"The DNA Evolution LTO LTFS archive workflow has allowed us to save tremendous time and costs for our clients and our entire digital process has been transformed. The personalized support from the StorageDNA team has been outstanding."
– Nic Smith, Technical Director, Digital Pictures

DNA Evolution: How it Works

• Archive Workflows Designed for Media Pipelines
• Search, Browse, and Preview
• Restore and Conform from LTO Tape
• Smart Access LTO
• Share and Exchange via Open XML
• Open Data (LTFS) – Open Metadata (XML)
• Administrative, Central Control

Archive Workflows Designed For Media Pipelines

DNA Evolution enables different ways to archive so you can customize it to your pipeline and workflows.

• Web Interface – Archive Folders and Camera Media: You can select any folder for archiving simply by using the Web interface. Once selected, the Archive Manager archives directly from source to LTO. This interface allows easy archiving of folders, camera masters, mags, and removable flash media.
• Drag ‘n’ Drop Archive: You can simply move files or use a third-party application to drop files in a designated drop folder on your SAN. The Archive Manager archives files directly from source to LTO. DNA Evolution enables local drag ‘n’ drop which is faster than dropping files across a network in a network appliance.
• Scheduled, Delta Incremental: You can setup the Archive Manager to scan an existing workspace or it will monitor the folder at an interval, and only archive new or changed media. This workflow is great for scheduled backups, auto-archiving, ingest or playout folders.
• Web Interface – Select AAF/XML/EDLs: You can select bins, sequences, and projects for archiving (Adobe®, Final Cut Pro®, and Avid®) via AAF and XML. The Archive Manager parses the AAF/XML/EDL for referenced media files and archives the files directly to LTO tape.
• Drop Folders for AAF/XML: You can simply drop AAF/XML/EDLs into a watch folder. The Archive Manager parses the AAF/XML/EDL for referenced media files and archives the files directly to LTO tape.
• Third-party Integration (Avid® Interplay®, CatDV): DNA Evolution has been integrated into third-party MAM systems, such as Avid Interplay and CatDV, to enable seamless archiving. In these deployments, DNA Evolution provides you with the high performance of direct archiving.

Search, Browse, and Preview

DNA Evolution offers you unmatched value compared to other solutions, and includes a built-in asset manager. DNA Evolution’s advanced metadata extraction and indexing engine makes all metadata searchable. You can login via a Web browser and browse, search, and play proxy previews. This allows everyone in the organization to search and focus on the content they need before retrieving the hi-resolution media from LTO tape.

File Browse Interface: You can browse the entire catalog of archived media from a Web browser, and the user interface shows which tape the file is archived on, even if the tape is offline on a shelf.

Mini-media Asset Manager (miniMAM) – Clip Browse: You can browse all media elements, (clips), and play previews if configured.

Restore and Conform from LTO

Conform: You can select AAF/XML/EDLs and then apply a conform rule.

DNA Evolution gives you flexibility and allows multiple restore mechanisms. Clips identified via search, preview or browse can be selected for restore directly from the Web interface. Restores can be also performed using AAF/XML/EDL. In fact, DNA Evolution is one of the only solutions capable of enabling conforms: it takes a low-res sequence, (via AAF/XML/EDL), finds the hi-res media files on LTO and restores it for you. You save tremendous time and costs by automating the conform process versus having to manually restore all of your content.

Smart Access LTO
Transcode, Partial Restore, Play Directly from LTO

Smart Access LTO is a unique technology enabled by DNA Evolution which builds on the direct access ability of LTFS and gives third party applications, (such as transcode, partial restore, and playout), direct, but controlled access to files directly from LTO tape. DNA Evolution manages tape drive locking, tape loading, and tape seeking, and gives you direct access to the application when the file is ready for access.

The ability to give any third party application access to content directly on LTO tape accelerates numerous workflows and makes your storage infrastructure more cost-effective.

Share and Exchange via Open XML

Unique to DNA Evolution is its ability to export metadata as XML files. With hi-res on LTO and metadata in XML, archives can be moved from one system to another. Furthermore, this allows for 100% openness–enabling open data and open metadata.

Open Data (LTFS) – Open Metadata (XML)

Data Flow and Metadata Flow

Open Data (LTFS): Long-term Archive Access
All files archived to LTO are in Linear Tape File System (LTFS) open format. This allows you to restore your archived media at any time simply via an LTO-5 or higher tape drive and free software from the tape drive vendor.

Metadata Extraction Plug-ins and
Open XML-based Metadata Storage
DNA Evolution allows you to write custom plug-ins for extracting metadata. Metadata is stored in an open XML format and then indexed via a noSQL indexing engine. Compared to SQL, noSQL engines have much higher limits on the number of fields of metadata that can be indexed.

Administrative Central Control
Users, Groups, Archive Manager Access Control,
Storage Access Control

DNA Evolution’s intuitive Web-based interface allows you to remotely manage your archive environment from jobs, browsing archives, users, and groups to managing servers and clients. The central Web interface allows administrators to limit user access to archive managers, limit user access to only certain folders, as well as control which users have access to certain groups. The Web-based central administration gives you the control you need.

Assign Users to Archive Managers: Admins can control which users have access to specific Archive Managers.

Assign Users to Group: Admins can create groups and assign users to groups.

User Access Limited by Folders: Admins can limit which folders are accessible to users for archiving.

Learn More

DNA Evolution: Overview

• Revolutionary New Architecture
• Breakthrough Performance
• Any Archive Workflow for any Media Pipeline
• Save with Nearline Workflows from LTO
• Long-term Data Integrity
• Open Data, Open Metadata
• Built-in mini-Media Asset Manager with Smart Browse
• Share and Exchange
• Unlimited Scalability

DNA Evolution: Architecture

• Traditional Storage Architecture
• DNA Evolution: Revolutionary New Architecture
• High Performance with Tight Storage Integration

Resources

• DNA Evolution™ Feature List and System Requirements  Download »
• Product Brief: DNA Evolution™  Download »
• Case Studies  View »
• DNA Evolution: Products  View »

Have a question or want more information? Contact us so we can help.