AI And Fast Transfers For M&E Preservation And Workflows

Advancements in Media and Entertainment Storage: Iron Mountain and MASV

The 2025 IBC in Amsterdam may have come and gone, but the impact of its discussions and announcements continues to reverberate throughout the media and entertainment industry. Although I was unable to attend due to prior commitments with the IEEE, I’ve been keeping up with the latest developments in media and entertainment storage. Two notable advancements that caught my attention are Iron Mountain’s use of AI in digital conversion and preservation, as well as MASV’s innovative large file transfer technology.

Iron Mountain’s AI-Powered Digital Conversion

I had the opportunity to speak with Andrea Kalas from Iron Mountain, who shared insights into their digital conversion and data preservation efforts. By leveraging Google AI in conjunction with their digital asset management capabilities, Iron Mountain aims to revolutionize content discovery in archiving. This powerful combination enables the analysis and identification of images within digitized archives, making historical content more accessible and searchable. For instance, Iron Mountain technicians can now read data from tape, digitize it, and store it on modern storage systems, as seen in the image below.

Andrea revealed that Iron Mountain is currently utilizing Google’s models but may explore building their own specialized models or collaborating with organizations that have models tailored to specific types of content. This approach has already yielded promising results, with the company having worked with a news organization and a private collection to enhance digital content access. By unlocking the potential of older content, Iron Mountain’s AI-powered digital conversion is poised to unlock new revenue streams and make reuse of historical content easier.

MASV’s Large File Transfer Technology

In addition to Iron Mountain’s advancements, I also spoke with Gene Villeneuve and Conner Stirling from MASV, a company that has developed a large file transfer platform designed specifically for the media and entertainment industry. Their platform boasts high-speed transfers with fault protection and checkpointing, ensuring secure and reliable delivery of content. Moreover, MASV’s platform is compatible with any browser and can integrate with workflow and enterprise tools, supporting all types of media and entertainment content.

MASV’s technology has demonstrated superior performance compared to other large file transfer products on the market. By bonding transport through multiple network connections, MASV can increase file transfer speeds, even in challenging environments. For example, a customer on a remote island in Scotland was able to combine multiple Starlink connections to achieve fast upload speeds. With integrations with major cloud and cloud-connected storage providers, as well as media collaboration platforms like FrameIO, MASV is well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of the media and entertainment industry.

Future Developments and Enhancements

MASV is continually pushing the boundaries of large file transfer technology, with plans to release a second version of their Express platform. This upcoming release promises to deliver even faster data transfers, direct file transfer without zipping, and intelligent file routing that can deliver files to multiple users from a single upload. Furthermore, MASV’s technology can provide data to desktop storage for freelancers, offering a flexible and convenient solution for a wide range of users.

In conclusion, Iron Mountain’s AI-powered digital conversion and MASV’s large file transfer technology are two significant advancements that are transforming the media and entertainment storage landscape. As the industry continues to evolve, it will be exciting to see how these innovations shape the future of content creation, distribution, and preservation.