Big data is commonly perceived as large data sets comprised of multitudinous small files. Often, however, big data’s data sets contain files that are relatively few in number, but very large in size. This is particularly true for companies in such businesses as video production. Video files have always been large, and the increasing resolution of video formats renders them even larger. Production houses can routinely generate terabytes of video every week. Editing these files, along with other post-production work, demands storage with exceptional I/O capabilities.

Another video application that is growing rapidly and challenging storage solutions is video surveillance. Recordings made by surveillance cameras can be hours if not days in length and their improving resolution further swells the size of the files. Video surveillance systems, especially those with multiple cameras, put great pressure on a storage system’s I/O capabilities.

What to do? Fibre Channel RAID platforms deliver the throughput to meet such needs. They can ingest and serve up vast amounts of data, making them ideal for storing and working with high-definition or multi-camera video feeds. Moreover, they feature lossless operation, eliminating such issues as dropped packets. With FC RAID arrays, users are assured of storing every single pixel.

Such reliable, high performance can serve other I/O-intensive applications as well, such as server and desktop virtualizations. The infamous boot storms of virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI) can overwhelm all but the most robust storage solutions. If you want to do video editing or support scores of virtual applications on multiple physical servers all without latency, look into FC RAID arrays. In addition to their impressive throughput, they also can be flexible, highly reliable solutions.