Front Porch Acquires Samma Systems

Front Porch Digital, the global leader in content storage management (CSM) for the broadcast, media, and entertainment industries, today announced that it has acquired New York-based SAMMA Systems Inc., the global leader in the migration and preservation of videotape to digital files.

"While Front Porch Digital has offered our current broadcast customers near-line and online storage for many years, the largest collection of media in the world today is still stored on videotape," said Mike Knaisch, president and chief executive officer of Front Porch Digital. "Our acquisition of SAMMA is strategically planned to offer broadcasters, archiving facilities, and other content owners a new system uniquely capable of accessing all that stored content and of making it available in a cost-effective way."

With more than 280 installations in more than 55 countries, Front Porch Digital serves the world’s leading media brands — those with the largest archives filled with the most content. There are more than 6 billion videocassettes in the world, 1 billion of them containing historic, important, and valuable content, representing more than 7,000 petabytes of high-value data stored only on videotape. An estimated five percent of this content is lost to deterioration each year, but the expense of digitizing it has proved prohibitive.  

SAMMA, founded with the mission of saving the world’s video heritage, brings unique expertise and proven preservation solutions to Front Porch Digital. Going forward, Front Porch Digital will provide an end-to-end solution for media past, present, and future on a scale not offered by anyone else in the world. In fact, the combination of SAMMA and Front Porch Digital has the potential to rapidly accelerate the migration of vulnerable videotape, and gives customers far more reliable, secure, and easy access to valuable content housed in digital storage.

"We’re in a unique position to fuel growth by merging operations with a company that is strategically aligned with our own mission," said Mark Gray, CEO of SAMMA Systems, Inc. "It is rare when two profitable, global market leaders come together, and I’m confident that the result will be an even more dominant force that provides better products and superior service to more customers. All in all, this is a two-plus-two-equals-five equation."  

Jim Lindner, founder of SAMMA Systems and well-known expert in the field of audio/visual preservation, said: "I am excited to see the mission of audio/visual preservation advanced by the integration of our technologies."

Mark Gray will assume the role of executive vice president and general manager of the company’s Americas division, reporting directly to Mike Knaisch. Jim Lindner will continue in his role as evangelist and visionary in the preservation of A/V content.

Pagemill Partners, headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., advised Front Porch Digital regarding the acquisition of SAMMA Systems.