
Part three of three – Perpetual Object Storage Systems
In the previous two blogs in this series, we discussed the two-tier paradigm in content storage systems, and dove deep into the first tier known as project/production. In this blog, we’ll explore the perpetual tier. As mentioned earlier, the first tier (project/production) is file-based. The second tier, or perpetual tier, is object-based, and is designed to be a landing zone where digital assets persist over time. The perpetual tier stores raw content with any associated managed assets that require sharing across a team so the content is always available for future work, including editing, color grading, music scoring, visual effects, etc. As newer versions of assets are created, prior versions are kept on the perpetual tier for safekeeping.
This perpetual tier, where assets will live/persist, must be properly matched for high performance throughput, while working in tandem with the production tier. Not unlike the production tier, the perpetual tier scales in throughput performance from hundreds of megabytes per second up to gigabytes per second. Since the perpetual tier is based on object storage, Media and Entertainment environments benefit from the scalability of object storage, along with asset availability anywhere in the WAN.
Ultimately, any project not being currently worked on should be stored in the perpetual tier to free up expensive production storage space (Tier 1 storage). All major applications/data movement between the production and perpetual tier is managed natively through the applications that speak directly with the object storage system. Utilizing this perpetual tier delivers massive amounts of cost savings to organizations that house their data on high- performance, Tier 1 production storage.
Modern object storage platforms, including Spectra’s BlackPearl® Converged Storage System, provide an ideal environment for the perpetual storage of content and digital assets. The BlackPearl system uses object storage protocols to write data to object storage-based disk and object-based tape storage, while also writing data to public cloud or replicating to another BlackPearl based on policy. BlackPearl will manage the data effectively and perpetually, whether seamlessly moving, migrating, healing, or replicating the data while keeping the same URI available to the users. The cost savings are tremendous as content and inactive projects are moved off of expensive high-performance production storage, and preserved for future use indefinitely.
For a general introduction of the new two-tier storage paradigm, a look at the workflows that will impact the way the world uses digital information for the long term and a snapshot of the big picture trends impacting technological advancements in the data storage industry today, read Spectra Logic’s “Digital Data Storage Outlook 2019” Report.