Object Matrix is offering an excellent opportunity for someone to come into a customer-facing role and develop into a senior sales professional. Previous sales experience is not essential but a confident, outgoing person is required.

This will initially be an office based telesales role from our Caerphilly/ Cardiff based HQ, however there will be a genuine opportunity for career progression. The person should be expected to be mentored to become an all round new-business sales professional from finding new suspects to closing deals, as well as account managing our existing range of high profile customers.

The selected person will be:-

• Confident but non-confrontational in nature and will be someone who is not scared to pick up the telephone and cold call individuals and companies to sell the MatrixStore proposition.
• Will need to be organised in both managing their time, tracking their work and setting themselves daily objectives without being micro managed
• Someone who can assist in other duties outside of their core job role when called upon to do so.
• Be able to assist at exhibitions, customer demonstrations and installs which could be on a global basis
• Be able to spend nights away from home on business trips, with a potential of up to a week at a time
• Computer literate with a grasp of office applications such as Word and/or Excel
• Has a full UK driving license

Past experience in either an IT industry or a creative industry (broadcasters, post production, film, publishing) is desirable but not essential.

Please send your CV with covering letter and salary expectations to hr@object-matrix.com

No Agencies.

Full details here:

Object Matrix to Debut at NAB in Las Vegas

Caerphilly, Wales, UK, March 10th 2011: Object Matrix will be showcasing its tapeless workflow archive technology MatrixStore at the National Association of Broadcasters Show (NAB) for the first time.

MatrixStore acts as a pre-production, nearline or local archive, allowing content to move smoothly through any digital workflow from ingest to delivery. Implementing a tapeless or file-based workflow has been highlighted as one of the top challenges facing creative organizations. With no tape to put on the shelf broadcasters, post- production facilities and creative agencies are looking for a solution to keep their assets secure and more importantly available throughout the production process. A single MatrixStore cluster acts as rushes/dailies, nearline or local archive allowing content to move seamlessly through any digital workflow from ingest to delivery.

MatrixStore features include:

• Guaranteed ingest with metadata harvesting (Panasonic P2 etc)

• Secure Ingest Vaults (Lock down from accidental deletion) • Production/Project parking to a Nearline Vault in Avid and Final Cut Workflows (one click operation)

• Archiving Legacy assets to a local, online library vault using DropSpot, Final Cut Server, Cantemo Portal, Vidispine, Phoenix7 and CatDV

• MatrixStore scales from 12TB to 2PB+ with an elegant plug and scale architecture

MatrixStore clustered storage consists of proven commodity server hardware combined with innovative and powerful software to ensure the integrity of data coupled with self-healing in the case of component failure. The solution is scalable in both performance and capacity with the simple addition of storage nodes as and when you need them. MatrixStore provides users with a keyword search tool to quickly and efficiently search through stored material and metadata. The cost effective and easily scalable nature of MatrixStore makes it the perfect nearline storage solution for today’s digital workflows.

The recently introduced Media Asset Management bundle from Object Matrix, Cantemo and Vidispine will also be demonstrated from 9th-14th April 2011 on stand SL8923 which is located in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (Las Vegas, USA).

The View From OM

Very happy to have a meeting and demo space at NAB as it will provide us with the ability to present our technology to our resellers and their clients who are located in the Americas. We will also be announcing a new integration at the show.

Caerphilly, UK and Portugal, 6th September 2010: Object Matrix, a leading developer of secure archive systems and MOG Technologies, the award-winning provider of SDI and file based ingest solutions, have announced a joint technology partnership. The collaboration brings together two innovative technologies that are helping the creative industries to manage, protect and streamline the deluge of file-based content that is entering facilities every day.

The integrated solution between the MOG Technologies mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000 tapeless media ingest platform and Object Matrix’s intelligent disk-based archive system, MatrixStore, provides seamless ingest workflows putting content at the editor’s fingertips whilst ensuring the rushes are protected at the highest levels.

Implementing a tapeless or file-based workflow has been highlighted as one of the top challenges facing creative organisations in 2010. They face the challenge of managing the ingest of multiple formats captured on a variety of cameras whilst ensuring the content is protected and available on demand. The elegant solution offered by MOG and Object Matrix provides workflows that are secure, automated, audited and repeatable, freeing up staff to concentrate on tasks that add value to the business.

“MOG Technologies is committed to offer the most simple, reliable and interoperable ingest solutions to the broadcast industry”, says Vitor Teixeira, MOG Technologies Marketing and Sales Director “Object Matrix disk-based archive system perfectly fits our mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000 system integration with NAS storage for the backup of material. This partnership allows MOG to offer a high performance tapeless system in a true multi-resolution workflow: edit proxy files in Avid editors, backup the media in MatrixStore storage and then get the high-quality sub-clips media available at the editor upon request.”

MOG’s mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000 ingests tapeless MXF media (video, audio and metadata) from any location seamlessly into any shared storage solution. Launched in 2009, it already has a large number of users across Europe and the American continent reaping the benefits of a centralised ingest concept. mxfSPEEDRAIL F1000 is a quick and simple way to move media between servers and editors, with faster than real time speeds, multiple simultaneous transfers with partial-restore and sub-clipping options. A perfect fit for multi-channel and multi-resolution workflow systems. It also preserves camera metadata when transferring clips, making it available for editors and MAMs.

“Working with a forward thinking company like MOG Technologies not only broadens the eco-system of products and applications that can interact with MatrixStore but also offers more advanced workflow options to our customers and the market in general. We are very pleased to be working with the MOG team and look forward to evolving the solution to add more automated workflows in the very near future”. Nick Pearce, co-founder, Object Matrix.

The MatrixStore provides functionality that is perfectly suited to the ingest of file-based content. It is scalable, secure and can lock down rushes from accidental deletion until the production process is complete. With digital fingerprinting of content, continuous data verification and meta-data extraction it provides producers with the peace of mind that their content is not only protected in two locations but is also guaranteed to be authentic. The MatrixStore is current in use as a secure rushes repository in the UKs largest broadcasters and post-productions facilities.

Availability
The integrated mxfSPEEDRAIL/MatrixStore solution is available now from MOG Technologies, Object Matrix and their worldwide network of business partners.
You can find out more about the integrated solution at IBC 2010 where MatrixStore and mxfSPEEDRAIL will be demonstrated on the MOG Technologies Stand (Hall7 G39).

About MOG Technologies
MOG is a recognized leader in the development of MXF technology. The engineering team, former researchers at Portuguese R&D institute, actively participated in the development of the MXF standard itself. With several years of experience in both IT and Broadcast technology under their belts, this team started in 2000 the development of a reference MXF software implementation that accompanied the development of the first drafts of the MXF standard.
In 2002, the team fully integrated at MOG Solutions, applied the gathered and matured know-how to develop the first commercially available MXF software product. www.mog-technologies.com

The View From OM

Partnering with the team at MOG is another case of providing more elegant workflow solutions and providing a secure, integrated ingest option that the industry is asking for and needs.

- Preserving and managing rushes and work-in-progress in tapeless environments

- Tracking and exploiting metadata through workflows, including multi-site, multi-vendor workflows

- Cost effective production and media asset management in multi-vendor (Avid, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk to name just the “A”s) environments

- Multi-platform production/project management

Click below to see a time lapse video from the tech room:

The View from OM

This event was the first of many and the feedback was very encouraging in that our community consisting of technologists and creative professionals is ready and willing to collaborate to produce solutions that work.

Thanks to the Mediasmiths (Steve in particular) for running the event and to the other tech companies who took time out to share their thoughts and skills. (Gridiron Software, Vidispine, MXFServer, First Person and the BBC Ingex team)

(Music in video: Chepstow Male Voice Choir)

• Object Matrix showing The MatrixStore archive in a number of workflows (Final Cut Server, Avid, Pre-Production, Nearline, Backup etc)
• Vidispine showing its new Media Asset Management platform
• Gridrion Software showing Flow
• ERA will be demonstrating MXFServer from Film Partners.

The View from OM

We are looking forward to getting together with the likes of Simon, Eric, Isak, Sean and the Mediasmiths. The technologies are totally complimentary and offer the ability to automate end-to-end workflows with repeatable results. The blog from Steve is here and the invite to the event is here.

TCO Analysis Document (TCOAnalysis)

An overview of the elements one needs to consider when putting together a TCO model. The elements in this document were garnered with the help from the wider storage community and creative professionals. The content under those elements is our work and we hope to have avoided FUDlike comment.

TCO Spreadsheet (Disk Vs Tape TCO v2.1.1 2009 (version 1))

Open to scrutiny and allows the user to enter their own values. We have only put in one tape library that has been spec’d to grow at 50TB p.a as, surprise surprise, we have been unable to get accurate pricing on a solution like the Scalar i2000 which can scale to 4500 tape slots (just under 5PB). If anyone out there has that pricing and can plug it in please do so and report back here in the comments.

In the spreadsheet we have place holders for showing the benefit of having the data available online and available. When you start to input the manual costs of retrieving content the TCO swings further towards clustered disk.

The View From OM

Please take these docs, scrutinise them, love them, hate them, change them, share them, add products and pricing. It is one way as a community we can create a living TCO model.

Being a vendor of disk based solutions we are of course confident the numbers will stay in favour of disk. We more than happy to have a conversation around this subject and potentially walk through the documents in order to ensure you get the best out of them for your needs. Get in touch!

Previous Posts on TCO:

http://www.matrixstore.net/2009/09/17/defining-an-up-to-date-tco-model/

http://www.matrixstore.net/2008/03/03/problems-with-total-cost-of-ownership/

The OM  team will demonstrate how The MatrixStore can protect content from ingest to archive:

- Guaranteed ingest with metadata harvesting (Panasonic P2)

- Secure Ingest Vaults (Lock down from accidental deletion)

- Production/Project parking to a Nearline Vault in AVID and Final Cut Workflows (one click operation)

- Archiving Legacy assets to an online Library Vault using DropSpot, Final Cut Server and CatDV

Implementing a tapeless or file based workflow has been highlighted as one of the top challenges facing creative organisations in 2010. With no tape to put on the shelf broadcasters, post-production facilities and creative agencies are looking for a solution to keep their assets secure and more importantly available throughout the production process. A single MatrixStore cluster acts as pre-production, nearline or local archive allowing content to move seamlessly through any digital workflow from ingest to delivery.

The View From OM

We are very much looking forward to the show so come along and see us on stand C10!

One sweet spot for MatrixStore technology is in the creative space. Creative organisations are increasingly being subjected to change driven by external forces such as changes in the way content is captured and our insatiable appetite for HD or 3D content (see The Big Broadcast Survey published in 2009). The industry is one that is used to adapting to whatever is thrown at it but it also relies on solutions that just work.

Below is a quick summary of the challenges they currently face and how MatrixStore is positioned to help. I will elaborate on each point in later posts :

1. File Based/Tapeless Ingest - Some call it pre-production archiving, some call it prechiving, the problem is the same, more and more content is being captured on disk or flash. There is no tape to put on the shelf. Protecting content that enters the building in an audited manner is a key area where MatrixStore is helping. Integration into Final Cut and Avid workflows, digital fingerprints on ingest, locked vaults to protect from deletion and metadata harvesting from P2, SxS etc are some of the benefits.

2. Parking/Nearline – Production disk, the online, the SAN should be kept lean and mean. Some projects can take years to complete so content needs to be moved off and onto the expensive disk repeatedly over a prolonged period. Tape based technologies do not cut the mustard. Organisations are also looking to ‘rightsize’ their expensive disk by offloading older or less-used content that should not sit clogging up the SAN to a more appropriate tier of storage. Seamless one touch capacity expansion, DropSpot (metadata support/search) and performance make MatrixStore a natural choice.

3. Legacy/Local Archive – organisations who own content need to protect their content or they will not be able to re-use or monetise that content. The two maxims come into their own here. Integration with DAM/MAMs, Self-Management,  redundancy of data, retention policies (prevent change or deletion), metadata and search goodness are key here.

4. Content Manipulation/Distribution Repository - If you own the content and have it protected and available on disk then what can you do with that data? Clustered/Grid architecture, high availability, metadata and search again key.

5. Regulations - More and more financial institutions are using video in the way they communicate with staff or shareholders, that video needs to be protected and stored for a pre-determined period in accordance with global regulations. MatrixStore has built in characteristics that satisfy these compliance requirements.

The View From OM

Even medium to large creative organisations will not have dedicated I.T staff to work on the video side of the business so they need solutions that just work and do not take them out of their comfort zone. The MatrixStore is the storage geek so they don’t need one.

• File based/Tapeless workflows (P2, Sony, JVC)
• Automated Digital Asset Management (Final Cut Server, CatDV etc)
• Digital Preservation
• Disk based archiving
• Pre & post production archiving
• Rugby (Nick)
• Fooseball (Jon)

So pop over and say hello : Video Rescue Stand (6.C28d)

Cheers

N

One aspect of the role is very simple (DIT role is more complex, thanks JET and Filmbot):

- Take the content off the storage media (Red, P2, Sony)

- Copy the content to two locations (usually firewire drives)

- Erase the storage media 

- Give it back to be re-used

- Repeat

The problem with this approach is that is involves a lot of manual steps to protect the data, there is a real risk of content going missing (mislaid or worse) and also the volumes of data produced can create a management headache. 

For this reason Object Matrix have commissioned a 12Terabyte ‘On Location’ MatrixStore cluster that can be rented out through our dealer network. (Thanks to Ken at QLS)

Benefits:

- 2 copies of data protected at all times (4 disks would have to simultaneously fail for data to be unavailable)

- Secure from unauthorised access (audited access to content) 

- Cluster housed in a moveable, noise reduced, sealed XRack Pro enclosure.

- Replicate content to an offsite location (Internet access required) 

The View from OM

If you don’t have two copies of your data, you do not have it. If you cannot find your data, you do not have it. Reduce the risk of shooting on tapeless devices by making sure your content is protected and secure.

Please contact us for more details.