The installation is of two Spectra T950 Enterprise Tape Libraries, multi-petabyte libraries, which are designed for LTO-6 tapes but are LTO-7 ready. They will provide mirrored storage in LA and London, offering a two-centre set-up, storage flexibility and robust disaster-recovery options. Other advantages include super-fast access to content, reduced staff involvement in the storage process, simplified management and reporting procedures, lower storage-related expenses and intelligent, cost-effective scaling.

Tedial’s Enterprise Evolution MAM will control the mirrored storage system between the two facilities. This set-up will enable clients to store content in one location, a mixture of both locations, or both locations and the cloud, depending on their storage requirements.

According to Symon Roue, managing director of VDMS in London, Visual Data’s decision to upgrade was driven by a renewed focus on safety in the wake of recent studio cybersecurity breaches, and the escalating volumes of digital content requiring storage as the global industry shifts from tape to file.

In the last 12 months alone, the demand for content processing from Netflix, for which Visual Data is a Preferred Vendor, has quadrupled, and this trend is being replicated across the company’s client base.

Roue said: “The Spectra Logic libraries are designed for the mega-data-center world, which is increasingly the world inhabited by our clients. This investment not only represents a step change in our digital storage capacity, but also in our security and disaster resilience. The security element, which is now at the top of the entertainment industry’s agenda, is enhanced by the mirrored storage environment in Los Angeles and London. We see this infrastructure upgrade as an investment not only in our future, but in our industry’s future peace of mind.”

In July, the company became one of a select group of digital storage facilities to be accredited by the Content Delivery and Security Association (CDSA), which works to enhance content supply-chain security via risk-management assessments and audits. In order to attain CDSA certification, Visual Data invested £100,000 in high-availability firewalls and switches from Juniper and enterprise security company Palo Alto Networks.