Turn media archives into production-ready content with AI-powered discovery

Industry challenge

Media and entertainment organisations are expected to produce more content, faster, while getting more value from what they already have. Production timelines are tight, content volumes continue to grow, and teams are expected to reuse existing footage instead of recreating it. In practice, finding and using that content is often difficult.

Media content spans physical formats such as film and tape and is fragmented across digital systems. Physical media continues to age, while digital files are often poorly indexed or lack consistent metadata. As a result, teams spend hours searching for content, rely on incomplete information, or recreate content that already exists.

The issue is not just storage. It is the disconnect between physical archives, digital systems, and production workflows. Most solutions address only one layer. Cloud platforms store digital files. Asset management systems organise what is already digitised. Neither addresses physical media or connects the full path from preservation to search and use.

To keep pace with production demands, media organisations need an approach that connects physical and digital content and makes it usable within everyday workflows.

Activate media across the content lifecycle

• Media organisations manage content across physical archives, cloud storage, and production systems, but much of it remains difficult to find, access, and reuse. This limits how quickly teams can respond to production needs and reduces the value of existing media.
• Iron Mountain leverages Google Cloud to enable organisations to activate media across the entire content lifecycle. By connecting physical archives, digitised media, and cloud storage in a unified environment, teams can quickly find, access, and reuse content for production, distribution, and monetisation.
• Media and Archival Services from Iron Mountain provides the foundation. Media content is securely transported, stored in climate-controlled environments, and tracked and organised. Using archival-quality digitisation and restoration services, Iron Mountain converts film, video, audio, and legacy formats into high-quality digital media. Iron Mountain supports nearly all media formats ever created, including obsolete film, tape, audio, and data.
• Once digitised, media content is stored in Google Cloud Storage, providing a scalable environment for managing large media libraries. Within Iron Mountain InSight® DXP, Google Cloud AI capabilities analyse visual and audio content to automatically generate metadata, including scene recognition, object detection, and transcription, improving searchability and reducing manual effort.
• InSight DXP connects these capabilities in a single platform, allowing teams to search, manage, and access media content in one place. This reduces the time required to find content and enables faster reuse across production workflows.
• By connecting preservation, cloud storage, and AI-driven discovery, Iron Mountain leverages Google Cloud to help media organisations improve access to content, increase production efficiency, and create new opportunities.

How this supports media workflows

Enhance content production management

• Bring archive and active content into a single workflow. Iron Mountain digitises and centralises media content, while Google Cloud enables scalable storage and processing. Teams can quickly find and reuse content for editing, packaging, and distribution, reducing time spent searching for or recreating content.

Unlock the value of content

• Turn legacy media into searchable, usable digital content. AI-powered metadata generation enables teams to identify scenes, people, and moments automatically, making it easier to reuse existing content and extend its value across new productions and distribution channels.

Personalise audience experiences

• Make more content available for reuse and distribution. With faster access to relevant footage and enriched metadata, teams can create tailored content for different audiences, formats, and channels using existing media content.

Improve enterprise productivity

• Give teams a unified view of collections across digitised media. InSight DXP connects metadata, digitised content, and cloud storage, enabling faster search, easier access, and reduced manual effort.