E! Networks Uses Silicon Storage Appliance as Foundation For Centralized Asset Management System

DataDirect Networks, provider of high performance storage networking appliances, announced that E! Networks has installed a Silicon Storage Appliance to provide a centralized storage network for the entertainment network. The appliance-enabled storage network serves as the foundation for the network’s digital asset system, which will bring substantial workflow and productivity efficiencies to E! Networks, whose properties include E! Entertainment Television, Style, and the recently launched E! International Network, as well as international channel partners serving Latin America, Spain, Israel, the Middle East and Scandinavia.

On average, E! Entertainment Television has seven field crews producing four hours of video a day, and the in-house studio shoots an average of about five hours a day. With this rise in production, the network has more than 250,000 video assets in its Los Angeles media center alone, with additional tape assets in other locations.

The consolidation of this library-based programming is driving E! Entertainment Television’s digital asset management initiative, which transitions the network from a system of database search, manual retrieval, screening and interaction to a system that allows fully digital cataloging, retrieval, access and interaction — all from the user’s desktop. Interaction with library footage through the appliance-enabled storage network brings substantial workflow and productivity efficiencies including quicker, more accurate access to content and increased efficiencies in the pre-production process that include the screening of original content and rough cuts at the desktop.

The DataDirect S2A 6000 Silicon Storage Appliance was chosen based on its application acceleration, scalability, and management capabilities. Using the a S2A 6000 to manage 4.6 Terabytes of storage at the core of their data center in Los Angeles, with existing Solaris, Linux, Windows, and Macintosh hosts connected into the appliance to create a highly scalable, easy-to-manage storage network.

“Digital asset management provides businesses the ability to substantially increase revenue opportunities for their content without increasing costs,” Robert Woolery, vice president corporate development, DataDirect Networks, said. “Best-of-breed content management requires a flexible storage network infrastructure that increases content productivity and workflow efficiencies while reduces operating costs. With its exceptional performance, scalability, and ease of management capabilities, the Silicon Storage Appliance delivers accelerated return on both IT investments and digital content assets.”