[Daniel Hatch]

David,

Here’s some information on Apace Systems that might be of use:

The best solution to provide you with support for multi-ingest XDCAM streams is to consider two products from Apace Systems.
a) They offer Capture assist for Apple FCP which is an intelligent utility software, that allows you to directly from your FCP application, ingest XDCAM video streams directly into Apace Systems’ vStor (file based storage appliance for real-time editing) via GE connectivity. The advantage offered by this tool is that it throttles the pace of ingest to the shared storage and as such you can have all four XDCAMs writing into our shared vStor storage simultaneously. You can set the throttle setting that facilitates Multi-ingest as well as saves CPU cycles on your client node to be an efficient editing node as well. You can ingest both 35 or 50 Mbits/s over GE connection with assured no dropped frame.
b) On the receiving end you can use their vStor as the real-time collaborative editing storage and deal with your Apple FCP workspaces at the collaborative and shared manner. No complex SAN management or iSCSI GE based SAN is needed. The iSCSI overhead sucks up 20-30 percent of your CPU cycles if it is not offloaded and you need Fibre channel like SAN management software. Also if you need to mix PC and MAC with the iSCSI based storage is not compatible.

In summary in you use their vStor v2200 series in 3U configuration with 12TB of storage with our FCP capture assist and they will guarrantee four simultaneous ingest XDCAM 35 or 50 mbits/s plus simultaneous edit of up to 20 Dvcpro-50 which is equal to the high end of your XDCAM 50 Mbits/s bit rate. Note vStor is a file based video storage so there is no client agent to load on the client nodes for edit access. You only pay for Capture assist software Lic. given your ingest needs. Editing access is free.

Hope this helps and doesn’t muddy the waters for you!

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

Tony,

It’s great you 2 hooked up, you will find Apace is very passionate about Video workflow and their product is rock solid!!

Post here and let us know how your webx goes.

Thanks,

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

Tony,

Email me off line and I will give you Jeanclaudes email address. I will also call/email him to let him know you will be in contact. He can also setup a webx, being IP based, to show you the whole interface and what it can do for you.

Dan

danh@towerpower.com

[Daniel Hatch]

Tony,

Found this for you:

Here is a infoStor publication article were Digital FX (end customer used and praised their System with AVID editing and they liked it so much that they vouched for it in this publication. The case study is in the middle section of this article …start from “Improving Workflows” paragraph ….
Greg Milneck is the name of the user.

https://www.infostor.com/article_display/case-studies-storage-stokes-the-creative-process/251029/s-articles/s-infostor/s-volume-10/s-issue-3/s-features/s-storage-in-the-studio/s-1.html

Hope this helps.

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

Tony,

Apace Systems has extensive collaborative real-time video editing support For Avid.
They support both OMfi and MXF formats and their systems are network storage dealing with small and large scale Avid editing workgroups on PC and MAC based Avid workgroups. Also, if you currently have Avid Unity and want to offload your Avid to their systems they have the option called Unity/ISIS offload(UOL option loaded on top of vStor as a client server software) that allows of intelligent offload and back up of content as well as restore at the PMR workspace aware level as an option.

But if you need just a new file based network storage system, with Multi-GE or 10GE storage vStor on its own will suffice to address your need.
Depending on the model number for example their vStor V3000 series can support 14 DnxHD or 10 10-bit or 20 Dvcpro-HD or 40 Dvcpro-50 per system deployed. Also you can add and cluster more vStor as Lego building blocks adding performance and capacity to your workgroup with time. Apace assures and speed matches your workgroup aggregate stream count need to its network storage appliances. Unlike SAN based implementation this is a file based system with no complicated SAN management software and SAN management per seat Tax. You connect your editing workstations to the system via GE or 10GE connectivity and you are ready to go. All is needed is a low cost Layer 3 switch. All the intercommunication between Avid on PC and Avid on MAC with vStor is handled at the network file system and vStor offer assured compliance with AVID formats per hundreds of deployments worldwide.

I know the owners very well, let me see if I can get a reference for you, off line of course.

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

You do not need SAN. Recommendation is to consider Apace Systems vStor and try their SMB share for MAC over Multi-GE. You can collaborate real-time over GE connectivity between your three FCP nodes as well as use it for your fast access to graphics and other media. The advantage is that you can connect PCs to your workgroup as well and not to have to invest in SAN hardware. Also, They do support AFP on vStor as well, but, they do recommend that moving forward to consider SMB for your network. What is the stream type you typically use on your three FCP workstations and the capacity need you have and they can make specific SKU recommendations for you?

They are the best keep secreat out there and understand Video Workflow better than most.

FWIW

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

Apace Systems’ vStor v2100-2U6T can offer the best form factor and fit for doing occasional collaborative SD video editing real-time, while offering 6TB of storage to consolidate all your data. The system can support 2 10-bit SD stream editing or 4 DvcPro-HD editing for your reference. Also with Apace’s vShare software package you can sync and backup all your data from internal direct attached storage into vStor, and with Apace’s Capture assist module for FCP you can consolidated direct ingest for collaborative use into the vStor shared storage in one pass. This storage building block can further be upgraded to run Apace’s MAM for interactive data management and distribution and even remote editing with yet another package fro Apace called ViEW for global remote editing.

For 10+ Streams of concurrent SD editing you can consider larger vStor system from Apace. All the accesses to the vStor are via Multi-GE or in higher end models 10GE and they are file based accesses, with no need for complex SAN management software. The benefit of vStor is that as a storage server which can be a building block for consolidating, distributing your content via IP based networks, locally and remotely while offering you a place to park your shared data, they also can offer you a built in FTP server in the machine as well.

Dan Hatch
Laird Telemedia
danh@towerpower.com
845-339-9555 x7377

[Daniel Hatch]

Pat,

What type of footage are you ingesting and how much?

Thanks,

Dan

[Daniel Hatch]

We have been working with Apace Systems on multiple projects from 5 stations to 30, Mac and PC crossplat form. Apace gets video workflow and workflow in general.

If you would like to see a demo of the system interface on a webx contact me offline.

danh@towerpower.com

Dan Hatch