LSI MegaRAID Controllers Help Rain Computers

LSI Corporation announced that Rain Computers has chosen LSI MegaRAID 6Gb/s SATA+SAS RAID controller cards for integration with its new Venturi Video + Graphics Workstations.

           Venturi

The high-end I/O performance and reliability of LSI MegaRAID controllers allow Rain Computers to deliver systems for some of the world’s most demanding audio and video editing environments, including customers such as Cirque du Soleil, The Walt Disney Company, the new Conan O’Brien Show and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"Digital audio and video editing professionals demand workstations that don’t allow their compute-intensive environments to interfere with the creative process," said Bill Paschick, founder and chief architect, Rain Computers. "Our Venturi platform is designed to balance power, stability and compatibility, and this can only be achieved by integrating technologies that meet these same standards. Based on our rigorous testing and qualification processes, LSI MegaRAID controllers proved to be the only RAID products on the market that excelled in each of these critical areas."

Rain’s Venturi workstations are video and audio production computer systems designed for use with applications such as Adobe Creative Suite, Avid Media Composer and AutoCAD. Venturi runs a tuned, 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional and custom BIOS that boosts performance and prevents glitches and dropouts. Venturi workstations are optimized for high-speed video throughput and 2D and 3D rendering.

Rain Computers selected the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i four-port, PCI Express 2.0 controller for integration with Venturi systems based on its high transactional I/O performance capabilities, reliability and competitive price. The MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i controller, featuring the LSISAS2108 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (ROC), helps enable Rain customers to take advantage of the mulitcore processing power of the Venturi platform.

Using the LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i controller, multiple streams of high sample-rate audio with bit depths of 24 or 32 are tracked into the Rain Venturi system. The streams are then filtered and mixed on a PC platform using all the required plug-ins. The Venturi system helps enable a balance of power, stability and compatibility for today’s complex and demanding digital audio and video editing applications.

"Access to digital content is essential to meeting audio and video editing deadlines and to avoiding costly project delays," said Brent Blanchard, director of worldwide channel sales and marketing, LSI. "The I/O performance, proven reliability and assured interoperability provided by LSI MegaRAID controllers, together with Rain’s high-performance workstations, are helping creative professionals bring their visions to life on time and on budget."

The Venturi Video + Graphics Workstations with integrated LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i controllers are available through Rain authorized dealers including Best Buy, B&H and Beach Camera, or directly from Rain through the online Rain Custom Shop.

More about the LSI MegaRAID controller and Rain Computers’ audio and video editing solution