STS-Griot Invests in Facilis TerraBlock SAN

Michigan-based creative editorial boutique STS-GRIOT
offers clients a complete post-production experience – delivering rough cuts,
finishing, motion graphics, compositing, color grading, sound design and more.

Editors at the mid-size studio collaborate with local and national ad agencies
to deliver TV and web spots for companies such as Toyota, Ford,
Chevy, Comcast and the US Navy.

Earlier this year, Burrell Communications LLC enlisted STS-GRIOT’s services for a
new Toyota campaign involving several different vehicles. In anticipation of
such a large project, owner/editor Terry King and operations manager Greg Gabry
opted to invest in a Facilis
TerraBlock 24D shared storage system to streamline media organization
across the facility and enhance collaboration.

Before transitioning to TerraBlock, Gabry and his 10-person team had relied on
an Avid Unity shared storage system, but when it became obsolete, they turned
to individual HDDs for storage.

"Quickly, the external HDDs began
accumulating; we knew what we were missing and that we had to have shared
storage again," he explained. "With TerraBlock in place now, it’s scary to think we ever lived without
it; it’s huge for us. Our projects are more organized and accessible, and we no
longer have to waste time mounting external drives just to see what’s on them."

STS-GRIOT works on a variety of projects, so having access to a wide range of
toolsets that are compatible with the TerraBlock is essential. The facility
houses five offline editing bays, two online editing bays and a graphics suite
– all connected to the TerraBlock via high-speed FC. Each suite runs different
creative programs including Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Adobe
Creative Suite, Autodesk Smoke and Quantel Pablo Rio.

Gabry shared: "Different jobs call
for different tools, and I love that TerraBlock gives us the freedom to choose
the best tool for the job. We can easily move from room to room to work on
whichever application we want."

"Centralized storage has changed our
workflow so much for the better," he added. "As a team, we now have access to everyone’s work, so we’re able to
collaborate across workstations more effectively. This is vital when working on
projects that involve multi-spot packages like the Toyota campaign."

Project to project scalability is a key component to STS-GRIOT’s success, and
the option to connect to the TerraBlock via Ethernet has also allowed Gabry to
bring in additional freelance team members. He can easily install TerraBlock
Manager to a freelancer’s laptop, plug it in via Ethernet (or even wirelessly)
and give the freelancer direct access to project files on the TerraBlock.

"Ease of use is huge for me,
especially because I’m not an engineer," expressed Gabry. "I’m responsible for making everything work,
and I’m 100% confident that I can have a group of freelancers up and running in
just an hour. I couldn’t say that about any other competitive solution on the
market."

After a few months, STS GRIOT has only just begun to scratch the surface of
TerraBlock’s capabilities.

"In a short time, we’ve already
grown leaps and bounds, but there is so much more we look forward to exploring.
There are so many different ways of using the TerraBlock; it’s just
bulletproof," he concluded: "Talent is what sets
companies apart, and bottom-line, TerraBlock allows our editors more freedom to
be talented, which we appreciate immensely. It’s been a great addition to our
workflow."