When it comes to the Olympics, it’s all about size and speed – the need to send big files fast is crucial for broadcasters like NBC Olympics, the official American broadcaster for both the Summer and Winter Games.
For the second time, NBC Olympics employed FileCatalyst to assist with their digital file delivery during the Games. The first time in Sochi, FileCatalyst successfully moved 3 TB per day on peak days, enabling NBC Olympics to experiment with ‘at home’ editing. This time around, for the Summer Games in Rio, FileCatalyst made extensive updates to FileCatalyst Central, a tool which allows users to monitor and manage their entire FileCatalyst deployment.
The newly updated Central gave NBC Olympics an unprecedented level of control over the estimated 240 TB of files sent between Rio and Stamford, CT during the Games. Central version 3.7 boasts a map overlay which provides real-time usage of data movement, the ability to generate reports on individual or groups of nodes, and an updated GUI.
How did NBC Olympics send big files fast with FileCatalyst?
In order to send big files fast from Rio to NBC headquarters in Stamford, NBC Olympics sent growing proxy video files from Rio to the editing team in Stamford. The files were then edited in near real-time and the high resolution videos were moved across the link on an as-needed basis. On peak days, about 10 TB of video footage was moved each day of the games.
To send big files required to broadcast a sporting event of such magnitude, NBC also used four FileCatalyst Direct servers and 12 HotFolders.
“We depended on a system to send hundreds of files moving and growing all at the same time,” said Jim Miles, Director, Digital Workflow Systems at NBC Olympics.
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FileCatalyst has been employed to send big files for other major sporting events such as Super Bowl XLIX and has an impressive portfolio of broadcast clients including the Travel Channel, Bell Media, DreamWorks and CBS News, to name a few.
FileCatalyst Central version 3.7 product screenshot
The new version of Central, version 3.7, will be available as BETA in late September, 2016, with a target release date in November 2016. For updates on the release date, and other news as it relates to accelerated file transfer, sign up for the FileCatalyst newsletter.