Institute’s Archive Now in the Cloud

The USC Shoah Foundation Institute will have a copy of the entire archive saved in an additional location outside of the earthquake zone of Southern California.  The copy will preserve the testimonies in their highest video quality off-site to assure that they will be safe and accessible in perpetuity.

“The duty of safeguarding the testimonies of witnesses of the Holocaust requires us to be innovative so their voices can still be heard,” Stephen Smith, the Institute’s Executive Director, said.

The USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s searchable archive of nearly 52,000 video testimonies will be secured on the cloud through a deal reached with Nirvanix.  The service will provide data encryption that meets USC’s strict security guidelines, ensuring geographical diversity for more secure data storage by mirroring the archive to networks outside of California.

Nirvanix will also provide cloud storage services for the USC Digital Repository, which launched this fall and is founded by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, USC Libraries, and USC Information Technology Services.  The Digital Repository will help museums, galleries, and other universities digitally store and preserve their collections using the same technology the Institute uses to maintain its own archive.  Also, the USC Digital Repository uses the Institute’s own patented software for cataloging and indexing.

Along with data storage on the cloud, this combination of technologies offers a new and powerful kind of service.  As Sam Gustman, Executive Director of the Digital Repository and CTO for the Institute states, “USC takes cloud archiving to the next level, as it is the first to combine academic-quality archival abilities and keyword-driven database search with the digitization power and speed of a supercomputer.”

Stephen Smith further added, “It is to everyone’s advantage that we share the tools we have developed so future generations using the Digital Repository can engage the living memory of our collective culture.”