EMC Isilon Enables Corus Entertainment to Turn Big Data Into Broadcast Excellence

SEATTLE, WA - September 20, 2011 -

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) today announced that Corus Entertainment, a premier integrated media and entertainment company in Canada, has deployed EMC® Isilon® scale-out NAS to transform its previous storage infrastructure into a simple, efficient, and scalable one. By implementing EMC Isilon scale-out NAS, Corus is able to streamline the management complexity of its data center, providing immediate, concurrent access to content and accelerating its production cycles from ingest to distribution.

Customer Benefits:

• Improved file access: EMC Isilon allowed increased concurrent file access from 15 to 200 simultaneous access points
• Simplicity: EMC Isilon IQ Accelerator nodes simplify content processing and reduce turn-around time from content ingestion to distribution
• Plug and play ease-of-use: EMC Isilon X-series nodes were up and running within 48 hours

"Corus owns 37 radio stations, and brings specialty and pay television programming to audiences across Canada. Our storage architecture needs to be fast and flexible," said Kevin Harkins, engineering supervisor, Corus Entertainment. "The EMC Isilon system gives us a single solution that takes care of storage management so that we can focus our efforts on developing great content."

In May 2010, Corus Entertainment consolidated its 11 disparate facilities, including all IT and engineering operations, into a one building, presenting an opportunity to assess its storage infrastructure. As part of this process, Corus identified the need to consolidate its TV storage operation and streamline its file-based data workflow. In the subsequent months, the IT and engineering teams changed out every application from scheduling systems, to video playback, to the infrastructure in between.

By deploying EMC Isilon scale-out NAS, Corus was able to unite storage, formatting, staging, delivery, and archiving into one file system with a single point of management. The move to Isilon delivered highly concurrent file access, going from 15 to over 200 simultaneous access points for Corus' artists and engineers, improving collaboration, productivity and efficiency across its entire workflow.

As Canada's leading specialty and pay TV broadcaster, Corus relies on strong distributor partnerships to deliver solid content to viewers. Corus turned to EMC Isilon and deployed Isilon X-Series nodes with Isilon SmartConnect®, software and an IQ Accelerator node to decrease turn-around time from content ingestion to distribution, simplify editing, and reduce overall IT costs.

"Corus runs a huge broadcast and production operation," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, EMC Isilon. "An operation of that size needs storage that can scale in-line with Big Data growth and user demand. By moving to a scale-out NAS platform, Corus has demonstrated the transformative benefits Isilon delivers for Big Data-driven organizations."