Implementing fully cloud-based supply chains is becoming increasingly workable, but data transfer costs and latency concerns mean they are not yet best for all environments, writes David Davies.
Original article published at: https://www.ibc.org/features/media-supply-chains-cloud-maturity-approaching-but-business-needs-retain-primacy/9175.article
As the volume and complexity of content production and distribution have increased, the discussion has only become more intense – exemplified, for instance, by the current IBC Accelerator project Cloud Localization Blueprint, which seeks to establish a roadmap for fully cloud-based media supply chains that support the ever-escalating requirements around localization.
So, it seems an opportune moment to consider whether the notion of end-to-end cloud solutions is now crossing over from theory to workable reality. And the answer appears to be a cautious ‘yes’, albeit with some important reservations, as neatly summarized by Dalet’s director of product marketing, Mathieu Zarouk.
“We believe the cloud will become the first choice of infrastructure going forward, especially after on-premise investments are amortized,” he says. “However, today there are still use cases for which fully cloud-based deployments are not necessarily the best solution. Workable in most cases, yes. But options should be carefully evaluated depending on business requirements.”
People Recognize the Advantages of Cloud
Karsten Schragmann is head of product management at Vidispine, whose offer is led by VidiNet, described as a cloud-based platform that provides a “robust footing for the complete content chain”. He depicts an industry where confidence in having a cloud platform at the core of the entire content ecosystem is continuing to grow.
“There are a lot of factors in the mix,” he says of the trend. “On one side you have the fact that the pandemic sped up a lot of companies recognizing the benefits that the cloud brings. Then you also have [broadcasters] considering the use of the cloud with a certain [project-based] approach” – for example, to deliver individual services or pop-up channels.
From Content to Consumer
Ateliere Creative Technologies is among the media supply chain specialists to be explicitly pointing out the end-to-end capabilities of their solutions. Its key products, Ateliere Connect and Discover, are described as cloud-native, multi-tenant SaaS solutions that enable customers to manage media assets and the media supply chain ‘from concept to customer’.
Operating on AWS and connecting directly to cloud services, Ateliere solutions are said to benefit from ‘core technology assets’ such as Deep Analysis and FrameDNA, which enable automatic deduplication of large content libraries and archives, reducing storage needs, cloud costs and carbon footprint.
Dan Goman, founder and CEO at Ateliere, comments: “What we are finding is that [media companies] are at the very least planning, or working on a plan, to transition to the cloud. There is a relatively small number who have actually started making the entire transition, and they have been working with vendors such as ourselves. But it’s still fairly early days, so the hybrid, stepped approach [is more commonplace].”