The Voice of America (VOA) will secure storage, identify content and retrieve video assets as part of a transition to a tapeless, file-based workflow with Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive.
Funded by the U.S. government, the VOA is a multimedia international broadcasting service that produces content in 45 languages, including VOA news, informational, educational content and cultural programming. In total, VOA broadcasts about 1500 hours per week to an estimated audience of more than 134 million people worldwide.
VOA is large, logistically complex — with around-the-clock news deadlines — and required to meet the federal government's recordkeeping requirements. As a result, the VOA faces multiple challenges when it comes to identifying, storing and providing appropriate access to media content.
DIVArchive combines software and hardware components to provide a turnkey system that simplifies preservation, management and retrieval of media content. At VOA, DIVArchive will move assets between Omneon media servers and a Spectra T950 tape library under the direction of Dalet media asset management. Initially, the workflow will be configured with 13TB of nearline SAN and 3500 hours of storage on LTO-4 datatapes.
DIVArchive will be installed with a single manager and actor, but the system's modular architecture makes it scalable, which will enable its eventual expansion to provide a platform for a system of shared content covering TV channels in 25 languages. As needed, VOA plans to digitize and ingest into the system content now residing on legacy videotape.
The DIVArchive installation is scheduled for this month and is expected to go online in spring 2009.
For more information, visit www.fpdigital.com and www.sammasystems.com.
