Studio Network Solutions Updates Evo Shared Storage System

Studio Network Solutions (SNS), provider of post-production storage products for video and audio workgroups, announced an OS update (v4) to its Evo SAN + NAS shared storage server.

It offers new features that simplify collaboration and optimize workflow, including bin sharing for Avid Media Composer customers.

Evo is now deployed in nearly 30 countries, and is used 24/7 in a variety of TV, film, video, and audio productions. Customers include The BBC, The History Channel, Irwin Entertainment, Leftfield Pictures, NHL, Pixar, Sesame Street, Showtime, Sony Playstation, and an equally impressive lineup of many other highly respected companies.

"Professional content producers all over the world continue to choose the Evo shared storage system over a sea of competitors," states Eric Newbauer, VP of Studio Network Solutions. "Despite the global hard disk shortage, we moved a record-breaking number of Evo units in Q4 of 2011. Our focus on continually improving the feature set, the value, the service, and ultimately: the customer’s experience, has definitely made Evo the easy and obvious choice for a lot of companies."

Leftfield Pictures, a New York-based full-scale television production company, is using Evo as its file-based workflow.

"We have more than 14 reality shows in production or airing. We’ve created content for over 400 episodes of reality TV, and we’re handling this high output all with Evo," comments Brent Montgomery, owner and executive producer at Leftfield. "We run multiple shifts, and we have about 10-15 P2 and SxS cards coming in at all hours. Every bit of media is ingested and edited on our 550TB Evo system – by any of our 120 FCP Mac Pro and iMac workstations."

In addition to the new Avid bin sharing and Pro Tools file sharing workflow features, the upgrade to Evo v4 offers NFS, and a Share Browser interface that enables users to lock – or ‘check out’ – files or folders so that ownership and permissions can be defined for works in progress. And it will no longer  be required for each computer to have a dongle installed – client licenses are unlimited.

Evo’s integration of SAN and NAS enables multiple users to edit, share and review projects and media using the tool for each step in their workflow. The system offers direct-attach (and switch-based) connection of multiple computers, using 4Gb and 8Gb FC (up to 8 ports), GbE (up to 14 ports), and 10GbE (up to 12 ports).

Evo natively accommodates FC, iSCSI, and NAS protocols in a single storage server. Customers can choose an Ethernet-only based SAN+NAS, or customize their Evo with any blend of Ethernet and FC ports and speeds. It is a ‘SAN in a box’ multi-user shared solution and is capable of handling formats up to 4K.

The Evo SAN+NAS shared storage RAID system is compatible with Final Cut Pro/FCP X, Avid, Adobe Premiere Pro, Pro Tools, Smoke, EDIUS, and most similar applications for Mac and Windows. It is also compatible with SANmp, Xsan/StorNext or metaSAN, most popular FC HBAs, the globalSAN iSCSI initiator for Mac OS X, and the Microsoft iSCSI initiator.