Media and Entertainment Industry Security Concerns
Signiant Applies SDN Concepts to Develop Secure Hybrid SaaS Solutions for Media & Entertainment
Technology experts in the Media & Entertainment industry are finding themselves in a quandary. The exponentially increasing amount of data generated by firms has created a need for scalable cloud solutions. Unfortunately, concerns about data security have proven to be one of the firmest roadblocks keeping companies from utilizing SaaS and other cloud technologies.
Research by the North Bridge firm on the Future of Cloud Computing, determined that fear about security is the biggest obstacle to adoption of cloud solutions across all industries, including Media & Entertainment. Despite these fears, 60 – 80% of participants claimed they are moving forward with plans for significant movement into the cloud in the near future.
Industries implementing cloud computing into their workflow do so with good reason. The North Bridge survey quotes many industry experts sharing their thoughts on the cloud like Jim Morrisroe, the VMware vet and CEO of Piston Cloud Computing (which was recently acquired by Cisco). He cites the largest incentive for early cloud adoption as: a reduction in capital expenses, drops in operating costs, and faster processing speeds.
As more companies find themselves at operation capacity, the flexibility and cost advantages of cloud solutions are starting to become a necessity. The internal stresses imposed by ever-increasing file sizes from innovation in image resolution technology and the digitization of workflows – international VFX teams and post production houses – are too burdensome for the Media & Entertainment industry to ignore.
With the Media & Entertainment industry at the beginning stages of transitioning to cloud solutions, industry leaders are beginning to understand that not all cloud software security is created equal.
Managing data security demands a high level of expertise, regardless of whether data is processed on-premises or in the cloud. This is especially true for cloud based services with points of exposure – software interfaces, data transfer, data storage, user access portals and data separation.
Developing Hybrid SaaS for the Optimal Security of Large File Transfer
Signiant maintains a high standard of security for a client’s content through the development of a unique software architecture – hybrid SaaS. What makes hybrid SaaS so effective is its melding of key concepts from Software Defined Networking (SDN) into SaaS.
SDN separates the control plane (the portion of the network that enables routing and directing) from the data plane (the infrastructure carrying data), easing the virtualization of network resources for scalability during peak workloads.
Implementing the SDN separation concept into SaaS file transfer allows us to create independent data planes for enterprise-grade security measures for safer data movement, data separation and access.
In addition, more control plane security features are constantly being created as developers continue to innovate using unique SaaS and Agile software development methodologies.
One of the most exciting features of hybrid SaaS is its ability to be “storage agnostic”. This allows the hybrid SaaS software to integrate with the client’s onsite storage or their choice of cloud storage service providers like Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
With security provided by hybrid SaaS, companies are no longer bound to a single cloud storage vendor. Clients now have the opportunity to choose their security level and storage independently, based on their business needs. If customers choose to utilize cloud storage, Signiant provides additional layers of security on top of cloud vendors’, including data encryption during transit and at rest.
Cloud Software Developers Must Be Proactive About Content Security
Security shouldn’t be an afterthought. Especially in industries with high investments and levels of vulnerability. Vendors who are diligent about data security understand the importance of making security a priority throughout the development of their product.
Effective software engineers have security function expertise (information authentication and authorization, data confidentiality, data validation, non-repudiation and availability), and knowledge of up-to-date secure design principles of multiple software environments.
At Signiant, our software engineering and production specialists are leaders in secure design principles for large file transfers. Our specialist developed our hybrid SaaS with security as a core value, taking what they’ve learned into cloud software design.
