Smarter Media Management for Spectra Logic BlackPearl

Posted on April 4, 2019 

Axle AI support for BlackPearl Converged Storage System combines AI search power and ease of use with modern, scalable object storage

Boston, April 4 – Today Axle AI, Inc. announced that it has integrated its unique ‘radically simple’ media management software with the Spectra Logic BlackPearl Converged Storage System. By applying artificial intelligence techniques to all media content on BlackPearl storage, Axle AI software automatically identifies and tags content, and even non-technical users can easily and instantly find content by image description, speech-to-text, and face recognition, and can also review, comment, select and share media. Equally, Axle AI customers can now gain the advantages of the BlackPearl storage system, a platform that is able to transparently and seamlessly utilize any combination of online, nearline, archive and cloud storage. Both companies are exhibiting at next week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, booths SL15116 (Axle AI) and SL11516 (Spectra Logic).

Commenting on Axle AI integration with the Spectra Logic BlackPearl Storage System, Sam Bogoch, CEO of Axle AI said: “We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time, both technologically and as a business. Even a few years ago it would have been hard to conceive of this kind of media management with powerful AI intelligence coupled with the power and accessibility of Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl platform.  This also speaks to the incredible capability, ease of use and value now available to customers who must deal with the challenges of rapidly growing media content.”

The integration is built around the powerful Spectra RioBroker interface and API. Spectra RioBroker is a data mover that sits on the network and drives reliable, high-performance copies of media and other files to and from Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl systems. Hossein ZiaShakeri, Senior VP of Business Development and Alliances at Spectra Logic, said, “Axle AI’s integration is further evidence that BlackPearl is providing industry leadership in cost-effective object storage for media. We are delighted that Axle AI was able to leverage our Spectra RioBroker APIs and next-generation approach to media storage.

Bogoch added “With BlackPearl rapidly becoming a standard-setter for a modern archival platform in the market, it’s a great time for us to provide this integration for an overall solution that’s simple yet sophisticated to help manage and preserve customers’ growing content archives. With the power of our AI search capabilities on managed assets, we expect to help our mutual customers almost immediately.”

Pricing and Availability
Complete solutions including Axle AI 2019 software, our BlackPearl support module, as well as required server appliances are available immediately starting at $19,995. The BlackPearl storage hardware and Spectra RioBroker software itself is available in a range of configurations from Spectra and its resellers. The Axle AI BlackPearl support module with Spectra RioBroker integration is available separately for current Axle AI customers, starting at $9,995 including hardware.

Axle AI Media Management
Axle is radically simple media management that makes it easy for anyone to catalogue, search and even automatically find the right footage from within a browser. Axle 2019 software discovers all media residing on storage, serving it in a browser interface within Safari, Chrome, Firefox and IE, and a panel for Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Users can tag many clips at once with custom metadata, work on a subclip level to insert comments, or mark in/out segments for transcode or export to an editor. Available ai modules enable search on visual similarity and speech-to-text, rather than up-front tagging or logging.

Spectra BlackPearl Converged Storage System
BlackPearl enables users to deploy a tiered storage strategy that is cost effective, easy to manage and scalable to exabytes of data. The system provides an easy, cloud-like interface to on-premise storage solutions, including Spectra disk and tape libraries, and multiple public cloud integrations. System solutions allow data to move seamlessly into disk, tape, and cloud storage in a way not previously possible. To meet the demands of exponential data growth and long-term retention, BlackPearl enables users to easily store large data sets forever at virtually no cost.

About Spectra Logic Corporation
Spectra Logic develops data storage solutions that solve the problem of short- and long-term digital preservation for business and technology professionals dealing with exponential data growth. Dedicated solely to storage innovation for 40 years, Spectra Logic’s uncompromising product and customer focus is proven by the adoption of its solutions by industry leaders in multiple vertical markets globally. Spectra enables affordable, multi-decade data storage and access by creating new methods of managing information in all forms of storage—including nearline, archive, backup, cold storage, private cloud and public cloud. To learn more, visit http://www.SpectraLogic.com.