148 references to sharks in clips that you would never think of. It showed what is possible.” However, standing in the way of these new opportunities is the level of investment required to move content entirely over to the cloud. While the massive archives of content owned by large media organisations can deliver huge value, organising them initially requires a huge logistical effort. “It’s not just a single process,” says Beach. “There are so many different systems that need to be moved over and organised. Then there’s the question of how you’re going to give people access, then revoke that access when those people are done with a particular project, since you don’t want them to be able to access raw assets years afterwards. The logistical challenges during that initial effort are the biggest obstacle.” To help in overcoming the technical challenges of a transition, Microsoft can provide the core components on which to build a whole new ecosystem. “For supply chains, the most important aspects are ingress and egress – how do you get big files in and out of the cloud quickly and securely?” says Beach. “It’s very important to have robust security, two-factor authentication and rolesbased access to assign specific people to specific resources for a limited time. In addition, you have to be able to shift petabytes of data from cold to hot storage when you’re actively working on them to ensure you’re not overspending. Those fundamental pieces of ingress and egress, identity and security are what we can bring with our cloud infrastructure.” On top of those building blocks, Microsoft’s wide partner network enables it to work closely with partners in the media industry to deliver the third-party tools and solutions that companies need as they shift toward a cloudbased supply chain. “Our media approach is very much ecosystem driven,” says Beach. “We turn to our partners in the industry that have the right tools and solutions which build on top of the core components that we can provide. Examples include MediaKind, with the processing engine tools necessary to transform and distribute media to the cloud, or MediaValet, who perform a lot of image asset management for newspapers and news providers. Vubiquity (part of Amdocs) is doing some great work as a system integrator, helping companies introduce the tools and processes that helps them manage their ecosystem.” Beach believes that transitioning to a cloudbased supply chain offers a huge opportunity for media organisations to make better use of their assets. “These projects can be years in the making,” he says. “There are immediate benefits with modern cloud-based tools. And once they get past that big initial effort, companies can start to see the full value of their most lucrative assets.” FEATURE Content stored in the cloud can be worked on by more people in locations around the world
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