Conversations about moving media production to the cloud tend to raise the same concerns: security, connectivity, cost, control, and disruption. Many of these concerns come from misconceptions about what cloud-native and hybrid workflows actually involve. That’s why we’ve brought together seven of the most common myths about Mimir – with the facts behind them.
Myth 1: “It only runs in the cloud.”
Fact: Control is in the cloud – your data stays where you want it.
- Application (UI): Runs 100% serverless on AWS. AWS handles scaling and load balancing dynamically. The Mimir team can focus fully on the product, not on managing servers.
- User data & media: Video, images, and audio can live flexibly in your own cloud buckets or your preferred on‑premise storage. Regardless of where full-resolution media is stored, proxy versions are always kept in the cloud, giving distributed teams access from anywhere and maximum flexibility for remote collaboration.
- Peripherals & hybrid: Thanks to the hybrid architecture, you can quickly connect local NAS systems, playout, ingest, or MOS devices without “punching holes in the firewall.”
This is why many Mimir customers adopt a hybrid architecture; it combines the agility of the cloud with existing on-prem systems, providing maximum flexibility and operational control particularly when cloud egress or long-term cloud storage costs are a primary concern.
Myth 2: “Data is only available online. Without internet, nothing works!”
Fact: Your local files remain untouched and outages are extremely rare.
- Data access: If your HiRes data is on‑prem, it remains locally accessible even during an internet outage (only the cloud UI pauses).
- High availability: All our regions are triple redundant with 3 redundant Availability Zones.
For mission-critical operations, we recommend setting up redundant internet connectivity, such as an AWS Direct Connect link, to ensure you remain connected independently of your standard ISP.
You can also learn more about AWS resiliency here to see why their robust, multi-zone architecture makes infrastructure outages a non-issue.
Myth 3: “A cloud production system like Mimir is too expensive in the long run.”
Fact: We don’t have any hidden hardware or upgrade costs.
Moving to a cloud-based asset management solution shouldn't mean facing unpredictable financial surprises. While traditional setups hide costs in server monitoring, maintenance, and periodic upgrade projects, Mimir’s SaaS model eliminates these ongoing expenses. By looking beyond upfront licensing to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), organizations unlock massive operational savings through proxy-based workflows, work-from-anywhere flexibility, reduced network strain, and streamlined infrastructure overhead.
- Transparent pricing: License costs + usage-based billing (metered license) + optional modules. This includes all costs for usage, 24/7 support, updates, and new features.
- No hardware investment: No costly server refreshes or maintenance contracts for on‑prem infrastructure.
- No more upgrade projects: Weekly micro-updates deliver features and fixes smoothly without months of testing and downtime.
- Unlock archive potential: Transform passive storage from a cost center into a revenue driver by making historical media instantly discoverable and ready for rapid monetization.
Myth 4: “Automatic updates constantly cause operational disruptions.”
Fact: Continuous iteration and feature flags keep your production completely safe and in control.
We follow modern product development practices built around continuous, close collaboration with our customers. Because the best software is refined through real-world usage, we iterate constantly based on direct feedback, delivering enhancements and new features through a rapid weekly deployment cycle.
To ensure operational stability is never compromised, new functionality is tested and validated across dedicated staging and test environments—including our own internal staging setups—before reaching you. Features are deployed safely behind feature flags, while ultra-fast rollback capabilities guarantee that your live production workflows remain smooth, secure, and entirely uninterrupted.
Myth 5: “Cloud systems aren’t GDPR-compliant!”
Fact: Security and compliance are baked into our DNA.
We take data privacy seriously. Mimir tenants operate across six datacenters, ensuring that your data operations stay strictly within the parameters of GDPR requirements and robust data sovereignty. Mimir and AWS meet the highest technical and organizational measures outlined under Art. 32 of the GDPR, backed by our ISO 27001 certification.
Looking ahead, Mimir will also be offered on the upcoming AWS European Sovereign Cloud (Germany/Brandenburg) for customers who require it, ensuring 100% digital sovereignty with no external access options.
Myth 6: “Cloud solutions are generally less secure than local servers.”
Fact: Cloud security far exceeds typical on-prem budgets.
Cloud security, backed by hyperscalers like AWS, provides enterprise-grade protection, including physical security, encryption, and 24/7 threat detection, which is often unaffordable or unrealistic to maintain on a local, on-premise scale. By leveraging these massive investments in security infrastructure, Mimir ensures your assets are protected by standards that far exceed what most individual production houses could implement on their own.
Myth 7: “In the cloud, Mimir can’t be adapted to our processes.”
Fact: Mimir gives you a proven platform to buy and an open foundation to build on.
Customization does not have to mean developing and maintaining an entire media platform yourself. Mimir provides the scalable, continuously updated foundation for managing, enriching, editing, and moving content. Your team can then build the integrations, interfaces, and automations that create real differentiation for your business.
This “buy, then build” approach also provides an opportunity to improve workflows rather than simply recreating every legacy process in a new system. You can adopt proven capabilities out of the box, simplify unnecessary steps, and customize the areas that genuinely make your operation unique.
- API-first foundation: Mimir’s user interface is built on its RESTful API and OpenAPI specification. Customers and partners can use the same foundation to integrate existing systems, automate processes, and create purpose-built applications.
- Faster development with the Mimir Developer MCP: The Mimir Developer MCP makes Mimir’s API documentation and development resources understandable to compatible AI coding tools. Developers can describe what they want to create in natural language and use those tools to accelerate the building and iteration of applications on top of Mimir. Working prototypes including custom search and playback interfaces have been created in minutes.
- Automation where it matters: Repetitive tasks such as creating placeholders, organizing folders, transferring metadata, or initiating workflows from external planning systems can be automated, allowing production teams to concentrate on content rather than administration.
- Flexible integration and extension: APIs, webhooks, client hooks, custom actions, plugins, and embeddable components allow Mimir to connect with on-premise and cloud systems or become part of a broader production experience. Teams can build anything from tailored search and publishing interfaces to operational dashboards, provenance checks, and specialist workflow tools.
The result is a better balance between standardization and differentiation. You avoid the cost and complexity of building the underlying production and collaboration platform from scratch, without being restricted to a rigid, one-size-fits-all workflow. Mimir provides the building blocks; your operational needs determine what you build with them.
Conclusion? The cloud is a competitive advantage
The transition to a cloud-native production and collaboration platform is about more than just moving files or modernizing, it’s about unlocking flexibility, security, and scalability for your team. By separating the myths from reality, it becomes clear that modern hybrid architectures like Mimir offer the best of both worlds.
Ready to future-proof your workflow? Let’s talk.