Digital asset management supports a world of rich media

The company reaped all the typical benefits of cloud-based systems-no upfront costs for infrastructure, minimal maintenance and support, and complete flexibility in storage, bandwidth and computing power. VRX Studios could readily access its image archive, now grown to 30 TBs, from any location, and could expandas needed. Customers could also use the new digital asset management system to access the images provided to them by VRX Studios.

Ubiquitous cloud

Almost immediately, VRX Studios discovered that several of its hotel customers were having similar problems managing their own images. The company then began allowing customers to manage their content on its new system. In addition, it tested the waters for providing digital asset management services to companies in entirely new industries. "Within a day of starting an online marketing campaign in early 2011, we had numerous inquiries from companies of varying sizes across a variety of industries that we had never worked with before," MacLaren says.

That response led to branding and marketing their digital asset management system as Media Valet. It can be used directly by customers or licensed for management of third-party content. "MediaValet is the first 100 percent cloud-based, enterprise class, digital asset management system," MacLaren says. "We think the cloud will become ubiquitous in the very near future and will significantly change how all businesses use technology." With the rapid growth of mobile devices, MediaValet is planning to develop a mobile version in 2012.

"With the demand that we've experienced since bringing MediaValet to market and the shifts we're seeing in the industry, we expect MediaValet to surpass the success of VRX Studios within the next three years," MacLaren says.

Market outlook

The digital asset management (DAM) market will continue to be crowded, with a wide range of offerings. Infrastructure vendors, such as EMC, IBM and Oracle, now include digital asset management solutions, and other large vendors such as OpenText have added that capability to their suites. Many smaller, pure-play digital asset management companies continue to prosper.

The diversity of requirements-from small organizations that want to manage their digital assets more efficiently to large broadcasting and media companies that require complex systems-will support a significant number of digital asset management products. However, some companies will drop off when their technology or support is no longer competitive, and others will enter the market as they exploit new technology.

"More than 250 companies are offering products in this market," says Susan Eustis, president of WinterGreen Research. "We expect a growth rate of 18 percent  per year over the next few years, with especially strong growth in the management of marketing materials and in social media applications, which are expanding at an exponential rate."