Brigham Young Univ.-Hawaii Implements Quantum StorNext for HD Video Production

Quantum Corp. announced that Brigham Young University-Hawaiihttp://www.byuh.edu (BYU-Hawaii) has achieved a significant increase in video production by implementing Quantum StorNext data management software.

When the university transitioned from Standard Definition (SD) to High Definition (HD) video, its legacy infrastructure proved to be inadequate, with insufficient storage capacity and slow transfer rates. Since deploying a new SAN-based architecture that leverages StorNext software, however, BYU-Hawaii has experienced a 10x transfer speed improvement for sharing and archiving its HD videos and achieved a fourfold increase in its productivity levels.

With 2,500 students, BYU-Hawaii produces a wide variety of videos, including live broadcasts of athletic events and concerts, web streams, online classes, documentaries, promotional materials and class instruction. To help improve the quality of these videos, BYU-Hawaii made the move from SD to HD; however, the university soon realized it couldn’t support HD’s large files and transfer rates were suffering. For example, the university would often run out of space mid-project, and editors would need to erase video content to make room for new material. These challenges were multiplied by a complex workflow: film was captured on tape and ingested onto external hard drives using FireWire 800 before being transferred again to editing workstations.

In looking to solve these challenges, BYU-Hawaii was initially attracted to Quantum’s StorNext data management software because it is compatible with Apple Final Cut Pro and ultimately chose StorNext over other solutions because of its superior integration options and scalability. The implementation and configuration took just a couple of days, and the editors experienced no disruption in their work. In conjunction with deploying StorNext, BYU-Hawaii also moved from its direct-attached storage architecture to a SAN-based system, which included two IBM DS5000 disk arrays with 28 TB of capacity, ATTO Celerity HBA adapters and a Brocade switch. Over one weekend, data was moved from existing small RAID systems and external hard drives to the new high-performance and scalable SAN infrastructure.

"We did not want to be limited by speed or capacity," says Russell T. Merrill, director of instructional media and production for BYU-Hawaii. "We have had experience with other clustered file systems, but StorNext has by far the best support safety net. In fact, StorNext is the glue that made everything work well together during the installation. It was great to eliminate the usual finger pointing between vendors as Quantum was willing to support everything we were using."

With an increase in video transfer speeds from 800 MB/sec to 8 GB/sec, StorNext has enabled multiple professionals from different fields to work simultaneously on the same file or piece of content without the previous long waits experienced as material moved through the system. StorNext has also reduced project time by a factor of four, eliminated videotape from workflow and more than doubled editing efficiency. In addition, uncompressed HD and other large file formats can now be easily transmitted through the edit bays. Every BYU-Hawaii project can be edited in HD without having to worry about space restrictions or whether the software can cope with vast amounts of storage and a large influx of users. Prior to deploying StorNext, the university’s weekly shoot took two full days to complete. Now it takes only half a day, and the staff can edit as the content is transmitted to the SAN.

"By streamlining our workflow, StorNext has greatly reduced the level of stress on our user community," says Merrill. "Our experience with StorNext and working with Quantum has been terrific. We’ve been able to do what we had hoped to do and more, and we know we have a great partner in Quantum."