SAN for Mac and PC

[Chris Blair]

Iknow there are solutions that will work for Mac Final Cut and Avid on PCs. Not sure about Digidesign and whether it could access the same shared environment. I know that on our Apace vStor you can setup separate volumes for each unique software application and as long as you have the correct setup and software aps (included in purchase price), you’re good to go. I believe Editshare is very similar in how they work their stuff to. Best thing is to contact some of the turnkey companies like the two mentioned above and just ask.

Chris Blair
Magnetic Image, Inc.
Evansville, IN
http://www.videomi.com

[Bob Herzan]

Ramy,

The answer to your question is yes/however. We would need to know more about your workflow and what your trying to accomplish. There are several ways to share data to a single point of storage using FCP and Avid and then it get a bit more limited when you bring in the Protools. We have many clients running all three applications with in a shared storage solution and will be happy to get you some ref sites if need be.

Bob Herzan
Vice President of Sales
Rorke Data Inc
952-829-0300

[Chuck Mcmakin]

Hello Ramy.

Yes, it most certainly is possible to have shared storage solutions for workflows that include FCP, Avid & Pro Tools. Since the nature of audio and video editing does differ somewhat as far as disk access is concerned (Pro Tools does LOTS of very small reads & writes very quickly) we would usually see the specific physical devices devoted to audio or devoted to video but ther is no reason they can not both be shared to the same sets of editors via a common fibre channel interface.

CommandSoft’s partners over at Rorke Data have a great deal of experience in these combined workflows.

Please feel free to call on either of us if you would like to discuss your needs in greater detail.

Chuck McMakin
CommandSoft, Inc. /
Phone: (805)730-7772 /
Email: chuck@commandsoft.com

[Ryan Stoutenborough]

Hello,

Yes, there are truly working solutions for this type of environment. We’ve been doing successful mixed OS, Avid/FCP/Pro Tools solutions for years. A thorough workflow discussion is absolutely vital to the success. All 3 of the afore mentioned apps have unique requirements. It can and has been done many times over though. Give us a ring if you feel like chatting on the subject in greater detail. Thanks!

Ryan Stoutenborough
Studio Network Solutions
Phone: 877.537.2094
https://www.studionetworksolutions.com

[Ramy Elkays]

Thanks to all of you for your answer. I am located in France and working on the equipment project of a future facility in the corporate video business. I think you all have sales representatives in my country so if you think it’s of interest, please email me the privates of these companies. Thanks in advance.

[Bob Herzan]

Ramy,

My Sales Rep for your area is based out of the Netherlands, she will be able to work with you and connect you to a local reseller. Send me your details and I will have her get in contact with you. We will also be at IBC and can set some time to meet there if you are planning on attending. (bherzan@rorke.com)

Bob Herzan
Vice President of Sales
Rorke Data Inc
952-829-0300

[Matt Geier]

Ramy,

I was browsing and found your post.

There are solutions that work between MACs and PC’s. Mac’s use Apple’s AFP (Apple File Protocol) and PC’s (Windows use SMB, and Linux uses a Linux flavor of the “file transfer protocol.) My point is that it’s common for these to exists in the same environment because often they can “see” each other on a network.

AVID is a unique animal. I hear of a lot of complications integrating AVID into any other environment that’s not ALL AVID. I’m sure there’s stuff I don’t know here. But I do know that I’ve personally never witness more then one AVID in an environment like this. (One AVID, I hear, can be integrated much easier then say 2 or 3 etc … ) I don’t know much about this though, that’s just rumor. AVID does “special magic” in their solution so that only AVID can see AVID, etc ..

Pro Tools is also interesting and I’m willingly admitting here that I’m no expert on it. I do know that it has problems running over a network. All the Pro Tools users I hear of, have direct attached storage to meet those needs. I do believe that there may be solutions surfacing that will start to address these types of needs.

There are quite a few vendors that offer solutions that work in mixed environments. Often however, those environments are still comprised of individual solutions to meet specific requirements as your work flow continues, stops, and starts.

In this day in age, you have the ability to work with Gigabit, 10Gb, Fibre Channel, and other proven technologies to help you do what you want in a mixed environment. You need to make sure you’re working with someone who can understand your needs to ensure you’re getting the right hardware and the network you need in the beginning. Ultimately saving you in the long terms on costs for overhead to manage a network, etc etc etc…

Thanks,

Matt G
651-209-6509 x 1

Matt G.

[Elvin Jasarevic]

Hi Ramy,

I work for a company that has a solution that will work for you and will do the job to your full satisfaction. It is DDP – Dynamic Drive Pool.

You can have full project and file level based sharing all over single GbE network.

Typical NAS systems produce latency when read/write due to the way metadata is written, so they are not as good or not good at all with audio apps.

Apart from that, DDP is also a technology partner for ProTools and is on their recommended list.

Typical SAN systems are expensive, will require operator, high maintenance, two separate networks etc…

DDP is 2-3 times faster than any NAS system (Avid ISIS/Editshare/Apace/Lairdshare/SNS Studio Networks) as it uses AVFS/ISCSI protocol.

Other systems uses NFS Network Files system.

On DDP you can utilize 2nd GbE connection on your PC or Mac and record even HD uncompressed 10 bit all on 1 GbE network.

So while other NAS systems have to integrate 10GbE cards to their systems, you just use your current system/network.

There is no other system which could do that.

There are many other benefits but also one to mention as well is that is less expensive than competitions and it comes with 3 years warranty.

Feel free to drop me email at any time if you have any questions..

I used to be ASE and Avid authorized reseller, as well i used to demonstrate for them and many others manufactures at dozens of shows while living in London.

I am in Japan at the moment.

Last thing, DDP/Ardis Technologies were nominated this month by IABM for technology award.

check us out and be happy to find one better/easier/cheaper solution for your company and don’t buy anything before you see demo from DDP….

https://www.dynamicdrivepool.com/

Alvin Jasarevic
Dynamic Drive Pool