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for real-time playback of raw 2K and HD video sequences directly from the central storage to its Autodesk Smoke and Flame suites. “Most of the solutions we looked at could offer either great aggregate performance to sharing NAS clients, or streaming playback performance to high bandwidth users, but very few could do both,” explains Condie. Also needed within the single plat-


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form was an integrated high-speed near-line area for Smoke and Flame archiving, and a render store offering fast performance at render time with- out impacting on the network users.


Flexible file system CandIT Media proposed a centralised storage solution, based on its WARP file system, that could deliver the exact performance and capacity specifica- tions Prime Focus required, with the added benefit of being able to guaran- tee performance over the lifetime of the system. The WARP file system was underpinned by low-cost, entry-level servers and storage arrays from IBM to form a number of storage modules, tied together and connected with Cand- IT Media’s Alcatel 10-Gigabit lossless ethernet switch to provide a scalable, high-speed storage area network. The flexibility of the file system


and networking provided Prime Focus with nearly 5GB/s of aggre- gate storage performance and 340TB of capacity, incorporating three storage pools for NAS, real- time and archive, presented as a single file system name space. The render farm, located in a dif-


ferent building to the core of the WARP solution, was accelerated by placing a WARP Network Attached Node (NAN) locally. The NAN con- nected back to the main infrastruc- ture via dedicated long-range 10-Gigabit fibre links and is capable of sustaining storage performance of more than 2.4GB/s to the render farm. Render machines and client


www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils September/October 2012 | Broadcast TECH | 29


workstations were able to connect to WARP through Prime Focus’ existing 1GB network switch using standard protocols such as NFS, Active Direc- tory authenticated CIFS and FTP via load balanced 12 x 1Gb links. “For our customers in deadline-


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driven media environments, predicta- bility is key,” says Ben Leaver, manag- ing director of CandIT Media. “Where we differ from the traditional model is that we aren’t just interested in the storage performance; we take the same approach to the network and balance the performance throughout. Using a file system that doesn’t frag- ment, in conjunction with lossless net- working, we are able to guarantee per- formance end to end, which enhances our customers’ ability to deliver.” The CandIT WARP architecture is


also built upon commodity-based hardware components, offering a plat- form that is genuinely scalable and dramatically reduces the high cost of ownership typically associated with high-end storage technology, a benefit not lost on Prime Focus. “Our main goal was to be able to share project


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‘What excited us aboutWARP was the ability to guarantee performance


to all users’ Andrew Condie, Prime Focus


data and assets efficiently through- out the facility,” says Condie. “But flexibility and the open nature of the platform were also appealing in that the system can easily expand to meet our growing needs.” Following the recent install, Prime


Focus is now capable of playing up to four streams of uncompressed 2K video sequences directly from the central storage without ever drop- ping a frame. Additionally, no single element within the system has the ability to ‘steal’ performance from another, ensuring independent scal- ability within the context of a single, easy-to-manage platform. “This storage upgrade was about


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Reversed Logo, Blue indicates background and is not part of the logo.


improving the operational efficiency of the commercials department and keeping us competitive“ says Con- die. “We are delighted with the impact the CandIT system has had.”


CONTACT DETAILS Contact Escape Studios Tel 0207 348 1920 Email technology@escapestudios.com Website techstore.escapestudios.co.uk


Prime Focus: operational efficiency


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