Moving image processing is going to experience the same evolution as computing: from the isolated machine to the local network, and now through the public network.

And the same pitfalls will be encountered: moving image creation and processing studios have adopted their own communication standards, taking advantage of the absence of closed-site constraints:

• very high bandwidth, to avoid any apparent deterioration in a subsequent process;
• direct links with no intermediate switching.

The challenge: to move machines away from each other without introducing new constraints.

If we want to open up the use of digital technologies to a greater number of players, we need to concentrate the heaviest investments in common sites – this is the aim of the Archiving Center.

An essential condition for its success is that remote users receive the same quality of service as they would expect from their own local machines, i.e.:

• identical bandwidth
• no restrictive transport protocol.