At the heart of Asset Handling Sets are a series of “engines” called Asset Storage Modules. Asset Storage Modules enable Cumulus to communicate with different types of storage systems and provide additional functionality for certain file types. Examples of different systems Cumulus supports “out of the box” include the filing systems of the Mac OS, Windows and Unix. Without Asset Storage Modules for these operating systems, Cumulus would not be able to read and write data to storage devices hosted on those systems as it does. Keep in mind that Cumulus Servers are available on many different operating systems, and the Client software is available for OS X and Windows. Because it’s transparent to the user, you might not wonder what enables Cumulus to “speak” all those different filing system languages so fluently, but the credit goes to the Asset Storage Modules.
Asset Storage Modules that offer additional file-handling capabilities include those for Zip, QuarkXPress and PDF files. Using the Zip module, for example, you can drag a Zip archive onto your catalog and Cumulus will extract and catalog its contents on the fly—each file within the archive becomes its own searchable asset record. On the flip side, this same module enables Cumulus to deliver one or more assets to a user already Zipped up and ready to go. This is especially handy when assets are downloaded over the Web.
Similarly, Asset Storage Modules for PDF, InDesign, PowerPoint and QuarkXPress give users the option of splitting the various pages (slides) found in those files into individual asset records, each with its own set of metadata. These modules have output benefits too: For example, users can assemble brand new PowerPoint presentations using cataloged slides or even stand-alone assets in the catalog.
In a nutshell, Asset Storage Modules enable Cumulus to read from and write to storage locations. Those locations include the physical storage locations we naturally think of, such as hard discs and servers, but they can also be less conventional “locations,” such as Zip archives and PowerPoint presentations.
The Asset Handling Sets that come standard with Cumulus are not configured with any custom purposes in mind. While this makes them useful for all cataloging processes, it also makes them less efficient. To ensure optimum performance from Cumulus, set up custom Asset Handling Sets to specifically deal with the asset types your company uses. (Cumulus “offers” each file being cataloged through each of the activated file filters. So if you know what type of asset you’re cataloging, it makes sense to disable unnecessary filters.)