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Matthew Gonnering is the CEO of Widen Enterprises , a leading provider of web-hosted digital asset management (DAM) services that help organizations with the creation, management, and distribution of branded materials such as images, video, and audio files.

He can be reached at matthewg@widen.com.

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Relieving the video gridlock

Written on
Aug 3, 2009 
Author
Matthew Gonnering  |
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Relieving the video gridlock

video3_small.jpgADOTAS — I wrote last week about the traffic jam on the information superhighway and online video. What’s needed now is a “public transit system” for these massive video files that helps reduce the congestion on the Information Superhighway, while lowering the already burgeoning storage requirements. That system is now available in the form of digital asset management (DAM).

DAM is a method of facilitating the creation, management and distribution of digital assets, including images, graphics, logos, presentations, pages, documents, animations, and, of course, audio and video clips. DAM is much more than simple file management, however. Digital files or “content” become assets of value through the attachment of metadata (information about the content). Metadata elevates video content into assets because now it can be indexed, versioned, secured, stored and assigned a lifecycle state, a unique ID and an owner.

When metadata is applied to video files, DAM provides several benefits, including:

All users watch the same file from the same source. Rather than creating separate files for each location on the Web, all consumers of that content watch it from the same source, even though it may be viewed through thousands of different Web pages. Embedding code in the page, rather than having to transfer the actual file and provide it from a server, greatly reduces storage requirements and makes it easier to update the video since multiple locations “point” to one file rather than uploading a copy to each individual location.

Easier distribution. One of the challenges with video, as it is currently being used, is getting the enormous file from the source server to the other locations. That is not an issue with DAM. Since you’re sending all viewers to one location to view the file rather than sending the entire video file, the code required to post the video pointer can easily travel through e-mail or be downloaded quickly on the Internet. This distribution system also assures new files can be posted much more quickly.

Greater control over what is being viewed. One of marketing’s ongoing challenges with any material it produces is version control. With printed materials, creating one master control point is relatively easy because materials are usually stored at the source and then reviewed before being “served” to the consumer, making it easier to prevent expired materials or past-dated promotions from going out. Video, however, is normally loaded on a site first and then served on-demand; sometimes well past its expiration. DAM creates a master control point for video, assuring that whenever an update occurs (such as in an instructional video) that all users are viewing the most current content since only the source file is changed, not the embedded code.

Simpler, more effective organization. Rather than storing a random group of individual files the way a parking lot stores cars, DAM creates an organizational system around all the files. Each file has data and metadata around it describing the contents, available formats and other information, so you always know where to go to find a particular file, format, or version. In addition, because DAM sits above the various distribution formats, when a new file format is introduced it can easily be added as another way of using the file. And, all the data provides an effective means to search for files and distinguish between the various assets the organization is accumulating. Now, you don’t have to depend on a few experts knowing where a given file is; anyone easily can find it.

Simplifies backup. As with any digital asset, video requires backup and safe storage. Yet, if each core video file is available in several formats, each of those formats requires its own backup, greatly increasing storage needs. With DAM, you can backup a single file, then use that file to create and deliver all the other formats. For active video users, it can reduce storage requirements by an order of magnitude – an important consideration in the current economy.

Which road to take

The question then becomes how best to take advantage of DAM? Certainly an organization can add DAM software to an internal server and manage files over its own network. Yet, it seems almost self-defeating in some ways, since A) IT will have to beef up the amount of storage available by purchasing and maintaining additional servers, B) marketing will be limited in its ability to respond to market needs by how quickly IT can fulfill its requests and C) all that video traffic will quickly eat up corporate bandwidth, perhaps requiring an expensive investment that otherwise would not have been needed.

The better option is to leverage the advantages of DAM through a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider. Using an outside provider allows the organization to offload the management of the files and infrastructure to deliver them. It also provides a separate channel for outside parties to use in accessing the video, preserving corporate bandwidth for core business functions.
It really comes down to two issues: responsiveness and scalability. When DAM is achieved through a SaaS provider, marketing can go directly to that outside organization anytime changes, updates, additions or subtractions need to be made. It is a pure buyer/seller relationship; if the SaaS provider doesn’t meet its metrics for responsiveness, then marketing can take its business elsewhere.

In terms of scalability, with an internal department, storage and bandwidth usually are purchased on as-needed basis. That means someone, either in marketing, IT or both, has to plan ahead to make sure it’s available when required. With a SaaS provider, their main business is having ample storage and bandwidth available on demand. There’s never a question of when the file can go live; when marketing is ready, the upload can be made and the file can be distributed digitally wherever it’s needed.

Roadmap to ease the congestion

As individuals, there’s not much we can do to reduce the vehicle traffic volumes we face during rush hour. But we can take steps to use our own Internet bandwidth and file storage capacities more effectively.

By taking advantage of DAM, organizations and independent producers can ease digital video issues today, as well as prepare themselves for the onslaught of video consumption in the future. It will help us achieve the worthy goal of one Internet, one file.





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