THE PANEL
Eric Tang Founder, Livepeer Studio
Robert Szabó-Rowe Head, engineering and product mgmt, Tata Comms Media
Sam Peterson Chief operating officer, Bitcentral
Jon Finegold Chief marketing officer, Signiant
COULD YOU TALK US THROUGH THE EVOLUTION OF STORAGE AND DATA MANAGEMENT?
ROBERT SZABÓ-ROWE: The decline of physical storage solutions like tape and vaults began after the 2011 tsunami in Japan, which severely impacted one of the main tape manufacturers. This event was a real wake-up call, pushing broadcasters to shift from traditional tape-based storage to more modern solutions like discs and local storage. Many companies still rely on on-premises storage systems today, but the real game changer has been the emergence of cloud storage. The cloud offers broadcasters and content companies an attractive alternative because it provides scalability, flexibility and cost efficiency. Instead of buying and maintaining large physical storage systems, they can now store their assets in cloud data centres that allow them to pay only for what they use. Additionally, cloud solutions enable replication across different regions, which is crucial for safeguarding content and ensuring global accessibility. While some organisations still operate hybrid models, with both on-site and cloud storage, many are moving towards a full cloud strategy. This shift has also pushed other workflows into the cloud, as extracting content from the cloud can sometimes be complex. Overall, the evolution from physical storage to cloud-based solutions has revolutionised the M&E
industry, providing more efficient, scalable and cost-effective ways to manage data.
ERIC TANG: Traditionally, storage has been mostly on-premises. While functional, it’s inefficient and has significant drawbacks, such as limited access speed and the need for extensive physical space and maintenance. As digital technology advanced, the industry began transitioning to digital storage solutions. Although these digital systems offered advantages compared to tape-based storage, they still presented challenges such as complexity in management and scalability. The advent of cloud storage marked a major shift by offering remote, scalable solutions that alleviated many of the physical constraints of earlier methods. However, cloud storage brought its own issues, particularly around high costs of moving files to the cloud and vendor pricing. Recent innovations in decentralised storage technologies, leveraging distributed networks, have emerged as a game changer. These solutions combine the convenience of cloud storage with substantial cost savings, potentially reducing expenses by 60-70%. This evolution reflects the ongoing goal for more efficient, scalable and cost- effective storage and data management solutions in the M&E industry.
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