Imagine Products and StorageDNA Partnering

Imagine Products, Inc., in software utilities for backing up, viewing, sharing, transcoding, and archiving video assets, and StorageDNA, Inc., in intelligent nearline and archiving workflow solutions for media professionals, announced a partnership resulting in a new product.

The two companies have collaborated on an integrated solution that enables random access to files on an LTO tape, essentially turning it into a HDD with dnaLTFS – an LTFS adaptation that was not available before. The results are time savings and easier access to assets in production and post-production workflows.

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The joint solution is called myLTOdna. It is an integration between Imagine Products’ myLTO tape-authoring application and StorageDNA’s HyperTape direct access tape solution powered by dnaLTFS. The result is an intuitive user interface with which to administrate HyperTape operating modes manually, or automatically from creative applications such as Imagine Products’ PrimeTranscoder – a process that is preferable to command line operations.

“StorageDNA has been dedicated to M&E markets since 2004, and we strive to provide customers with workflow-enhancing solutions that make LTO tape a more usable storage medium. We chose to work with Imagine Products on our HyperTape user interface because the company is known for highly intuitive interfaces and well respected for LTO/LTFS archiving and workflows,” said Tridib Chakravarty, CEO and president, StorageDNA. “By joining forces with Imagine Products and integrating our capabilities, we are providing media professionals with the simplest and fastest LTO workflows available today.“

myLTOdna is the Mac-based front-end interface for HyperTape. It allows users to switch modes of operation and direct HyperTape to train, write, and read to and from an LTO tape. Users can access files directly on tape without having to restore them for sequential operations such as transcoding, ingest, or QC. Instead, they can drag and drop files to or from tape at the desktop level at speeds exceeding 300MB/s. Those benefits can save facilities hundreds of hours in time and resources.

“When StorageDNA contacted us last year about a partnership, we jumped at the chance to work with another company as highly regarded for its advances in LTO/LTFS workflows. Together, we’ve created a cutting-edge solution unlike any other – a way to access files from an LTO tape like you would a HDD,” said Michelle Maddox, marketing director, Imagine Products. “In doing so, we’re passing our many decades of combined knowledge and expertise directly to users. This kind of LTO solution has never been available before, and it will simplify so many workflows.“

myLTOdna benefits any segment of the media and entertainment industry in which ever-increasing amounts of content regularly exceed spinning-disk storage capacities. It is especially useful for field/camera file offloads, post-production facilities receiving field/camera files, facilities wanting to manage their online storage capacity levels, and those looking to keep files long term for repurposing.

Those who use myLTOdna with PrimeTranscoder can still archive to LTO tape with standard LTFS (myLTO) and use all the functions of PrimeTranscoder: transcoding files to useable formats, stitching together clips, burning in timecode, performing color correction, and adding watermarks.

myLTOdna and PrimeTranscoder are available from the Imagine Products and StorageDNA websites, while LTO drive licenses for HyperTape powered by dnaLTFS are available through StorageDNA’s reseller channel.

Also, through StorageDNA’s website, the company will sell a bundle that pairs myLTOdna, HyperTape powered by dnaLTFS, and PrimeTranscoder with an LTO drive.