Keynote Address Going Digital at CNN

CNN has long utilized digital non-linear editing of video on a large scale in post-production. In the late 90's, as part of a technology plan for the new century, the decision was made to bring the advantages of digital video to the production process by replacing most of the videotape-based operations with server-based video storage.

In advance of new technologies that would enhance news gathering and transmission to CNN Center in Atlanta, the technology plan included server-based recording, editing, and playback. File-based, faster-than-realtime video transfer significantly reduces time-to-air for CNN's newsgathering operations around the world and substantially improves access to archived footage.

CNN is currently deploying large-scale systems in Atlanta and New York that will support its very large recording and editing operations. Ultimately, these will replace most of the videotape-based operations in both cities. There are some significant technical challenges these systems must meet, especially in the areas of capacity, bandwidth, and reliability.

In Atlanta, CNN is installing a fully redundant 2 x 20TB system to host approximately 2,000 hours of MPEG-2 broadcast quality video & audio and MPEG-1 proxy/desktop-quality video & audio.

The New York bureau has just begun using a fully redundant 2 x 14TB system to host approximately 1,500 hours of MPEG-2 broadcast-quality video & audio and MPEG-1 proxy/desktop-quality video & audio.

The Atlanta video archive currently consists of a huge collection of videotapes, some of which have deteriorated so badly that they can only be played one more time. The digital successor for this archive will consist of a large hierarchical storage installation. It needs to be capable of ingesting 200 hours of video per day and transferring an estimated 280 gigabytes of data every hour. Storage requirements for this archive are in excess of a petabyte.

This presentation will discuss the new digital installation and the task of migrating from existing systems.