Canadian Broadcasting Selects ATTO

ATTO Technology, Inc. announced that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)/Radio-Canada has selected the ATTO FastStream Storage Controller to provide parity data protection to 27 editing suites at their Montreal facility. CBC/Radio-Canada utilizes Avid MediaDock U320 storage from Avid Technology, Inc. along with Avid video editing solutions for post-production. FastStream Storage Controllers integrate with storage, including the Avid MediaDock U320, to provide robust data protection and other advanced features.

The initial installation of the FastStream Storage Controllers has been completed with several other implementations to occur over the next several months at CBC/Radio-Canada’s television facilities in Montreal. The FastStream SC 5300 has been qualified and approved by Avid Technology, Inc. for use with Avid MediaDock Ultra320 local storage.

“When we assessed the risk associated with the lack of data protection in our editing suites we set out to choose a technology provider that could provide RAID protection without having to scrap our existing storage infrastructure,” said Denise Normandin, director, Post-production and Presentation, Technical Production, and Pierre Marion, director, Broadcast Engineering, at CBC/Radio-Canada, Montreal. “After evaluating the ATTO solution for several weeks, it was clear that ATTO’s FastStream was well-suited to provide data protection to our editing suites without sacrificing performance. By working with our digital workflows, ATTO did not change the way we access our storage, they provided us with a product which allows our storage to be more reliable.”

“Many editors fear that the addition of RAID protection will hinder performance,” said Tom Kolniak, Director of Products at ATTO. “However, editing without data protection exposes the risk of downtime due to a drive failure which can impact deadlines and budgets. The FastStream was engineered to maintain full stream counts for high definition and standard definition post-production, even in the event of a drive failure, while providing the benefit of RAID parity protection. By providing CBC/Radio-Canada with this solution, they are now able to offer their editors the piece of mind they need to keep projects on track.”