Since new stars are being born through social media platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, content creation is going through the roof.

As a media-focused layer sitting on top of Amazon Web Services Inc., Sony Electronics Inc.’s Ci Media Cloud enables content to be accessed anywhere in near real time by allowing upfront production, downstream distribution or post-production, according to David Rosen (pictured), vice president of cloud applications and solutions at Sony.

“The explosion of content is, sort of, never been seen before at this level, and it’s really one of the things that we’re trying to help customers deal with, with Sony’s Ci Media Cloud,” Rosen said. “At a high level, it provides asset-management capabilities, collaboration capabilities, the ability to store, manage and tier your content, leveraging AWS, obviously, on the back end of everything that we do. We really span the entire media lifecycle.”

Rosen spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier at the “Optimize Your Media Supply Chain and Increase Velocity With AWS” event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Ci Media Cloud seeks to be a game-changer in content creation, as well as the Sony-AWS partnership. (* Disclosure below.)

Putting tools in the hands of creators

Since content creators are having a huge impact not only in the talent pipeline, but also on major media organizations, Sony is equipping them with the relevant tools. As a result, scalability and agility are achieved, according to Rosen.

“It’s really clear that we’re seeing that transition from individual content creators becoming brands,” he noted. “One of the things that we try to do with Ci Media Cloud is build an application that literally anybody can sign up for and begin using without any training, without any specialized media understanding.”

Given that content creation, collaboration and distribution to the cloud was top of mind for Sony, the company collaborated with AWS to build Ci Media Cloud nearly 10 years ago. It has emerged as a cloud-native platform that reduces redundancy and streamlines the needs of both small creators and large media enterprises, Rosen added.

“We’ve been working together with AWS for 10 years now,” he said. “Literally, it’s our 10-year anniversary, I think, in a couple of months of when we actually launched Ci Media Cloud. Everything that Ci is built on top of AWS … we’ve integrated really deeply with other services, like MediaLive, Amazon Rekognition, Amazon Transcribe.”

By tapping the security offered by AWS in the form of software as a service, Sony builds long-term solutions for content creators. Users can take advantage of various partner services, Rosen pointed out.

“We are part of the Amazon Partner Network … they also help us with respect to go-to-market motion, and they’ve got AWS Marketplace,” he stated. “Customers will be able to purchase Ci directly through Marketplace, hopefully, in the next few months.”

The Creators’ Cloud

To combine cloud-based artificial intelligence with Sony’s camera technology, the company has gone a step further and developed Creators’ Cloud. As a result, creative work is enhanced from shooting to production, according to Rosen.

“Sony has just recently launched something called Sony Creators’ Cloud,” he noted. “This is really our intention to bring the power of our cameras and our devices together very closely with the power of the cloud. So, now Ci is one application that is going to be available to anybody that wants to leverage Sony cameras or even just leverage the cloud for other storage and other capabilities.”

When it comes to content creation, speed and agility are crucial. As a result, the Ci Media Cloud enables teams and creators to collaborate even if they are remotely distributed, Rosen added.

“You can begin archiving that content in AWS; Ci enables that really simply,” he explained. “We let you collaborate with people. If you take a look at media creation today, take a major motion picture, there are literally thousands of people working on that and they are in hundreds of different locations.”

To minimize the barrier to entry in content creation, Sony uses self-service arrangements and pay-as-you-go pricing. Furthermore, the pricing model is based on transfer and storage, according to Rosen.

“Our intention is very much in line with what I would say most … pay-as-you-go, variable-based usage pricing models,” Rosen said. “We also have self-service plans where anybody can just go to cimediacloud.com, they can buy a plan for $15 a month and they can get started.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the “Optimize Your Media Supply Chain and Increase Velocity With AWS” event:

(* Disclosure: Sony Electronics Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Sony nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE