Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/851458
www.postmagazine.com 6 POST JULY 2017 STORAGE GALLERY FACILIS SHIPS TERRABLOCK V7 AND HUB SERVER HUDSON, MA — Facilis (http://facilis. com) announces that its TerraBlock Version 7 is now shipping. The new Facilis Hub Server, a performance aggregator that can be added to new and existing TerraBlock systems, is also immediately available. V7 includes a new browser-based, mobile compatible Web console that delivers enhanced workflow and administration from any connected location. It also includes FastTracker, an asset tracking system to aid cus- tomers in moving and finding files in their workflows. With ever increasing media file sizes, and 4K, HDR and VR workflows continually putting pressure on facility infrastructure, the Facilis Hub Server is aimed at future-proofing customers' current storage and offering power- ful new systems available. The Facilis Hub Server uses a new architecture to optimize drive sets and increase the bandwidth available from standard TerraBlock storage systems. New customers will benefit from custom- ized Hub Server Stacks with enhanced system redundancy and data resilien- cy; all while delivering near-linear scal- ability of bandwidth when expanding the network. WESTLAKE PRO BUILDS SOUND STAGES WITH JMR MAC PRO RAID CHATSWORTH, CA — JMR Electronics, Inc. (www.jmr.com) is providing Westlake Pro with tightly integrated Lightning Thunderbolt rackmount workstations that com- bine the Apple Mac Pro, three Avid Pro Tools|HDX cards, RAID stor- age and a fiber channel HBA that networks the workstations into the studio's high-speed SAN implemen- tations. These Thunderbolt-certified rackmount workstations are utilized in Westlake Pro's sound stage solu- tion for re-recording, mixing, scoring, automated dialogue replacement (ADR) and Foley for film and TV. Westlake Pro works with post facilities that can support over 200 Pro Tools systems running on Mac Pros. The new Mac Pros' cylindrical design and Thunderbolt only inter- face create an operational challenge at many studios. The JMR Lightning Thunderbolt (LTNG-XQ) product family is de- signed for Apple Mac Pro users needing to connect to PCIe periph- erals. The LTNG-XQ products feature four full-bandwidth PCIe slots, using two independent Thunderbolt-2 20Gb/s bridge circuits: One Thunderbolt-2 bridge drives two slots, and a second internal Thunderbolt-2 bridge drives the oth- er two slots. Connections to a host like the Mac Pro include using two of the three available Thunderbolt 2 bus connections to the Mac. "JMR impressed us with their absolute willingness to come out to the studio, listen to what we wanted, and help us custom design and configure a system that met our needs and would work well for our clients," says Hamid "Gadget" Hopkins, Westlake Pro executive vice president. "It took 12 rack spaces to store and stack all the equipment we needed for a single system prior to implementing the JMR Lightning product. Now we have one JMR workstation that fits in a 4U rack space with everything neatly inside." QUMULO EXPANDS PRESENCE IN M&E MARKET SEATTLE — Qumulo (www.qum ulo.com) reports that a number of leading media and entertainment companies are choosing solutions to accelerate their data-intensive workloads in VR, VFX, 4K, ani- mation rendering and broadcast. DreamWorks Animation's alter ego, Awesometown, Deluxe VR, Intelligent Creatures, Mr.X, Pipeline Studios and RodeoFX have joined the company's customer base for their digital content factories. "File-based data, including 4K video, broadcasting, animation ren- dering or VFX is the core asset of the media and entertainment busi- ness," says Peter Godman, founder and CTO of Qumulo. "If data stor- age fails or slows, the digital facto- ry grinds to a halt. Customers need immensely scalable file storage that can easily store tens of billions of files and deliver maximum per- formance with real-time visibility and control. This is why the media and entertainment industry is turn- ing to Qumulo." The company's solutions address such applications as large-scale animation rendering, immersive live action virtual reality, 2D compos- iting and visual effects. The open- ing sequence of La La Land, for instance, consisted of nearly six minutes of uninterrupted footage consisting of over 8,000 frames. VFX studio Crafty Apes select- ed Qumulo's modern scale-out storage, deploying a six-node, Windows-based production system to handle the data-intensive 2D compositing and visual effects for the Academy Award-winning film.