Sun Microsystems has developed a digital programming repository to stage and manage video program content for 15 HBO and Cinemax networks over the next three years.
The system includes five TB of redundant storage, which can grow to 50 TB for 5,000 hours of content. It has a constant data rate of more than 300 MB per second to HBO's suite of Grass Valley Profile XP-based playout systems using fibre channel interconnections. It can support about 900 Mbps in recovery mode, which allows HBO to deliver content to-air without a reduction in playout bandwith.
The system at HBO, whose goal is to move from a tape/server-based platform to a digital server architecture, consists of two Sun Fire 6800 servers to manage and stage content and two Sun StorEdge 9980 systems. Java technology ensures cross-platform compatibility.
