Seagate Technology Holdings plc (NASDAQ: STX), a world leader in data storage infrastructure solutions, has just published a technology brief covering its collaboration with axle ai, the leading independent vendor of media search software. The solution brief is available for download at https://learn.seagate.com/resources/public-cloud?search=axle. In addition, axle ai is exhibiting at the annual TechCrunch Disrupt conference today and tomorrow; details at https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2021; its Reg. CF equity crowdfunding round on Republic.co, https://republic.co/axle-ai, remains open through September 27th.

The recent collaboration between Seagate and axle ai is centered around the Seagate® Lyve™ edge-to-cloud mass storage platform, designed to offer a coherent data storage architecture extending from on-premise removable media through industry-leading cloud storage-as-a-service (STaaS), all from a single trusted vendor. Axle ai’s software is a browser-based front end that can be used across multiple storage devices and services, making it easy for media teams to remotely search and manage their content from anywhere. Together, axle ai and Seagate are broadening access to cost effective smart media solutions for real world applications. 

There is a worldwide explosion of video content. The market intelligence firm IDC has estimated that the sum of data generated globally by 2025 is set to accelerate exponentially to 175 zettabytes. A growing, double-digit percentage of this storage is used to house media files. Meanwhile, approximately 400,000 video teams worldwide are responsible for capturing, editing, and managing this content, but much of it becomes difficult to leverage soon after capture; in a report commissioned by Seagate, IDC estimates that more than two-thirds of data stored is not readily searchable or available for access after initial use. 

Video files have become large and numerous, while ongoing capture is so pervasive that most content storage requires a hybrid cloud strategy.  Ideally, the most immediate media is captured on solid-state drive (SSD) and hard disk drive (HDD)-based storage solutions and then transferred to a cloud infrastructure allowing remote access and global search. This is ideally suited to Seagate’s new Lyve offerings, which span a wide range of media use cases with powerful and affordable capabilities.

Seagate and axle ai recently entered into a broad-ranging solutions agreement where a full range of Seagate products and services are now offered by axle ai in conjunction with their own media indexing, tagging, and search software. These joint solutions include:

  1. Seagate direct attached SSD, HDD, and RAID solutions
  2. Seagate’s Lyve Mobile solutions
  3. Seagate’s Lyve Cloud STaaS

Each configuration includes an instance of axle ai 2021, the company’s browser-based remote media search software. The software includes a browser front end allowing multiple users to tag, catalog and search their media files, as well as a range of AI-driven options for automatically cataloging and discovering specific visual and audio attributes within those files.  For instance, audio tracks can be automatically transcribed, with the resulting transcript immediately searchable in the timeline; likewise, axle ai provides face recognition with integrated training for new faces over time. The modular nature of the system supports additional plug-ins for object and logo recognition, and identification of sports highlights. The software can be used to create distributed team workflows for storage pools that would otherwise be siloed and hard to search.

Given the vast amounts of video – often many terabytes – that can be accumulated by a video team in even a single shoot, this system allows rapid search and management of those files. The software also includes a range of plug-in panels for Adobe’s Creative Cloud application suite software, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign.  These panels allow creative team members on any Mac or Windows laptop to directly search, access, and download media files wherever they are located.

Sam Bogoch, CEO of axle ai, said “For years, creative teams have expressed the need for a simplified and cost-efficient way to store, search and manage their content. Legacy solutions for broadcasters have been expensive and complex, but these powerful Seagate-axle ai bundles manage to bring state-of-the-art AI and MAM (media asset management) capabilities to the widest possible range of creative teams. They work at nearly any scale, from terabytes of storage on set, to petabytes of storage in the cloud.”

“Seagate’s latest mass capacity storage solutions simplify how data is securely captured, aggregated, transported, and managed,” said Jeff Fochtman, senior vice president of marketing at Seagate Technology. “Together, axle ai and Seagate deliver even greater value by offering a set of scalable solutions that help media and entertainment professionals access and use mass data at scale at the speed of their business.” 

Pricing and Availability
Pricing ranges from $995 for a two-drive direct attach RAID configuration, $19,995 for larger network storage hardware deployed solution configurations, to $10 per-month, per-terabyte including Seagate’s Lyve Cloud storage-as-a-service solution.  All bundles feature Seagate’s unmatched value, performance, and data security, with a search and management layer provided by axle ai 2021.

About Seagate
Seagate Technology crafts the datasphere, helping to maximize humanity’s potential by innovating world-class, precision-engineered data storage and management solutions with a focus on sustainable partnerships. A global technology leader for more than 40 years, the company has shipped over three billion terabytes of data capacity. Learn more about Seagate by visiting www.seagate.com or following us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and subscribing to our blog.

About axle ai, Inc.
Axle ai - We make media smarter.  Axle ai is the recognized leader in developing radically simple media management software. Its solutions have helped over 700 organizations improve the way they create, share and store digital video content with media management solutions that are easy to install, use and afford. axle’s radically simple media management uniquely addresses a burgeoning need and has caught on rapidly among video professionals in post-production, education, broadcast, corporate, sports, house of worship, non-profit, advertising-marketing, and government organizations worldwide. Axle ai, Inc. is a privately held company; its founders have extensive industry experience in media asset management for creative applications. Investors include Stadia Ventures, Jason Calacanis's LAUNCH accelerator and Quake Capital. Learn more at http://www.axle.ai and https://republic.co/axle-ai.