What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World

Transcription

1 The Buying Guide to File Transfer Technologies What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World By George Winslow OTT, SVOD, AR, 4K, EST, HDR, VR, 8K and a host of other new formats, platforms and business models are transforming today s media and entertainment industry. Can your file transfer system keep up with the lightning pace of innovation? Sponsored by In partnership with

2 2 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Introduction The pressure to find better technologies for faster, more efficient video production and the need to distribute files to many more places have made the purchase of the latest file transfer technologies a top priority at media and entertainment companies. To help with that process, this buying guide will cover four areas that creative media professionals need to consider when choosing the right hands-on file transfer system. 1. It will explore the growing importance of person-initiated file transfer systems in a rapidly changing digital landscape, where choosing the wrong system can make it difficult for companies to keep up with the new media landscape. 2. It will look back at the history of file transfer systems to help buyers understand how the development of the technology has severely limited the capabilities of some widely-used file transfer systems like FTP and Dropbox that are slower, more complex and less flexible than systems that have been specifically developed for the media and entertainment industry. 3. Based on these trends, this buying guide will then describe many of the potential uses for file transfer technologies and discuss the savings and business reasons for deploying fast, secure, easy-to-use and flexible systems that can adapt quickly to their rapidly evolving business. 4. Finally, this buying guide will provide a checklist of key features necessary in the new world of video production and distribution. These include the newest acceleration technologies, storage independence, simple intuitive user interfaces and the types of innovation made possible by the newest cloud- and SaaS-based solutions.

3 3 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Carefully considering all those factors is particularly important in a business landscape where rapid technological changes have disrupted virtually every aspect of the media and entertainment industry. For example, only 10 years after Netflix launched its SVOD service, PwC predicted that worldwide OTT/ streaming video revenues will hit $22.4 billion in Cisco also predicted that video-obsessed viewers will push global consumer Internet video traffic to 57,116 petabytes (PB) per month in 2017 and this mind-boggling number will double again to 125,853 PB by If this happens, it will mark a huge 26-fold jump from the 4,726 PB per month of consumer Internet video traffic in And more changes are on the way, with producers and distributors needing to send more video in newer formats around the world as 4K and high dynamic range (HDR) TV sets proliferate in homes. ABI Research forecasts that HDR TV shipments will increase at a rate of 41 percent a year, reaching 245 million units in This growth has prompted many companies to radically rethink their traditional technologies and infrastructures, in part because the legacy technologies are not as easily adaptable to the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. To capitalize on the rapidly growing mobile and online video markets, as a company, we are investing and positioning content to be consumed on more and more platforms every day, said John Honeycutt, chief technology officer at Discovery Communications, in a Multichannel News interview earlier this year. 4 Honeycutt stressed that Discovery is rapidly deploying new cloud, software as a service (SaaS) and file transfer technologies so they can adapt quickly to consumer needs and roll out new services. We are in the middle of a revolution in our supply chain, he said. A key part of that revolution is next-generation file transfer technologies. The next section explores why they re so important. 1 PwC, Media and Entertainment Outlook,

4 4 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World The Case for Exploring High-End File Transfer Solutions Without improved file transfer technologies, companies will not be able to deliver their content quickly to an ever-growing list of new digital services and outlets. They will lack the tools to ramp up production more efficiently and to draw on new workflows, talent and resources to capitalize on the rapidly growing demand for video. And they will lack the flexibility necessary to take advantage of new opportunities rapidly, to scale up their infrastructure as needed and to pivot quickly to capitalize on new business. Today everyone is evolving their technologies to take advantage of market changes and the consumer trends, says George Yau, senior sales engineer at Signiant, a provider of file-based transfer technologies like the Media Shuttle platform. Everyone s competitors and partners are evolving because everything is changing so quickly. The size of the files is growing. They have to deliver files to more places. It has become a necessity to have efficient, fast and secure ways of moving files that are easy to use and deploy. However, Yau and others stress that creative media professionals need to consider carefully a number of factors if they want to ensure that they can take full advantage of hands-on file transfer technologies. Buyers looking at this market: u Must carefully investigate obvious capabilities, such as speedy transfers of large files, security, ease of use and reliability. These features form the cornerstone of a successful video production and distribution operation. u Should explore new approaches to file transfer, such as cloud-based architectures, agile development and SaaS approaches that are speeding up the pace of innovation and allowing companies to respond to market changes. The Past and Future of File Transfer Tech To understand the potential of new file transfer technologies in a content-hungry world, let s look at the evolution of those offerings.

5 5 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World» The standard method of FTPing media from Los Angeles to New Zealand with two satellite hops and about 300 milliseconds of latency is constrained by legacy TCP and IP-based protocols. «FTP and TCP. The earliest file transfer technologies are now quite old, dating nearly a half a century ago back to the early days of the Internet. The first specification of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was completed in 1971, and TCP/IP became the basis of FTP in The current specification of FTP dates from The fact that these decades-old specifications were developed in the early years of the Internet creates several problems for companies trying to handle the massive file sizes and file formats needed for HDTV, 4K, HDR and virtual reality content. While TCP adequately handles the distribution of small files over the Internet, it can struggle with high latency and packet loss in the delivery of large files to distant locations outside the US. While FTP is designed to handle large files, the fact that it is built on TCP means that it has the same problems with latency and long-distance networks. If you wanted to FTP something from Los Angeles to New Zealand with two satellite hops and about 300 milliseconds of latency your ability to use the bandwidth in the network will be constrained by the way TCP and IP-based protocols work. That s because FTP relies on TCP s back and forth acknowledgment mechanism that slows the transmission of data. For example, it might take one hour and 28 minutes to send an hour of HD video between two locations within the same metro area over a 100Mbps connection. This performance continues to decline over long-distance high-latency networks, with an hour of HD video taking more than 21 hours to send from, say, LA to Singapore (over 8,000-miles) over a 100Mbps connection. Worse, buying a blazingly fast 1Gbps connection may make no difference in transfer times. This study found it still took 21 hours and five minutes from Los Angeles to Singapore even though the sender had 10 times more bandwidth. The time it takes to transfer one hour of HD content Mbps AVC-21GB).

6 6 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World î New Acceleration Technologies. In recent years, newer file acceleration technologies have begun to clock exponentially faster transfer times. Newer file transfer technologies are, for example, able to move an hour of HD video over a 1Gbps connection within a large metro area in three minutes, versus nearly 1.5 hours over traditional FTP. That same file transfer system can send a file over the same connection to a far-flung locale, such as from Los Angeles to Singapore, in the same speedy three-minute transfer time, or about 420 times faster than FTP. These kinds of speeds can be achieved with a proprietary transport protocol built on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which speeds up the process by sending chunks of data on a best-effort basis without waiting for an acknowledgment that the data has been received. To ensure the transfer is not only fast but also extremely reliable, accelerated file transfer technologies should couple this approach with a variety of features such as flow control (this ensures that the data is sent at the optimal rate) and congestion control (this detects when the network is overloaded and adapts to bottlenecks) and other reliability mechanisms that compensate for the data loss due to congestion or other network issues and make sure the order of the stream of data is maintained. Consumer File Transfer Apps. Another important development in hands-on file transfer technologies has been the launch of consumer services like Dropbox and WeTransfer. Using newer cloud-based architectures and subscription SaaS offerings, they provide intuitive ways to send and receive files between people. Experts say the new cloud-based solutions introduced to the market over the last 10 years have proven popular primarily because they have been simple to use. Cloud-based architectures are particularly appropriate to a world of rapidly proliferating, Internet-connected devices, video hungry consumers and new formats. Using cloud-based servers, these offerings can expand capacity quickly to handle new users. Software hosted in the cloud can be updated rapidly to handle new file formats or devices. And they traditionally offer simple user interfaces that can be accessed on a host of devices. But these consumer-oriented products have limitations in media environments. They face similar challenges to FTP in terms of speed, Yau says. And there are two other critical limitations: you have no choice or control of storage, and there are often file size limits. It s clear that companies are looking for the best of both worlds: powerful acceleration technologies that allow users to handle large data assets securely as well as the ease-of-use features found in consumer file transfer technologies.

7 7 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World» If you are working with a big studio or postproduction house on prerelease content they want locked down, or if you are a journalist pulling from cloud storage, you have to have a vendor that can handle that level of security. «Matt Whiting, Guardian News & Media What s Happening in the Real World Those milestones in the evolution of file transfer systems highlight some of the key features buyers need to explore when acquiring a system that will be able to adapt to a rapidly changing marketplace and their future needs. Leslie Hathaway, postproduction engineer for Beachbody, has gone through the process of buying and deploying file transfer systems twice first at a major broadcaster and media company and then at Beachbody, a midsized company that produces a large amount of video as part of its business selling nutrients and supplements. Both times, it really began with a clear understanding of what you are trying to do and how much media you are trying to move, she says. She explains that when she was working at a major broadcast network and media company, speed, security and ease of use were all top of mind. Production companies don t have time to wait for a file, they need stuff now, she says. It should be easy to install, extremely secure and easy to use. I had to go through all the financial process, but being able to say this is what we are going to do, this is how it is going to save us money, here is the ROI and here is how it will make it easier on everyone, made it easy to push through. Ultimately, she also chose the same system for Beachbody. We produce all our own videos and have a video on demand channel, she says. We send files anywhere from 1GB to maybe 50 or 60GB. When we were doing a TV show, we were sending terabytes of data back to the office each week.

8 8 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Like many content producers, the company had to be able to send it quickly and then essentially forget about it. [In considering a file transfer system] time savings and money savings were important, Hathaway says. Sending hard drives to send video back and forth is not secure or efficient. The company was looking for ease of use, customer service support and the assurance that the file transfer system would be safe, fast and secure. As a midsized company, ease of use was particularly important. There are fewer technical people, and the fact that it is easy to use was a major factor in making the decision, she concludes. Other buyers of file transfer systems cite similar concerns, including the speed of delivery while moving massive files across the globe. For Discovery Communications, the focus was on speed of delivery, since the media company moves content around the world to billions of subscribers, says Josh Derby, Discovery s VP of technology development and strategy. File transfer technology must be reliable, quick and secure. Advanced file transfer systems are also crucial for production companies that might need, for example, to share content from a TV or movie shoot involving editors in Los Angeles, camera crews in Thailand and subtitling companies in the Midwest. In our feature film and entertainment business alone, we re sending entire film packages down to our Warsaw office because they handle the DCPs [digital cinema packages], says Henric Larsson, COO of Chimney Group, which produces more than 6,000 creative pieces a year across its 10 offices in six countries. You can t depend on FTP to get the file there on time, Larsson says. You need a guaranteed transfer time or you can t work on the kinds of projects we work on. Besides handling the complexity of some of these global supply chains, new file transfer systems also need to be cost effective, flexible and allow for rapid innovation. Those requirements have convinced many companies large and small to embrace cloud-based SaaS platforms. Experts say the benefits of SaaS platforms include their straightforward nature, ease of deployment and relative cost effectiveness. Because the software is hosted in the cloud, companies don t have to go through a long process to deploy it and can benefit from the economies of scale that spread costs for software, development, servers and other infrastructure over a large base of users. While these approaches are obviously appealing to large global media companies, they are also extremely well suited to smaller and midsized organizations. With SaaS, small and midsized companies can get an enterprisegrade system without making massive investments in infrastructures, Yau says. The use of rapid, agile software development and cloud-based deployments of the most advanced file transfer

9 9 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World systems also pay dividends in customer service, reduced costs for training and usability. These benefits are particularly important for companies with small staffs. This, in effect, allows market interest to shift from those big companies, which have always needed to move big files, to smaller and midsized companies. Security is another major requirement a concern that is all too real for those producers and studios that have been targeted by hackers in recent years. But security is also a critical consideration for news organizations like The Guardian, which has a history of sensitive investigations. The news outlet won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the Edward Snowden case. If you are working with a big studio or postproduction house on prerelease content they want locked down, or if you are a journalist pulling from cloud storage, you have to have a vendor that can handle that level of security, says Matt Whiting, head of applications at Guardian News & Media. The Business Case for Next-Gen File Transfer Systems The key components of a next-generation, hands-on file transfer system also provide significant business payback by reducing expenses and opening opportunities for new businesses in addition to strengthening a company s competitive position and brand. Looking to Signiant As a leader in intelligent file movement software for the media and entertainment industries, Signiant is dedicated to revolutionizing file transport and optimizing network infrastructure. That dedication led to the release of Media Shuttle, the industry s first secure, subscription-based enterprise file sharing solution. Media Shuttle manages file movement logistics with cloud software, allowing users to store files in whatever location they choose, whether that s on their premises or in the cloud, and opens up choices when it comes to storage providers. Media Shuttle offers an easy-to-use application interface, fast transfer speeds, reliable technology and no limitations on file size caps. For example, in Venezuela, Cisneros Media implemented Media Shuttle technology and saved both time and labor costs as it moved hundreds of GB for multiple television series. Venture 3D, a production company based in Los Angeles, also used Media Shuttle to move large files for the Metallica movie Through the Never. More information can be found at

10 10 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Here are some issues to weigh when it comes to investing in a next-generation file transfer technology: Cost Savings. The most obvious payback that comes from investing in a file transfer system that uses advanced acceleration technologies is the cost savings. Consider if it makes economic sense to invest in a subscription to a hands-on file transfer system, perhaps on an entry-level trial basis, if the cost of shipping physical hard drives has become too outlandish. Major cost savings and efficiencies may also exist for those upgrading from FTP and consumer file transfer systems. There have been two real differences from our old FTP system, says Whiting at Guardian News & Media, describing the changes after upgrading to a next-gen file transfer system. One, [it is] just a lot quicker. It makes maximum use of any available bandwidth. But the other, which is probably even more important for us, is that it s an interruptible transfer. A lot of the network connectivity that our reporters have is likely to be interrupted. Pricing and Scalability. Buyers also need to consider carefully the way services are priced as well as the startup investments needed for new services if they want to achieve the full economic benefits of an advanced file transfer system. For example, users of a cloud-based technology might be able to take on new businesses quickly and deploy the product without the hefty start-up costs that come from deploying new servers or other infrastructure. Some solutions allow users to set up a branded URL portal, allowing all file transfers to be handled through this spot. That portal can then expire at the end of a production. Also consider user-based pricing. Some solutions allow companies to be billed only for the active users they have within a given billing period. In this scenario, there are no surcharges for how much data is moved or how much bandwidth a network offers. Larsson, at the Chimney Group, is intrigued by solutions that have adapted their pricing and product portfolio to fit midsized and smaller companies. Storage Independence. Buyers must also ensure that a new file transfer system gives them significant flexibility in terms of storage. Some may want to use cloud storage, while others may prefer storing files in their facilities so they can amortize existing investments.

11 11 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World The ability to control our storage was extremely important for us, says Hathaway at Beachbody. [We want to be able to] use it in cloud storage or on-premise, as I do. I ve got 2.5 petabytes of storage on site and another 2.5 petabytes at my replication site so I didn t need to use the cloud model. Others, however, can also take advantage of the features of cloud storage in a secure fashion. Unlike consumer file transfer systems that comingle a user s files with other files, creating potential security issues, a next-gen file system should give users complete control over their files whether they re stored in the cloud, in their data centers or in studios. Usability. When it comes to file transfers, simplicity, or a well thought out user interface is a virtue that offers a big payoff in reduced costs, better productivity, security and client loyalty, buyers and software developers say. File transfers might be a big part of the workday, but they are the last things postproduction houses or studios want to be thinking about. Although the technology behind big file transfers can be complex, the goal is for the technology to get out of the way and make each step a simple task. That cuts expensive training costs and reduces the amount of time IT and engineers on staff must spend managing the system. Signiant customers work on highprofile film projects including the Oscar-nominated Warner Bros. picture Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Next-gen transfer systems allow studios to send large proprietary files quickly and securely. Advanced file transfer systems should also work with all major browsers so that creative media professionals can easily set up portals customized to the specific needs of a client or project. This kind of flexibility is important because each customer will use the portal in different ways. App-less Transfers. The goal of an easy-to-use interface and customized, browser-based portals is to make it simpler for companies to begin using a new advanced file transfer system. Even better, a client that only had access to a browser or a mobile device and can t find the time to install an app, can still access files. Cloud Leader Innovation. As buyers search for flexible, easy-to-use, future-proof file systems, they need to carefully consider cloud-based approaches that encourage the kind of innovation needed for a rapidly changing media and entertainment business. For example, a true cloud-based system will be able to push out new features to users automatically, without any downtime.

12 12 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Security. With companies worrying about piracy and high-profile hacks, file transfer security is another musthave feature. Security features should include encryption at rest for highly confidential transfers as well as integration into a company s internal and external authentication providers using SAML. It should also be able to track the flow of content so any leaks can be traced. Media-Specific Features. More cost savings and efficiencies can be found by integrating advanced file transfer systems directly into a company s existing media asset management (MAM) or digital asset management (DAM) systems. A sports outlet, for example, might use this capability to integrate their MAM system with an accelerated file transfer system to distribute something like archival footage. Simple Bandwidth Controls. The architecture of a file transfer system should not only allow for faster transfers than FTP, but it should also allow companies to better manage their bandwidth. Respect for Your Content Org. File transfer systems should enable creatives to do their jobs, and the systems should not require them to learn a host of new technical skills or tamper with file formats. When you transfer a file, you just want it to get there quickly and be secure, says Hathaway at Beachbody. [Our file transfer system] doesn t do anything to the file. It doesn t rewrap it or recompress it. It will arrive exactly as you are sending it. High-speed file transfer technology played a major role in one of the biggest sporting events of 2017: Super Bowl LI, held in Houston on February 5, (Photo courtesy AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) Accelerated file transfer systems should also be designed to make it easier for those creatives to collaborate with internal and external partners and stakeholders. It is easy for some of the outside companies to use the system, Hathaway explains. Producers, editors, our assistant editors, the management team and some of our marketing people find it easy to utilize these portals for their projects. Hathaway adds that the user interface is so easy to use, and the system is so easy to set up for new users, that they rarely need to call customer service.

13 13 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World Brandability. Look for easily customizable Web portals that reduce training costs and make a file transfer system relatively simple to use and that also work to strengthen customer ties and boost a company s marketing efforts. Portal backgrounds and logos and hyperlinking can help market a company s services. Delegation. An easy-to-use interface within an advanced file transfer system can also reduce IT costs and speed up production processes. Some solutions allow users to delegate transfer management tasks to nontechnical users, thus freeing up IT workers. Hathaway at Beachbody agrees. I have a lot of things on my plate, she says. We have over 100 users that are utilizing the system both internally and externally and the fact that [our accelerated file transfer system] is so easy to manage is a major advantage. Evaluation of File Transfer Technologies: A Buying Checklist In recent years, the rapidly changing consumer electronics market has roiled the media and entertainment landscape, prompting major companies like Discovery and Turner to dramatically rethink their tech infrastructure. The forces that are producing this larger revolution in media supply chains and video production have also made next-generation file transfer systems more important for media and entertainment companies. So, what should your media file transfer system do? The most advanced solutions on the market offer both large and small companies the ability to securely move files at lightning speed. They also provide the tools for companies to be more agile, flexible and innovative in the way they respond to market changes. The SaaS and cloud-based technologies used in cutting-edge file transfer systems should allow users to incorporate new innovations into their file transfer workflows quickly and to spin new operations up and down so they can profit from additional business opportunities.

14 14 What You Need to Know to Handle Successful File Transfer in a New Media World About the Author George Winslow has written about the television, media and technology industries for over 25 years and is currently the contributing editor for technology at Broadcasting & Cable. Prior to that, as a freelance journalist, he was a regular contributor to Multichannel News and other publications. Over the years, he has also edited a number of TV trades, including Multichannel News International and World Screen News and has authored two books. Key Features for Choosing Next-gen File Transfer System Must-have Media Features Shuttle Advanced Acceleration Tech Storage independence Easy interface and usability Yes Yes Yes Why This Matters Up to 200X faster than FTP. No worries about shipping hard drives. Massive savings in the cost of shipping physical storage. Can take advantage of faster connections. Robust enough that users can disconnect and resume a transfer on another device at a later time. Greater flexibility in storage options and cloud providers. Can use on-premise storage or cloud storage. Better security because files are not comingled with other cloud-based clients. Unlike Dropbox, there is no need to upload to the cloud before transferring files. Much easier to manage. User-friendly Web-based interface requires users to have little or no training. Notifications when content is downloaded and when it arrives. Creative staff can focus on their jobs and don t have to waste time learning complex file transfer systems. App-less transfers Yes Easy to set up external clients without help from already overworked IT staff. Users can access and send content using all the major browsers. No need to install an app on phones or other mobile devices. Cloud leader in innovation Yes Cloud-based SaaS offering means that there is no downtime when innovative new features are rolled out. Its developers spend time with clients to see how to improve their product. State-of-the-art security Yes Quickly updates software to handle new security threats. Agile, fast development process encourages innovation. SaaS cloud-based offering means that smaller organizations get an enterprise-grade system. Designed around defense in depth principles. AES 256-bit encryption for transfers. Signiant also offers encryption at rest. All user actions are fully monitored and audited so companies can follow the chain of custody. Simple, easy-to-use system means people won t be turning on less secure consumer-based products. Easily customizable portals make it easy to track users and manage access to content. Media-specific features Yes Can be integrated into existing workflows and existing MAM ingest and fulfillment workflows. Patent-pending CloudSpeX features ensure content is sent in the right format to the right person, saving valuable time otherwise wasted on resending or reshipping files. Pricing scalability Yes User-based pricing is affordable for small, midsized and large operations. Subscribers pay only for active users, which means companies can quickly scale up their operations or reduce their costs when starting or finishing new products. Unlike its competitors, Signiant does not charge extra for using a faster connection or sending more data. Simple bandwidth controls Respect for your content org Brandable interfaces and portals Yes Yes Yes Acceleration technologies are designed to better utilize available bandwidth. Bandwidth controls prevent transfers from hogging network capacity needed for other tasks. Easy-to-use interfaces require little training and are designed for non-technical staff. Creatives won t waste valuable hours on failed file transfers or learning new workflows. The system does not tamper with files or make other changes that can disrupt workflows. Easy to set up customizable portals can be branded to help market your services. Portals can also be branded for specific jobs to build client loyalty. Delegation Yes Saves time and money, because non-technical people can be put in charge of administering the system. There s no need to chase down IT staff late at night to add a new user. Customer support Yes 24/7 customer support. Smaller companies get enterprise-level support that can keep their operations running. Customer support people work closely with users to improve the software and help them take advantage of new features NewBay Media Inc. and Signiant logos and trademarks are the property of their respective companies. All rights reserved.