Imagina US adopts MatrixStore as an integrated digital content management platform

Unitecnic US has deployed in the Mediapro subsidiary an infrastructure based on MatrixStore object storage, from Object Matrix, which has allowed it to integrate management, cataloging, transfer, support of post-production projects and supervision and visualization of all stored media.

Imagina US, a subsidiary of Mediapro and focused on production for the Hispanic and Latin American markets in the United States, until now had a dispersed storage system, a significant lack of shared space and connectivity between different areas, and difficulties in accessing and securing content. On the other hand, it also encountered numerous problems when integrating various technological platforms, including ingest, post-production and archiving systems.

The existing setup included two NAS storage devices that worked with many different services and features, but did not have the ability to catalog and search beyond basic Windows functionality. Added to this the fact that some of the media was archived on external hard drives, Imagina US was experiencing enormous challenges finding and retrieving video files when they were needed.

A large part of this digitized content was also hidden from the Marketing and Programming teams since these storages were not accessible to these office staff for obvious security reasons.

Integrated storage

Imagina US' technology partner, Unitecnic US, has helped Imagina US analyze the market and see the available options in order to serve its clients in an organized and scalable way, not only to meet the tactical needs of today, but also to match the strategic plans of companies in the future. To achieve this, the ability to integrate central storage into the different existing ingestion and post-production flows and systems was essential. MatrixStore object storage, Object Matrix, checked all of those boxes, allowing Imagina US to integrate management, cataloging, transfer, post-production project support, and monitoring and viewing of all stored media.

Ismael Marcer, CTO Unitecnic US, highlighted that "Unitecnic constantly explores the market to find the best solutions that fit the tactical and strategic needs of our clients. What we like about Object Matrix is ​​their commitment to the industry in which we work due to the effort they make to integrate and automate the workflows that to date our clients had processed manually."

MatrixStore comes with a series of integrated applications that help Imagina US keep your media organized within Storage, while ensuring easy and controlled access when necessary. This includes Interconnect, which allows Imagina US to save your projects with sequences, and clips outside of your storage. Avid ISIS, thus maintaining all the metadata, so that any content can be recovered and reedited when necessary.

In this way, MatrixStore Vision helps any Imagina US professional to access low-resolution content through the Web application, allowing all versions to be downloaded in various resolutions.

Vault system with different functioning

When you have a variety of clients, the need arises to use the same platform but keeping the content separate for each of them. This is also applicable to different needs and services within it.

To achieve this, Imagina US has established a series of different Vauls within MatrixStore:

• Imagina Ingest is a dedicated space for temporary ingestion of original files from providers. This space contains original materials from content providers, both via hard drive and direct download via file transfer services such as Aspera or Media Shuttle. MatrixStore integrates natively with these services to make the process more transparent, faster and more efficient.

• Vault P2 is used to ingest original material, mainly filming, both property and services provided. All image backups are saved automatically, which gives Imagina the security that the original files you want to save will not be lost in the future.

• Imagina Park Media is a storage space for Interplay AVID post-production material from the MatrixStore Interconnect application. Thanks to Interconnect, all of the company's major post-production projects remain ready for reissue. Any material you want to reformat is ready for reissue and reformat in a matter of hours.

• Imagina Archive, the Imagina US Archive contains an extensive history of productions ranging from studio shows, soap operas, documentaries and reality television shows. The Imagina Archive vault contains all the video material produced by the company and all the corporate videos and photography of this. Naturally this is the largest Vault and uses MatrixStore Vision to provide Imagina with easy access to stored content. Some of this content is also accessible from the Media Shuttle Portal, used in the International Sales office, located in Madrid, Spain.

• VOD storage is dedicated to storing processed and VOD-ready files. In this Vault, Imagina has several automated folders for its transcoding and digital delivery systems.

• Vaults for client Storage. In addition to these general Vaults, Imagina has created specific workspaces for individual clients, including an archive vault and a promotions vault for Hemisphere TV.

Imagina US provides complete broadcast services for Hemisphere TV, including ingest, post-production, broadcast and VOD services. Therefore, it was crucial to have a space to manage only that content, while giving those in charge of programming, promotion and marketing access to view it for its four channels: Pasiones US, Pasiones Latam, CATV and Televisión Dominicana.

The facility also includes a material exchange vault for Hola TV's Miami and Madrid teams. The Hola TV Media team in Miami has direct access through Mxfs to the content uploaded by the Madrid team in the same way that it can export directly to this space.

Exchange content

With so many different vaults to manage, being able to transfer files between several of these workspaces was also an important aspect for Imagina US. With the DropSpot client application, Imagina US is able to manage and restart transfer processes by adding profiles created from metadata forms.

Imagina uses its Vault Exchanger to exchange all types of multimedia files between offices and technical environments. All Imagina clients: Bein Sports, DirecTv, Hola TV and Hemisphere, use this service via FTP. Faced with the challenge of giving access to office and technical staff of each of the clients, the ability to configure access controls and permissions has been crucial, since each of the clients knows that only their own staff has access to their own content. These access controls are set at the user level from which specific read and write levels are assigned.

"MatrixStore has revolutionized Imagina US' Media Management, giving it an integrated system to manage multiple workspaces, while ensuring a high level of security and content protection. Ultimately, it means that Imagina US can do what it does best: receive, generate and distribute a large amount of content," stressed Marc Andreu, Director of Media Management at Imagina US.

The systems installed and supported in Miami by Unitecnic US consist of 528 terabytes of MatrixStore object storage and the following Object Matrix applications: InterConnect plugin for Avid Interplay PAM; DropSpot for data ingest and movement; MXFS for content access; and browser vision to find and share content internally and with clients in addition to viewing it via proxy video.