GB Labs: 4K DIT 6.4TB SSD RAID System

GB Labs‘ 4K Duo On-Set, for high end 4K location production, delivers a fast ingest station, an UltraHD storage platform and a secure high speed data LTO backup solution.

It opens up the potential for 4K project sharing and archiving in the field, with the option for editors, audio technicians  and colorists to work simultaneously on the same project. With multiple clients connecting using 1GbE, 10GbE or 40GbE, this will deliver time savings and help the director to shape the production.

While digital technicians are used to handling digital assets in the field, the size of 4K files means that transferring data from card to primary storage is slow, while laptop drives or vulnerable external drives are quickly filled to capacity. GB Labs incorporates two fast SSD card readers and dual LTO drives as the solution.

“We have implemented the LTFS format for 4K Duo On-Set’s LTO drives,” stated Ben Pearce, sales and marketing director, GB Labs. “This means that users can import data via the SSD disk readers, transfer media immediately to the online platform for grading and send files and projects to tape to create dual secure copies simultaneously.”

4K Duo On-Set features a 6.4TB SSD-based RAID that can sustain performance levels above 2,000MB/s. The system’s dual LTO-6 drives can run at their full speed (combined performance of 320MB/s) making archiving and ongoing backup a simple operation.

The ingest stage itself is often a bottleneck; 4K Duo On-Set features twin SSD disk readers that can import data at an aggregate speed of 1,000MB/s.

The unit also features USB 3.0 as standard and optional SAS and eSATA ports to connect other readers.

“Most DIT carts are ill-equipped for high bitrate 4K. Ingest is slow, primary storage lacks real-time editing performance and backups are unsafe. With 4K Duo On-Set, it’s like having a post facility on set. It’s fast and safe, and includes advanced features to verify data ingest and export, offload camera cards and work effectively with third party editing, transcoding and grading tools,” concluded Pearce.

4K Duo On-Set will launch at IBC 2014 and be available worldwide from selected resellers.