The highly scalable Harmonic MediaGrid is an Ethernet-based shared storage system optimized for digital video workflows.
MediaGridProven in the world's most demanding video environments, it is perfectly suited for digital video applications that require real-time storage sharing, such as uploading, broadcasting, storing, local editing, collaborative editing, transcoding, and over-the-top (OTT) adaptive bitrate streaming. The MediaGrid storage system is easy to deploy, manage, and scale, accelerating file-based workflows while managing the entire asset production lifecycle. This system reduces the cost of nearline storage for video, enabling the economical deployment of petabyte-scale digital video libraries and archives for video on demand (VOD) and other applications.
MediaGridSpecifically designed to deliver high bandwidth and consistently low latency for video. The unique distributed file system and the MediaGrid File System Driver (FSD) installed on each client server provide exceptional performance. Unlike traditional cluster NAS systems that can only access data through a single path at a time, Harmonic FSD supports true parallel access across multiple storage nodes and network connections, maximizing performance.
MediaGridThe system can be configured in various ways to meet the specific requirements of different use cases. Video operations can start with a smaller MediaGrid system — for example, with 48 TB of available capacity — and then seamlessly scale up to PB-level storage capacity and throughput capabilities of several tens of GB per second. Industry-leading high-density storage options — supporting up to 504 TB of raw capacity in just 5 RU — can reduce rack space by up to 60% and storage-related costs by up to 30%, thereby lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) through exceptional cost-effectiveness.
High Scalability
MediaGridBased on a fully distributed, outward-scalable architecture, performance continuously improves with the addition of storage nodes in the connected system. It can provide nearly 2 GBps bandwidth for a single client, with total bandwidth reaching several tens of GB/second. As the system expands, both bandwidth and capacity increase linearly, effectively enhancing the access speed of existing content. The high performance of MediaGrid even supports the transmission of uncompressed files over Ethernet.
Bandwidth consistency is another distinguishing feature of MediaGrid. In similar storage systems, the fragmentation of data can lead to a noticeable decline in performance over time. The MediaGrid file system shares data in stripes across all system servers and clients, allowing clients to access these servers in parallel, ensuring that the system can provide stable performance for any application at any time.
High cost-performance with easy deployment
MediaGridThe deployment is very straightforward. The system is based on standard hardware components and cost-effective Ethernet technology, resulting in lower purchase and maintenance costs. Many other video storage systems rely on Fibre Channel SAN to provide the required performance levels, but Fibre Channel is far more complex than Ethernet and requires expensive professionals for management. In many cases, such competing systems necessitate forklift upgrades to overcome performance or capacity limitations on a single controller, leading to high costs during initial deployment and scaling. MediaGrid eliminates the need for such concerns.
Video workflows often require the rapid and continuous addition of new content, necessitating easy scalability. In some systems, scaling can lead to cumbersome management tasks and significantly disrupt users' work. With MediaGrid, the system scales in a fast and unobtrusive manner: additional storage nodes and new storage capacity are seamlessly integrated into the file system, while existing data is redistributed among the newly added nodes through background tasks, making the process visible to users. You can achieve scalability without the need to reconfigure the file system or perform defragmentation.
MediaGridWith a globally scalable namespace that can expand to PB levels, you will no longer need to create and manage multiple volumes.
Optimized for video workflows
MediaGridDesigned to meet the stringent requirements of digital video workflows, it has been rigorously tested and optimized across dozens of top video systems, including the Harmonic Spectrum video server and ProMedia™ X Origin source server. The system also supports collaborative editing workflows for nonlinear editing, such as Apple® Final Cut Pro®, Avid® Media Composer®, and Adobe® Premiere® Pro.
MediaGridDrawing on Harmonic's extensive expertise in video applications and workflows, it offers advanced features specifically designed for video, supporting the editing of files in transit (a crucial capability in environments like broadcasting) and various block sizes to optimize performance for different types of video tasks. MediaGrid FSD intelligently utilizes client memory to pre-read and store portions of video files before application requests, providing extremely fast video access speeds.
Stability and Availability
Shared storage is a crucial resource in file-based workflows, and MediaGrid is designed specifically for this task. The MediaGrid system has no single point of failure, utilizing dual Active-Active controllers with transparent failover, redundant data paths, and other features to provide storage node fault protection, preventing controller failures with process-visible client failover. The software RAID options include RAID 4 and RAID 6, safeguarding against extremely low-probability failure events, such as multiple drive failures within a RAID group.
In addition to the powerful fault tolerance features of MediaGrid, it allows you to perform routine system maintenance, add storage nodes, and upgrade software and firmware without any downtime.
To protect mission-critical assets, MediaGrid offers advanced offsite disaster recovery configurations. Data within the MediaGrid system can be visibly replicated across different physical locations while being retained under the same file system. If one location experiences a power outage, clients will automatically route to backup storage, ensuring visibility of the process and providing excellent data and workflow protection.
Product Features
• Ethernet-based extended shared storage
• Exceptional consistent performance suitable for video workflows
• High density, supporting up to 504 TB of raw capacity within 5 RU.
• Unique file system technology supports extremely high bandwidth across all capacity points.
• Provides easy, cost-effective usage, management, and scalability.
• Integrated Spectrum™ Video Server and Harmonic ProMedia® X Origin Stream Video Server
• Safe and reliable, capable of optimizing performance through dozens of top media applications.