We are pretty excited about this one. After a few years of wishing this product existed, Accusys will be demonstrating the first shared RAID storage unit using Thunderbolt at NAB. This is the most interesting piece of hardware news this year!
It had to come as it seemed the logical progression forward in the shared storage/ collaborative workflow solution market. Shared storage via Thunderbolt.
Previously, for proper shared storage you had the option of going GigE or 10 GigE with a system such as ISIS, Synology or a dedicated Mac doing the file sharing. Or you could go the whole hog and have a large RAID using Xsan or similar that connected via fibre channel. Problem with that is you needed expensive Fibre Channel to Thunderbolt converters for each client.
Until now.
We were very excited to receive in our inbox this morning the press release from Accusys ExaSan announcing that they will be launching the A16T2 shareable Thunderbolt RAID.
So for the small edit shop, you can have 4 users connected via Thunderbolt 2 to the same storage. These could be all edits, graphics, colour correction stations or ingest and playout solutions on any machine with a Thunderbolt connection. That means not only Mac Pros & iMacs, but MacBook Pros as well. We are not too sure if an Ethernet connection will be required for metadata or if the storage will be in read/write pools allocated to each user.
Whatever method, we will be keeping an eye on this unit as should Apple unveil collaborative workflow in a future version of FCPX, this is the box we would buy. The desktop shared storage solution is here.
Here is the press release:
At NAB show 2015, Accusys storage Ltd. will be exhibiting the innovative shareable Thunderbolt storage, A16T2-Share, a product designed to overcome the limitations of the existed Thunderbolt direct attached storage and to provide its users with a productivity-boosting, cost-effective Thunderbolt shared storage system.
The A16T2-Share is a 16 bay rackmount storage array with 4 Thunderbolt host ports which allow 4 Thunderbolt computers to share the content distributed across 16 hard drives with a total capacity of 128TB, and may be further expanded to up to 512 TB with the extra JBOD system. Users can configure A16T2-Share as a Storage Area Network (SAN) storage pool when integrated with SAN software, or partition the storage array into several storage volumes and benefit from the high performance Thunderbolt ports as direct attached storage with immense capacity.
A storage area network is a crucial element that helps provide content creators with a more effective, high speed, and collaborative workflow. While current direct attached Thunderbolt storage products have been effective at providing a high speed connection to storage, the limitation lies within workgroup editing and productivity.
Accusys has thus leveraged its years of experience as a PCIe SAN designer and high performance transmission technology provider within the video post-production industry, and created the all-in-one A16T2-Share Thunderbolt network storage solution which takes the original peer to peer Thunderbolt interface and transforms it into a more flexible Thunderbolt storage network well suited for Media and Entertainment budgets and workflows.
The advanced technology and innovative thinking will eliminate the high cost of Thunderbolt networking over Fibre Channel SAN or 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Guaranteed to preserve the full performance of Thunderbolt 2.0 in a shared storage environment, A16T2-Share will be the perfect storage solution for the burgeoning 4K video market.
“The A16T2-Share couples the functionality of a complete SAN solution within a single Thunderbolt storage device, the high performance of Thunderbolt 2.0 without any protocol conversion latency, and the reliability derived from an independent hardware RAID system.” says SuSyan Huang, CEO of Accusys storage Ltd. “These features give A16T2-Share its uniqueness that differentiates it from other Thunderbolt storage products, and helps create a brand new working experience for Thunderbolt users.”
No word on price yet from Accusys.
One thought here is the normal copper Thunderbolt cables won't be long enough. To get away from the drives making all that noise you will probably be looking at optical cables such as these from Corning which are Thunderbolt 2 as well.
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
