pixitmedia

To keep audiences spellbound year-round, media companies need smart and efficient data management with hybrid cloud flexibility to streamline heavy workflows and collaborate on a global scale.

pixitmedia adds flexibility, scale and performance into any workflow using IBM Spectrum® Scale software to help hybrid cloud clients create hit after hit.

A major shift is underway for media and entertainment companies. The pandemic fundamentally disrupted the way content creators make, share and store their work. Application needs have quickly shifted from on-premises networks and data storage toward a need to enable more efficient workflows and creative collaborations through cloud-based data storage solutions.

pixitmedia simplifies this new flow of data for companies through purpose-built, software-defined storage and data management solutions.

“It goes beyond storage,” says CTO and co-founder Barry Evans. “When you talk to the people that bring these creative stories to life, they don't really care where that data sits. Whether they're an editor working on a feature or a color grader, scaler, audio, or visual-effects person, they just have a job that needs to be done. They want to be able to use it and access it through their own tools and their own project management workflow whether that data is on premises, on their own workstations, or whether it's in the cloud somewhere.”

pixstor®, pixitmedia’s powerful data-aware network-attached storage platform, utilizes IBM Spectrum® Scale to “go beyond storage” and provide tighter application integration to fully unify data, infrastructure and users.

“We've been really successful recently delivering a whole new range of flexibility,” says Barry Evans. “The beauty of what we've developed alongside IBM Spectrum Scale is interoperability between on premises and the cloud. Our customers want to carry on operating efficiently locally but have the confidence and ability to cope with new demanding workflows globally. Interconnected storage provides that global collaboration without compromise now and, while not a key driver at present, offers scope to implement machine learning technologies, such as AI, in the future.”

With this flexibility, pixstor® empowers creative workflow efficiencies through simplified administration processes, a seamless user experience, powerful search functionality across the single namespace, and multi-tenancy containers for security & audit compliance.

IBM Spectrum Scale provides pixitmedia with a wealth of enterprise-grade data protection, data management and performance features. “Having a lot of these basic features from the offset has allowed us to concentrate on delivering disruptive, industry-relevant innovation for our customers.” For pixitmedia, that means focusing on making their customers' media and creative workflows more efficient. Barry adds, “IBM Spectrum Scale takes care of the foundation, which allows us to focus on developing new industry-leading technologies that give our customers a real competitive edge, like our multi-tenancy solutions that significantly reduce on-premises infrastructure requirements whilst simultaneously delivering efficiency and security for our customers.”

When addressing the security challenges of accessing and storing data across multiple storage platforms, pixitmedia’s deployment of container-based multi-tenant architectures meets the most stringent security and auditing standards. pixstor® enables studios and companies to work safely and securely within their own data ecosystems, meaning that companies can avoid the spiraling costs and productivity hits associated with operating separate isolated infrastructure stacks or security protocols and focus on delivering upon creative projects.

Barry Evans concludes: “From our customer’s perspectives, who were adapting to this change, their challenge was finding a quick way to grant their creatives users access to data remotely. These setups would have implications on network bandwidth and limit how many users could store, share and collaborate on the same data. We’re going ’beyond storage’ by taking a holistic view of the entire supply chain and pipeline of edited work within studios. To do this, our core solutions focus solely on delivering performance, collaboration and seamless access to data—whether it’s on premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid combination of both models.”

Pixitmedia (link resides outside ibm.com) is an award-winning software-defined storage and data solutions company headquartered in the UK, with offices in the USA and Germany. They optimize solutions and simplify the flow of data to connect an increasingly complex world. Constantly pushing boundaries, they aim to ensure optimum performance and value with both choice and freedom in a restless pursuit of innovation. Customer success is at the heart of pixitmedia with technical specialists and a unique, dedicated lab facility to guarantee the effectiveness of our solutions.