RCS says a station can obtain low-cost disaster recovery insurance, based on its new service Zetta Cloud.
Traditionally, to back up a station’s on air operations you’d need A and B systems, or a redundant backup offsite. But RCS says Zetta Cloud’s Disaster Recovery system continuously backs up your database including audio, schedules and metadata, and then sends it to the cloud in an ongoing background process that doesn’t affect normal workflow.
In the case of a serious event that disables the station, such as a weather disaster or massive IT virus or failure, Zetta Cloud takes over, allowing you to stream “station audio” directly from the cloud to your transmitter or your web stream or emergency studios. RCS says think of it as a high-tech, cutting-edge insurance policy that gets you back on the air efficiently and quickly.
Shown in the image, during normal workday operation at left, audio, logs and voicetracks are saved locally but also automatically in the cloud. Zetta Cloud is configuring the assets for disaster recovery playout; when something goes wrong, the user can enable Zetta Cloud from any browser-enabled device, as shown in Step 4, and continue to run the station while also adding audio, logs and voice tracks.
When your station is ready to resume normal service, RCS says it takes just a couple of minutes to restore the database, with audio, to resume normal service; and it has meanwhile saved any changes you made while in the cloud environment.
The service is offered for a fee of a couple of hundred dollars a month for commercial users. Users retain ownership of the assets even though they’re off-premises. RCS adds that this is a global service, available anywhere.
RCS says it is a believer in the potential of using the cloud for professional-grade broadcasting; when it introduced its cloud-based automation system at a conference in London last fall, the company listed other reasons for radio groups to consider cloud services instead of on-premises installations. They include savings on equipment, a fast way to create new channels, and assurance that customers would always be on the same product version, among other benefits.
RCS also is highlighting its 40th anniversary this year.
NAB Show Booth: N2519
Info: www.rcsworks.com