May 11, 2010 - Active Circle has introduced a new feature to its storage and archiving system for checking the integrity of files using the MD5 checksum throughout their lifecycle.

“Most of our clients store images, scientific data, or video content. Some of these files can reach sizes of tens, even hundreds, of gigabytes. When transferring that much data over an IP network, there is a risk of losing information,” states Philippe Motet, Active Circle's CTO. “Even a tiny loss of data can render the file unusable.”

To respond to this problem, Active Circle has introduced an option for the verification of data integrity by checksum using either MD5 or SHA-1. When activated, Active Circle automatically calculates and stores the checksum signatures with the file metadata. This is then used to deliver an acknowledgement when depositing a file by comparing its key with a reference key or for verifying its validity throughout the file's lifecycle.

This feature is accessible from the command line in order to allow Media Asset Management (MAM) applications to initiate a verification process after depositing content to the archiving system.

The MD5 is a cryptographic hash function that calculates a 128-bit digital fingerprint represented as a string of 32 hexadecimal digits. It is widely used to compare files in order to detect modifications. Some organizations prefer the SHA-1 algorithm, which is similar to MD5 and produces a 160-bit checksum.