The IT Explosion – Why Video and Storage Systems Need to Keep Up
My fascination with video emerged back in my elementary school days. In the mid-to-late 1980s, my neighborhood friend Charlie and I would haul around his family’s klunky old video camera creating our own home movies. I remember there was a mode where you could capture one frame at a time, so we would build 30 frames of video to create our own stop motion animation. I’m not afraid to admit my nerd status back then or to acknowledge that it continued through junior high and college.
Back then or even 15 years ago, I don’t know that those in the industry would have predicted that one day people would have the ability to create high definition video on their cell phone. Or that they could essentially beam that content to anyone who had Internet access. But they did see change coming. They were aware that equipment was becoming more advanced and was going to become more readily available and affordable.
When IT explodes in any industry or the technology itself develops, it inherently leads to a rapid state of change. And challenging though it might be to plan your business around these changes, companies must have the scalability in place to move forward with the times.
So how does a company scale?
Step 1. Be Aware of the Trends.
Use resources like Chesapeake Systems. Listen to episodes of our podcast, The Workflow Show, or sign up for our newsletter. We like to think that as consultants who have been immersed in this industry for many years, we are always staying abreast of these changes.
Attend industry trade shows, conventions and talks. Our best advice is to make sure you put some time and energy into understanding what’s coming.
So what IS trending?
Camera manufacturers tend to drive a lot of change, with the new technology having downstream ramifications. While it may have taken some 50 years for television to transition from SD to HD, the move from HD to 4K is happening at a much quicker clip. Camera manufacturers began incorporating 4K capable censors into their equipment, which appealed to those in the industry. Shooting with 4K cameras means producing 4K files. There is already talk of 8K and even 16K possibilities. Offering 4 to 16 times the resolution impacts everything from software to storage requirements to performance level. This uptick in requirements all comes at a cost. Throw in the trending 360-degree environment and things become even more complex.
So how do these trends affect your scalability?
This brings us to Step 2.
Step 2. Incorporate Scalability Into How You Build Out Your Technological Infrastructure
There is no simple answer or quick fix for scalability, but when considering your technological infrastructure, you must think beyond your immediate needs. It can basically be guaranteed, most likely no more than five years from now, that external factors enabled by technology are going to force you to reinvest in your infrastructure – in your storage system.
If you’re making an investment in a data storage system for your video, whether it’s shorter- term stuff you’re actively editing and doing post production on, or it’s the longer-term stuff, you need to look at a system that can fulfill your needs five years out. Make sure you have a good sense of its ability to keep up during its lifetime.
The reality is, technology is a beast, and it’s going to do, in my opinion, what it’s going to do. It’s akin to a force of nature. So you have to align yourself with the right resources and partners and evolve around the evolution of technology.
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