Signiant Adding SkyDrop Hybrid SaaS Solution

Signiant, Inc., in intelligent file movement, announced an extension of the company’s cloud portfolio with the introduction of Signiant SkyDrop – a commercially available hybrid SaaS solution that accelerates the movement of big data and professional media files into and out of cloud storage.

Unlike other acceleration offerings, SkyDrop is a cloud-formed solution that leverages managed cloud infrastructure, in contrast to software that customers must deploy and manage.

SkyDrop offers the high transfer speed, low operational overhead and scalability that enterprises need to move even the largest data sets into and out of cloud storage. Workflows that require fast exchange of files to and from cloud storage, including active archiving, media processing and big data analysis, can now be implemented much more easily and cost-effectively.

Utilizing the same hybrid SaaS platform as the company’s Media Shuttle product, SkyDrop customers benefit from a cloud-connected architecture that provides rapid access to innovation and minimizes the software management burden of deployment, ongoing monitoring and upgrades.

SkyDrop takes the company’s commitment to cloud-formed solutions one step further. The cloud compute resources and software required for a highly available, high-speed storage connection are operated by Signiant as a fully managed service, requiring customers to simply install lightweightclient software and connect to their cloud storage tenancy.

Signiant technology is integrated with Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure storage. Initially available for Amazon S3, the SkyDrop solution will be offered for Azure, Google cloud Platform and other cloud platforms as market demand grows.

“The cloud is transforming how companies in media & entertainment and a variety of other industries are doing business – and now they need an easier, faster and more reliable way to move big data into and out of cloud environments,” said Rick Clarkson, VP of product management, Signiant. “They need immediate access to data and often don’t have the resources or expertise to configure and manage a cloud infrastructure. Signiant SkyDrop helps solve these problems, ensuring enterprises have the scalability, flexibility, security and control they need.”

SkyDrop offers business benefits:

• Speed – Patented technology provides transfer speeds that are up to 200 times faster than standard HTTP-based access, enabling time-critical workflows and reducing on-premise storage requirements while the content waits for upload to the cloud.
• Low operating cost – As a hybrid SaaS solution with managed cloud infrastructure, SkyDrop minimizes both technical support resource requirements and direct cloud compute costs.
• Scalability and reliability – SkyDrop autoscales during high-volume transfer cycles to maintain performance, and is redundant and load balanced for reliability.
• Seamless integration – SkyDrop provides developers with a choice of tools to make integration easy.

Signiant’s solutions are used by top broadcasters, studios, media service providers, sports networks and game developers to facilitate the secure movement of large media files – from pre-production content and mobile news to finished-format movies, trailers and TV episodics – between users, applications and systems.