SGL Demonstrates Archive Support For Linear Tape File System

A provider of content archive and storage management software for media and entertainment will highlight its unrivalled support for the ground-breaking Linear Tape File System (LTFS) from the LTO Program at IBC 2011. Software Generation's LTFS is redefining approaches to content archive and storage management in the broadcast industry.
Demonstrations based on up-to-the-minute industry thinking will show how an LTFS-driven archive can revolutionise current media archive practices, allowing free material exchange between disparate systems and making true content portability a reality: moving content between departments and systems is now as simple as dragging and dropping. LTFS can help broadcasters create, manage and store their content.
LTFS tapes contain two partitions, one for raw data and the other an index partition for descriptive data. The function of the index partition is to provide faster access to the raw data. LTO-5 media can store 1.5TB of uncompressed material and write at a speed of up to 140MB/s.
Major drive manufacturers HP and IBM are providing operating system drivers that allow LTO-5 tape drives to be directly connected to PCs, Macs and Linux machines. This means that users can add a single tape drive to a small-scale system in the same way they would add a USB hard drive, for example.
Where LTFS really comes into its own is the ability to deliver content directly into the archive, bypassing the need to ingest from videotape, etc. Intelligent archive systems can quickly read the index information from an LTFS-formatted tape and directly assign UIDs to the content, populate the archive database and generate a low-resolution proxy (used for editing). Once the material is safely held in the archive, the management system can publish notification back to any external system to begin the synchronisation process.
SGL's content storage management solutions are built around an open system architecture designed to enable seamless integration of the archive with all other systems within an installation, regardless of their size, operations or workflows. SGL FlashNet’s uniquely resilient clustered architecture empowers users to grow their storage solution from a single tape drive to a fully automated and intelligent content repository, whilst maintaining uninterrupted content access.
(BMcN)