NAB: FX-Series Shared Disk Storage and Archive in Single System From XenData

XenData Limited launches its FX-Series systems that combine shared disk storage and archive on a single server.

This all-in-one server helps to simplify collaborative media production workflows, while offering two independent storage volumes: a high performance shared disk volume, suitable for 4K workflows, and an archive volume capable of supporting an attached LTO library, an attached Optical Disc Archive library or Microsoft Azure cloud storage.

By presenting two complementary high-capacity volumes, the FX server can simplify workflows as it avoids storage boundaries that would traditionally be present with multiple shared disk or archive storage volumes.

Key FX-Series system benefits and features include:

• Scalable capacity – Presented as a single standard NTFS volume, the shared disk storage comes available with 120, 180 or 240TB of usable capacity. For systems that start at 120 or 180TB, the shared disk volume can be expanded later. The archive volume is also presented as a single file system that is expandable to multiple petabytes.

• Faster data transfer speeds – Because the shared disk storage and archive are local to a single FX server, high data transfer speeds can be achieved when moving content between the two volumes. This avoids the typical loss of performance when transferring over a network.

• Wider industry integration – Thanks to the company’s workflow API, an API-driven data mover that allows transfer of files between the shared disk and the archive volumes from the user interface of a third-party application, organizations can take advantage of the faster transfer speeds between the volumes. Applications already taking advantage of this API include CatDV from Squarebox Systems Ltd., MXFserver from Film Partners, asset management systems from Cistech, Inc. and axle Video LLC‘s MAM. Other certified applications that can be run on the FX-Series server and move content between the two volumes include eMAM and Project Parking from Marquis Broadcast Ltd.

• Easy to install and manage – With a NAS architecture, the FX-Series is simple to install. It runs a Windows Server 2012 R2 OS and is compliant with the Microsoft security model making it easy to integrate into a Windows domain or workgroup. The FX series also comes with 10GbE copper or SFP+ optical network ports that can be bonded for increased performance.

“Our design philosophy is to simplify everything, while ensuring optimal storage performance,” said Phil Storey, CEO and co-founder, XenData. “More and more content is being created in 4K and beyond, which means storage costs are skyrocketing. The FX Series makes it easy to move projects to a lower cost archive storage tier and allows an organization to do more on a given budget.“

The FX-Series system will be shown for the first time at NAB on the company’s booth, from 24-27 April 2017 where it will be demonstrated for collaborative editing with MXFserver.