course, when many broadcasters first needed storage, digital tehnology gave them a glint in the eye. Recently, the format underwent its own share of threat from a plethora of new technologies that are able to do so much more with content.

The problem for LTO is that media companies need instant access to content. Broadcasters are under increasing pressure to monetise their valuable content and push it out to multiple platforms. For instance, if content cannot be found instantly, it slows the creative process down, considerably. Broadcasters need superfast access to the entire catalogue and not just the low-resolution proxies, to realise new content streams.