CBC Installs Front Porch’s DIVArchive to Support Avid-Based Workflow

CBC Television has implemented Front Porch Digital’s DIVArchive content storage management solution (CSM) to manage archiving and retrieval of SD and HD news, arts, and entertainment programming produced in-house. Tightly integrated with one of the largest Avid Interplay news and post-production environments in the world, the DIVArchive system provides a scalable file-based storage and preservation repository for CBC.

“As a pioneer in Canadian broadcasting and an early adopter of file-based devices, CBC has made another great technological leap forward with the implementation of a central content storage repository using our DIVArchive solution,” says Brian Campanotti, Front Porch Digital’s chief technology officer. “Because DIVArchive interfaces with CBC’s digital workflow systems, the storage of digital content is seamlessly managed throughout the entire production process. Designed modularly for easy expansion, DIVArchive will remain a key component to support CBC’s plans for the future as well reaching far outside of its post and news environments.”

DIVArchive is an integrated hardware and software solution that supports scalable storage, content preservation, management, retrieval, and partial retrieval of media content by enabling interoperability between digital media storage devices, video servers, editing systems, and digital media workflow applications including broadcast automation, media asset management, and traffic systems.

At the CBC, DIVArchive is integrated with a large Avid ISIS media storage infrastructure as well as Avid Interplay production management systems to manage close to 1PB of expandable data tape archive capacity, which represents a current capacity of more than 15,000 hours of DNxHD post-production content or more than 70,000 of IMX30 news content.

The DIVArchive solution also provides efficient access. Working at their desktops from the familiar Avid interface, CBC producers, editors, and journalists are able to browse or restore archived clips for identification or manipulation. Previously, CBC staff had to manually retrieve videotapes as needed from a vault.