Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

AWS announces new single-purpose on-prem hardware and tie-in storage tier

Cloud colossus has gone very niche with video-shifter

AWS has announced a very niche piece of on-prem tech and a related new cloud storage tier.

The new box is called the “AWS Elemental Link” and it has just one purpose in life: “a configuration-free, cost-efficient way to securely and reliably transfer video to MediaLive for delivery to viewers.”

MediaLive is AWS’ cloudy media coding and distribution service. The new box is controlled from the cloud and said to simplify the chore of getting video into MediaLive. Indeed, AWS says the device needs a source of video, an ethernet connection and power to work, and as it is pre-configured with details of buyers’ accounts should just start working. Power-over-ethernet is supported, so this can even be a two-cable job.

Three of the devices will fit into a single 1U slot on a standard 19-inch rack. They cost US$995 apiece.

The new storage tier is named “Elemental Media Store Infrequent Access”. Elemental Media Store is a storage service tailored to the needs of serving video. The new tier costs US$0.0125 per GB, rather lower than the Standard tier’s $0.023 per GB.

The Infrequent Access tier was added to give content outfits a cheaper option to host video as demand to view it decreases. AWS sets out a scenario whereby pricier storage is used during a live stream, before content is moved to a lesser tier for less-viewed content. Once material reaches the “long tail” phase of its life, Infrequent Access storage comes into its own.

While these devices won’t appeal to all Register readers, the fact that AWS has created on-prem hardware for a niche is noteworthy. Elemental Link may share a role of moving data into the cloud with Amazon’s other hardware but is very different to the storage-and-data-crunching-centric Snowball range and the hybrid-cloud-enabling Outposts. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like