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Designer/Integrator Recommendations?
Posted in the forums a few months back about building a Post-production SAN from scratch (computers & infrastructure) for my company, a broadcast television station. The executive summary of that thread was that I wasn’t looking to go cheap or do-it-myself and also wanted a “normal” Final Cut & fibre-channel SAN. Got some good advice from Bob and a few others and then went on my way.
I’ve spent my time reading up and getting feedback from workers in my company. I feel like I’m closer to knowing what I want which I feel is important before engaging anyone to help me.
At one point, I had a link to a company in LA that specialized in mid to high-end Postproduction workflows especially as it related to the storage end. I can’t find it now, but the main point is that I’m looking for recommendations on who would be good to work with on this.
What I’m looking for is a company that can start out with a limited scope (design and review of my plans) and then be capable of moving on if I feel comfortable with the work they are doing. At a minimum, I want all the design work, review of my ideas, and materials list to be done by them. I WANT TO PAY for this work and NOT GET WORK FOR FREE (caps for Bob’s benefit) though I suppose I am trying to get this inital guidance free, lol. Based on the impression and feel I get from their design work & how well they work with me I would then decide if I wanted them to do purchasing and integration. But I don’t want to get into a situation where the design work is being influenced by the expectation/hope they will get to buy all the equipment and integrate it. Does this make sense?
Money is not an infinite resource in my organization, but I feel like we have enough to get what we need as long as we steward it properly and only make small mistakes but not any big ones. So how much do we have? No figure has been set, but I expect maybe a little over $100,000 for the whole project.
Here is a list of things my project will include:
Multiple Mac Pros w/ FCP & Adobe Suite
A Fiber Channel-based Storage Infrastructure w/ 12-24GB to start
MetaSAN
Nearline & Offline storage
An archiving/DR solution
An asset management solution
Pipeline Quad ethernet device for SDI device sharing & linking to our switcherAnyone have some names of people that would be good to work with that could work under the scenario I outlined above and handle the scope of this project, especially as it relates to design with an eye to possible integration? Even just advice on what to look for and/or avoid would be helpful. I tried going through the CC vendor database but there’s just too much to parse.
I, of course, will be anticipating criticism of my approach. I have an open-mind here since the ultimate objective is a solid, working solution that adds value to the company.
I’m pretty sure the most obvious criticism is why would I expect someone to want to design something they couldn’t implement or the converse why would I expect someone to implement & take responsibility for something they didn’t design? That’s obviously an issue, but at this point I’m more concerned about the purity of the design & it not being compromised because a certain product has a higher profit margin. I’ll worry about how to get it implemented after I feel confident I have a good plan and materials list that meets our needs.
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8 Replies
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Hey Stefan,
Try Bryson Jones, bryson@hidefcowboy.com. He knows his stuff, and has done this exact thing for many clients in the LA area. He also doesn’t sell hardware, which a lot of people like.
I checked out some of your SAN specs, and your system is very doable in the 20-30k price range. Feel free to give me a buzz, my companies EVO platform integrates FC and iSCSI into the same box and we do team up with the MetaSAN guys if you’re looking for their specific software.
Good luck!
Nate Cooper
ncooper@studionetworksolutions.com
818.209.1331
EVO – https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/products/product_detail.php?t=more&pi=12 -
Found a post where Bob was berating someone to call CommandSoft. Added to the list but will they work with you if you don’t want FibreJet? More specifically, will they work and support you if you want MetaSAN? (Yes, I have a phone.)
“Besides our FibreJet, StorDirector and Diskreet product lines, we also offer support, training, and design services as well as sell a variety of hardware including storage, switches, HBAs and Apple products.”
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Thanks, Nate. I will add him to the list. I like the idea of an individual to work with on design, but having a company around for post-implementation issues and future help also has some advantage. My idea of how this would go is that whoever integrated the solution would be around to help with support, etc for the long term. Not saying he wouldn’t, but more things can happen to a single person than an entire company. But for design, he may be just fine.
I figure the SAN portion itself should be about what you said. The more expensive parts will of course be the 5 or 6 FCP systems w/ software (estimate 10k per system for everything.) Then there’s the $10k Pipeline Quad box, MetaSAN server, etc etc. Adds up quickly. So for a budget of 100k or slightly more, that’s not an overbundance so I’m trying to be as efficient as possible without falling into the trap of cutting corners and turning into one of Bob’s poster children.
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just start calling around to different integrators, find ones you like. There are a ton of them, some large some small. In terms of post workflow and SAN design/integration I would go with SanTech. These guys offer full support and can back it up. (https://www.santech.tv)
If you are really worried you can call around hoping to speak with post production execs and ask who did their integration and if they recommend them. Google any large Los Angeles facility, call, and ask for VP of Post Production or a chief engineer. It might seem “invasive” but you’ll definitely get your answer. I would be willing to bet a bunch of them are lurking on this forum 🙂
-Jordan
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If you want to do ProRes422HQ / DVCProHD only , and you have about 6 systems, contact me. But when Bob Zelin needs a serious Fibre Channel solution, he calls
Shane Sokolosky
Consultant / Systems Engineer /
XSAN for Video Apple Certified Technician
Apple Consultants Network – Storage Area NetworksSANtech.TV
17518 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine, CA. 92614Office: 714-639-3767
Mobile: 714-599-1611
Fax: 714-783-7820shanesky@santech.tv
https://www.SANtech.tv -
Another vote for Shane.
Two thumbs up from us. Nothin’ but GOOD things to say about him and the rest of his
team.Mark
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You may have already done this, but one thing we did when evalutating systems was ask every single company we called to give us contact info for a few of their clients so we could email or call them and ask about their experiences with the company’s equipment or service.
Incredibly, only two of the dozen or so companies I asked provided me with this info. Of the two that did, one had absolutely glowing recommendations from their clients, the other, not so much.
I find that getting real-world feedback is infinitely more reliable than listening to a comapny rep or going thru spec sheets etc. I also found it incredible that so many companies didn’t provide me with reference clients to talk to. It immediately made me suspicious of them and I crossed them off my list. I suspect most had plenty of satisfied clients, their sales people just failed to follow up and actually provide me with the info. But for me, if they can’t spend 5 minutes sending me 3 or 4 emails of former clients, then I doubt they’ll have the time I need when I run into a problem with their system down the road.
Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com -
Chris,
There’s some truth to this, but there’s always another side to the story.
Some clients DON’T want to be bothered. Or have confidentiality issues. Or have corporate policies preventing this kind of communication. There’s plenty of reasons why a vendor may not be able to
present an extensive list of clients.I wouldn’t automatically write somebody off for this reason alone. For example, one vendor of Raid systems that I know did ALOT of work for the government… most of it top secret. They REALLY wanted to show me what they’d achieved… but couldn’t.
Mark
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