Small Tree Improves Workflow in Valencia Community College

On campuses across the country, professors continue to turn to technology to ensure that their students have access to lectures, lessons and other materials critical to their success. At Valencia Community College in Orlando, FL a full-service video production department works with professors to create DVDs and online instructional videos that provide students with crucial information to their studies. As these tools have become more popular among the school’s professors, the video production department was recently faced with a workflow problem that would often delay project completion. To streamline its workflow, the production department installed shared storage technology from Small Tree, designer of simple-to-install, inexpensive Mac-based networking and shared storage products for professional video and audio editors.

Featuring two workstations running Final Cut Pro across Mac G5s, Valencia’s video production department was experiencing severe bottleneck issues prior to installing Small Tree’s Edge-corE ES4524D, a 24-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, along with its PEG4 4-port Ethernet card – both of which are a part of Small Tree’s new GraniteSTOR product line. According to Michael Maguire, a producer in the school’s video production department, the Small Tree system has had a huge impact on the department’s improved workflow.

"Since installation [of the Small Tree equipment], overall workflow has improved dramatically with our productivity up more than 200%," stated Maguire. "Along with performance, one of the largest benefits of the Small Tree system is its affordability. We need to pay close attention to our budget and simply cannot afford to spend the $50,000 a similar solution would cost. With Small Tree, we get exceptional performance at an unbelievable price."