Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/87274
• AD VER TISEMENT • The Problem: Shared Storage Across Multiple NLE Environments Choosing an NLE is a highly strategic, personal and controversial deci- sion that can have long lasting implications to your business. Once you select a platform, you are often stuck with it, for better or worse. These creative platforms are highly captive by nature, making it both com- plex and costly to change when desired features are not available or once supported components are discontinued. Regardless of which NLE you do choose, it seems other applications have a capability or two that your team wants. For those who do undertake platform tran- sitions, it often requires a painful rip and replacement of a large part of your existing workflows and infrastructure. Then, the next challenge is the implementation of a clunky, combined workflow with significant manual intervention. Because of these limitations, cost and complexity, most organiza- tions choose not to transition and wait for the next product release. In the meantime, you become captive to undesirable technology that slows down workflows, stifles creativity and leaves you vulnerable to the competition moving ahead of you. ➤ Most NLEs don't offer or enable connection to a storage plat- form that supports simultaneous access of new higher resolu- tion workflows (2K, 4K and beyond). ➤ Inherently restricts the available talent pool and employee satis- faction to those experienced and willing to work on your NLE platform. ➤ Islands of creativity are caused by small storage solutions or a lack of concurrent accessibility. Workflows slow and are error prone in moving files around. ➤ Several of the NLE solutions are very limited in their ability to really scale or add capacity easily – either in number of user who can access a project or in the capacity to store projects. ➤ In the current situation, attempting to outsource labor requires not only finding the right talent, but trying to match NLE sys- tems as well. ➤ Most NLE storage solutions do not provide guaranteed through- put, resulting in dropped frames or miscues. Redoing long sequences which wastes valuable time, creative resources and increases frustration. The current market situation is case in point to this dilemma. Final Cut Pro's® latest version from Apple® has prompted some loyal users to seek out new alternatives. Avid's® decision to discontinue their Unity product has left its users looking for new, better storage options, especially for today's high resolution workflows. Adobe's® push with Premiere Pro CS6® has a lot of users thinking about switching, but concerns about transition complexities and enabling the shared access required in a true profes- sional editing workgroup workflow are obstacles. The idea of combining editing suites in a shared workflow has been attempted in a few ways, but none of the implementations has pro- vided for the ease, efficiency, or protection required making them via- ble or efficient. The ideal solution would allow NLE suites from Apple, Avid, Adobe, and more to connect simultaneously to the same proj- ects, media, and storage – even for the higher resolution workflows like 2K, 4K and beyond. Ideally, it would allow for easy migration by allow- ing the users to connect to both old and new storage, be easily scal- able – and provide the high performance required for shared access and collaboration. ➤The Solution: DataDirect Networks Introducing DDN's Unified Workflow Solution for simultaneous shared access from Adobe, Avid, and Apple NLE suites. This tightly integrated solution combines the DDN xSTREAMScaler™ storage platform and FilmPartner's™ MXFserver media server and the all of the professional services, licensing, installation, optimization required to integrate tightly into your workflow(s). DDN's unique shared editing workgroup solution provides: ➤ Shared access from Apple, Adobe, and Avid NLE products to the same shared projects and media at the highest resolutions ➤ Complete project management, tracking, and security ➤ Overall user and quota management, unlike any other solution in the market place ➤ Browser-based anywhere access to high resolution media and dailies ➤ Independent scaling of storage performance or capacity ➤ Guaranteed, frame accurate quality of service (which means the system will never go down, never drop a frame, and thus never require work to be redone due to an error in the storage system) ➤ Open, free APIs for integrating with the system from your own application ➤ A Microsoft® Windows Server 2008® and MySQL® database based solution for easy IT management and integration with custom applications ➤ High density, simple, efficient, low TCO storage solution DDN's production-proven Unified Workflow delivers many benefits around collaboration, simplicity, and low TCO. Most importantly, DDN accelerates productivity while enabling your creative team to use the tools of their choice. For more details we encourage you to visit: http://www.ddn.com/en/applications/film-post-production