Founded in 2012, London-based Ortana Media Group (Ortana) brings a broad range of content-centric software solutions and services, tailored for the global media, entertainment and broadcast industries. With a vision to improve the way media workflows are managed, Ortana delivers an intuitive, faster and more cost-effective way for customers to leverage their content and grow their businesses. Ortana’s Halo, built on their Cubix platform, is a configurable, hybrid media orchestration platform that allows clients to manage their media and metadata on-premise and in the cloud.

Before teaming up with Storj, Ortana’s customers faced a myriad of challenges when dealing with the cloud. “The cost of cloud storage is one of the key concerns we find with customers,” explains James Gibson, CEO & Founder, Ortana. “They will have a run with the cloud but then they get burned by the storage, egress and other fees.” The company needed to find a way to help cure their customers’ cloud anxiety by finding a cost-effective cloud storage solution that didn’t compromise on performance, security or other key requirements.

Ortana found Storj at the International Broadcasting Convention show in 2023, following a recommendation from one of their clients. “When adding support for a new storage provider, we always like to do our due diligence on both the technology and the provider. Our technology review confirmed that not only did Storj provide a very different approach to cloud storage, but their API also gave us full native control of the stack, as well as blistering speeds for uploads and downloads regardless of location,” recounts James.

“The Storj deployment was a seamless process that took our team less than a day to complete a full integration. This allowed us to quickly complete our validation testing, and get the solution into production for a client within a week of the integration being completed,” says James.

Ortana quickly tapped into the benefits of the globally distributed network of Storj to solve their previous challenges. Content can now be imported based on defined content types and then transferred to Storj. 

“Previously, we had clients placing their content in one location but they didn’t know where in the world the data would be needed to proceed through the workflow,” says James. “Now, our clients have the ability to use the Storj network which is region-less. It fundamentally changes and accelerates the workflow and has become a pivotal benefit.”

Exceptional performance with predictable costs

James describes that clients who suffered high cloud storage bills were dealing with “cloud storage anxiety” so it was key for Ortana to help assuage their concerns. Along with costs, these clients were also concerned about cloud storage performance. “After teaming up with Storj, we would show our clients the Storj performance benefits, and their concerns melted away. We can start doing cost predictions that are based on an actual workflow so clients can predictively understand their costs.”

Continuing the partnership with Storj

With the Storj partnership in place, Ortana can rest assured that they have helped cure their customers’ cloud storage anxiety. “There are some exciting principles that we at Ortana are thrilled about when it comes to working with Storj. The first focus area is on the distributed, region-less approach, and how it not only removes the costs of storing data in multiple regions but also how you get such incredible speeds putting data on and taking data off the network, regardless of where you are located,” explains James. 

The Ortana CEO and Founder James Gibson also adds how it was Storj's personal touch that helped solidify the partnership today and for the future. “Since the moment we first met the Storj team, there has been a clear synergy between our organizations. The desire and ability to be agile, to find the best solution for a client, and a general ethos that puts the customer first.”