NAB: LaCie (Seagate) Announced Rugged RAID Pro (4TB, $349)

At the NAB 2018 conference, Seagate Technology LLC announced a new product, LaCie Rugged RAID Pro, and creative professional community, Collective (registration needed).

These announcements mark company’s ongoing commitment to provide solutions and platforms to support the workflows of creative professionals that allow digital content to be created, stored, utilized and shared in the most creative and effective ways.

“Digital content creation is key in the media and entertainment (M&E) industry, comprising of unique moments that are the product of time and money – and often irreplaceable,” said Tim Bucher, SVP of Seagate consumer solutions. “We have seen an exponential rise in the amount of data created and as such, it has become central to industries such as M&E. From shooting on set through to post-production, the transferring, storing and accessing of data is a pivotal part of the creative workflow. At Seagate, we’re constantly looking to deliver storage solutions that allow people to unlock their full creative potential, and create truly memorable content.”

Seagate and LaCie solutions are helping the M&E industry protect the value of this high-quality, high-resolution digital video throughout the capturing, editing, distribution and archiving process. From technology geared for small post-production houses to complex systems for multi-editor environments, these solutions provide the ability to manage large amounts of data while ensuring it is secure and accessible anytime, anywhere.

Addressing industry’s increasing demand for high performance storage on set, LaCie is launching the Rugged RAID Pro 4TB, design by Neil Poulton, the next generation of its Rugged RAID solution.

From the plains of Africa, to sub-zero temperatures, to the wasteland of abandoned Chernobyl, the Rugged range has served creative explorers no matter where they are, providing safe and reliable storage for the last 13 years. Encased in an orange rubber shell, the Rugged RAID Pro offers up to 240MB/s in RAID-0 and RAID-1 for peace-of-mind in having a second copy in the field, as well as when transporting content back to the editing studios. With the integrated SD Card Reader, creative professionals can offload content with the quick import toolkit. The Rugged RAID Pro is designed with the latest USB-C connector and compatible with next-generation Thunderbolt 3 computers but also backward compatible with USB 3.0. While the drive is also shock, dust, crush and water resistant, LaCie includes 3-year limited warranty with Rescue Data Recovery Services and one-month Adobe All-Apps Plan (a $79.49 value) – featuring Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator CC and much more giving creative professionals peace of mind when exploring and capturing the world. LaCie Rugged RAID Pro will be shipping this quarter with an estimated suggested price of $349.

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To further support the M&E industry and creative professionals more widely, LaCie has recently launched Collective, an online community bringing together passionate creative professionals to share ideas, experiences, create content, and hone their skills by collaborating with like-minded individuals and industry experts.

The community is tailored to creatives with an appetite for mentorship, connection and creative growth, providing a space for continual exchange between professionals and valuable resource for users to develop and refine their craft, whatever their creative discipline. As part of this, the site hosts residents, a select group of industry standard-bearers who will both inspire and nurture creative talent by providing content for the site during their ‘residency’. Their activity and ongoing relationship with the platform is designed to entice aspiring creatives to join the platform to reap the rewards of membership. The creative industries are built on collaboration and LaCie is committed to providing the right solutions and the right environment too for all creative professionals.

“As an adventurous professional, having creative freedom no matter where I am has always been important,” said Andy Best, photographer and regular contributor to National Geographic Adventure. “LaCie allows me to overcome any challenges presented by the environment or climate I’m in, providing me with an uninterrupted workflow and ultimately, a better final product for my viewers and readers.“

Seagate and LaCie will also be joined at NAB by partners including Adobe, Blackmagic and DJI.

Attendees will be able to take part in a demonstration hosted exclusively at NAB, exploring the creative workflow with a variety of Seagate and LaCie solutions at different stages of content creation. Using some of Hollywood’s latest technologies, visitors can learn about the setup for capturing the perfect shot, how to ingest content using products such as the DJI Copilot, the archiving process when using a RAID system and how to ultimately consume the content through media servers powered by Qnap Systems, Inc. with drives such as the IronWolf Pro.

These demonstrations will help creative professionals to manage the amount of data and tight timelines they face each day, by simplifying their workflow and making it more efficient. Whether it’s a desktop drive or a hybrid array, Seagate and LaCie can provide solutions which can scale up or down to accommodate any workload at any time.

Sven Pape, an A.C.E. Award nominated editor who has cut for James Cameron and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, said: “Working in film and TV is a fast-paced, challenging environment and you need to be confident in the technology that’s supporting you. From editing, through to the increased data requirements of innovations such as 3D film, storage is an important part of my workflow to ensure my valuable footage is safe. Seagate and LaCie give me that peace of mind and allow me to edit as freely and creatively as possible.”