Omneon MediaGrid is the high-performance scalable storage system built to directly support media applications, reduce the costs of storage management and optimize video production workflows.
Omneon MediaGrid is a scalable high performance shared storage system for storing, sharing and serving media files. Using standard IT hardware and high speed Ethernet networking, MediaGrid is highly scalable and includes a built-in clustered file system designed and tuned for digital media workflows. It is also the only storage system tested, qualified and deployed with a wide range of leading media applications. Consolidate content, reduce administration and optimize workflows with MediaGrid.
The MediaGrid scale-out architecture enables facilities to start small and scale to large capacities while the system remains online eliminating forklift upgrades or complex data migrations. By aggregating the capacity and performance of individual storage nodes called ContentServers and ContentStores, all connected over a standard Ethernet network infrastructure, MediaGrid's built in clustered file systems creates a single pool of network accessible file storage and its capacity can scale from a few terabytes to multiple petabytes. An entry-level system starts with a single ContentServer, providing 16 or 32 TB of raw capacity and all the components needed to be in production, right out of the box. Simply add ContentStores and ContentServers to the system to scale both bandwidth and capacity in parallel.
MediaGrid is designed to deliver high bandwidth to multiple clients needing fast access to material for production or processing activities. MediaGrid enables clients to communicate directly in parallel with individual ContentServers instead of forcing serial access through NAS heads limiting available bandwidth. Even with scale-out NAS products, aggregate bandwidth is limited by the point-to-point access of NAS protocols like CIFS and by the speed of the backend communications network. MediaGrid eliminates such bottlenecks by allowing clients to pull content directly from multiple ContentServers. Built-in load balancing ensures that content is evenly distributed throughout the system to avoid any bottlenecks.
MediaGrid offers two schemes for protecting against disk drive failures: RAID or Replication. The software RAID implementation is tightly integrated into the File System delivering high performance and fast RAID rebuilds. Alternatively, users looking for a higher level of file protection may choose to trade usable storage capacity to store multiple copies of files. This Replication approach not only protects data from drive failures, but also protects data access from entire storage node failures. ContentServers with RAID support have dual active-active controllers and redundant data paths to protect against any storage node failures.
The MediaGrid was designed to live in today's demanding production environments. It simplifies operation and management, using a highly distributed and virtualized file system to present a single global namespace to all clients. Unlike generic storage systems that require frequent upgrades and maintenance, administrators never have to reconfigure the file system when new storage capacity and bandwidth is needed; they simply add new ContentServers or ContentStores and the new capacity and bandwidth is automatically incorporated within minutes. Omneon system configuration and management tools provide intuitive GUIs for administrators to use when setting policies and monitoring system performance, including directory- and user-based quotas, replication factors, RAID level, access control policies and more. Consolidating content from multiple, individual production systems eliminates islands of storage that would otherwise have to be networked, managed and maintained separately, thus lowering capital and administrative costs. Facility-wide storage utilization is improved and all workgroups benefit from capacity and bandwidth growth.
While many storage vendors sell into the broadcast and production markets, most consider broadcast just one of several vertical segments that they hope their general-purpose storage platform can support. Harmonic is focused entirely on media workflows and offers a media storage solution that is integrated with leading media applications. Omneon MediaGrid helps facilities improve their productivity by minimizing file transfers and multiple revisions, and its high performance allows for processing the content directly on the storage, allowing more projects to be done with the minimal resources and reducing errors and re-work.
Omneon MediaGrid is based on a distributed design that effectively eliminates bottlenecks by allocating workload across different components of the system. By separating major functions of a storage system into distinct components, MediaGrid is able to deliver levels of performance, resiliency and manageability that far surpass traditional storage systems. MediaGrid is based on the following hardware components:
MediaGrid is based on the following software components:
Omneon makes it easy to configure a MediaGrid to meet specific requirements and then add only the components needed to scale the system as storage and bandwidth needs increase. The smallest functional system can be started with a base set of core components, collectively referred to as a BasePack. These BasePacks are available in different capacities to support a range of system starting points. BasePacks represent completely functional systems and can be used as is or expanded with additional components.
