[Bernard Lamborelle]

John,

The point you are making is that FibreJet

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Sounds great! Let us know what performance you end up getting with these cards…

BTW you will still need arbitration software to resolve server conflicts as iSCSI is striclty a bloc access protocol over IP…

Bernard Lamborelle
http://www.tiger-technology.com

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Shane,

The Galaxy HDX is a Fibre Channel storage. File sharing therefore requires one or more server.

Depending on the type of material, and the number of streams you need to feed (i.e. DV, DV50, uncompressed, etc.) you might be able to get away with a simple server feeding Gigabit Ethernet LAN clients, or you might need to invest in a more complex Fibre Channel SAN with each client having access to the storage through a Fibre Channel switch…

When you try to access or edit multiple DV video streams over a regular Gigabit Ethernet network, you will find out that you quickly get drop frames. That is because the network file protocol is not very good at streaming. For this reason, many people purchase specialized storage units that can be very expensive.

Tiger Technology makes a unique software that streamlines workgroup collaboration over Gigabit Ethernet by:

– increasing network performance by transfering data using block access instead file protocols
– allocating network bandwidth to each client to ensure smooth playback
– allows Windows, Mac, and Linux clients to share the same files
– ensures network scalability and 24/7 failover capabilities for mission critical environments

But if you need it, the same software functionality, and more is available for Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN as well.

Cheers,

Bernard Lamborelle
http://www.tiger-technology.com

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Hi Chuck,

The more the merrier! Our presence out here will help people realize that there are great alternatives to Xsan!

Cheers!

Bernard Lamborelle
http://www.tiger-technology.com

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Hi John,

We tested the Galaxy HDX when I was with Matrox. We were able to obtain 335MB/sec of effective throughput. It is possible that Rorke was able to improve their performance slightly. While I haven’t seen the Galaxy operate with DV50 streams, a little math will help:

One DV50 stream = 50Mbps or 6.25MB/sec

This means that *in theory* you can fit over 50x DV50 streams. I say “in theory” because concurrent accesses with different streams will force lots of seeking on the drives, that will affect the overall performance. This is one area where SATA drives can have an effect. I don’t know about SATA II but regular SATA are not as good for concurrent accesses as SCSI drives.

You are probably safe to assume you can get 25x streams out of this box. Can you get 30 or 40? Maybe but I really don’t know. Perhaps someone else has hands on experience and can tell us.

With regards to Xserve, the practical bandwitdh should be very close. The question of defragmenting, etc. will be the same on both storage unit as this is more a question of the file system, the application you use, and the administrative tools you use.

Outside of performance, the main characteristics to look for in a storage unit is the type of RAID configuration (for data security); hot swappable drives or not; redundant power supplly; reliability; support; and price of course!

In theory, you should never have to reformat a drive once it has been formatted. The only reason to re-format would be because the drive got corrupted (shouldn’t happen) or you need to re-stripe the drives in a new configuration (to increase your network bandwidth for instance).

Finally, you should consider that many SAN management software come with their own, proprietary file system (such as Xsan and Sanergy). This means that once you have formatted the drive with this foreign file system, you can’t attach your storage to a regular computer anymore, without having to either load the SAN management software onto it (costs you a lincense) or re-format the drive (and lose all your data!). Other SAN management software, such as MetaSAN and FibreJet utilizes native HFS+ file systems, so you never have to do this.

Hope this helps.

Bernard

[Bernard Lamborelle]

I’m sorry to hear that… Well, as long as you are satisfied with the solution you ended up purchasing, I guess there is no harm!

The world has shrunk into a very small place lately. I am sure we will eventually run into each other somewhere!

All the best!

Bernard

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Thanks guys!

Bernard

[Bernard Lamborelle]

Hi Francois,

Because of the nature of SAN software, we have chosen to team up with storage vendors to demonstrate the unique capabilities of our solution. At NAB, Tiger Technology teamed up with ADTX to demonstrate a fully working SAN based on the ADTX L-Series. I also believe you had arranged for a demonstration with us. It is definitely unfortunate that you couldn’t make it, as our technical and sales representatives were anxious to meet with you.

I, among with other Tiger representatives, will also be present at IBC. And once again, we will be exhibiting with a number of storage partners. I understand that it would be nice for Tiger to have its own booth, but for good or for bad, we have chosen to demonstrate real working solutions that people can buy. This choice meant we had to allocate our finite resources to our partners’ booth. I’d certainly be interrested to know what you and others think. Your suggestions and comments are welcome and will help us figure what is best for the future.

With regards to changing SAN software, you are right again: it isn’t an easy thing to do. However, Tiger does offer eval licences to those willing to give us a try!

Thanks for expressing interest in our solution.

All the best!

Bernard

BTW If you have any good reseller names to suggest in South Africa, please do so. We would love to expand in your territory!