How Kramlich Collection achieves fast, very low latency access to its digitally preserved multimedia artworks

Many of the artworks in the Collection were created in the 1960s, 70s and 80s on media that is becoming progressively harder to play back from its original exhibition formats, such as 16mm film, VHS or LaserDisc video. This may either be because some of these media formats were not intended for long term storage, or because the hardware on which to play the content is getting scarce and difficult to maintain.

In order to preserve the artworks, the Kramlich Collection recently embarked on a digitisation programme of older material, while at the same time putting in place standards for the acquisition of new digital video artworks. To ensure that the entire Collection is professionally managed and facilitate the presentation, study and enjoyment of the artworks far into the future, the Collection engaged Arkivum.

The requirement was for a preservation and access solution that would enable the artworks to be easily and rapidly accessible from multiple geographic sites and for the digital assets to be archived within the following parameters:

• Guaranteed data integrity and strong security and encryption when transmitting files around the solution
• Fast access to locally cached copies of the artworks at each of the Kramlich Collection locations
• A managed long-term digital archiving solution that does not require the use of any third-party cloud storage
• No lock-in to any proprietary systems, in order to maximise access to the digitally preserved artworks far into the future
• No requirement for local IT resources or expertise

The Solution

After considering a range of possible solutions, the Kramlich Collection selected Arkivum’s industry-leading solution, designed for long-term data preservation.

The solution is based on local deployments of Arkivum gateway appliances at Kramlich Collection sites across the USA. The unparalleled Arkivum solution provides the Kramlich Collection with a 100% data integrity guarantee over decade-long timescales.

Through Arkivum’s unique technology, fast, very low latency access to data is achieved. This capability was a fundamental requirement – the preserved collection had to be quickly and easily accessible from each location as viewing and displaying the artworks was key to its existence.

The Benefits

• Rapid deployment
• No lock-in to proprietary architecture or software components that would negatively impact the long term digital preservation of the artwork
• 100% data integrity guarantee for the high-resolution digitised renditions of the artworks
• Open-standard and custom- designed solution that can be remotely managed by Arkivum, thus ensuring that the Kramlich Collection doesn’t need to provide any local IT resources or expertise
• Multi-site access to the digitised collection of time-based media artworks
• Highly scalable architecture that enables the system to be extended to include sharing, streaming and integration to, for example, video jukebox services