IBC 2024: UK Post-Production Firm Molinare Selects pixitmedia

pixitmedia Ltd, a subsidiary of Kalray SA, announced that it assisted UK post-production firm Molinare Ltd in taming production workflow complexity with an expanded deployment of Ngenea data acceleration platform.

With Ngenea as the centerpiece of its technology infrastructure, Molinare is unlocking new realms of creativity in long-form production.

pixitmedia will showcase Molinare’s deployment and its dazzling content at IBC 2024 Amsterdam, September 13-16.

“pixitmedia has so massively improved how our systems work together, with added reliability and new powers to handle complex, high-resolution projects to extremely tight deadlines,” said Darren Woolfson, CTO, Molinare. “Backed by the infrastructure that pixitmedia helped us build around its Ngenea software, we gained control over our workflows and can continue to exceed client expectations well into the future.“

Founded in 1973, Molinare specializes in long-form content and end-to-end finishing services. It built its reputation on creative excellence born out of delivering high-quality work, quickly. As business grew, its 15 computing systems in the high-end grading and finishing suites became even busier with high-framerate 4K projects. The workflow required passing content from one station to the next, leading to a proliferation of copies, and major strain on the infrastructure. With instances of operator frustration on the rise, Molinare saw an opportunity for a change.

Together the 2 partners designed and delivered a unified central storage solution built around pixitmedia’s Ngenea intelligent tiering system for optimized media placement.

“Fast storage can provide the level of raw performance for video to play back, but we needed even more – including a storage solution that could deliver all levels of performance required to underpin our entire operation,” Woolfson continued. “With Ngenea in our new system, our team now can routinely handle complex, high-resolution projects without bottlenecks or delays. We know we can meet even the tightest of deadlines, and continue to exceed client expectations.“

Molinare’s enhanced infrastructure uses Ngenea to consolidate storage islands, creating a cohesive ecosystem where media was readily available. A data acceleration platform for M&E professionals, Ngenea enables customers to accelerate, with or without Kalray’s Data Acceleration Cards, the processing of their data and to streamline complex workflows. Ngenea’s single namespace provided transparency and file access across storage tiers and remote locations, enhancing flexibility for global expansion. In addition to Ngenea, Molinare’s unified central storage solution includes Nvidia Mellanox backend networking for data flow; lightning-fast NVMe storage for Molinare’s Flame stations and high-speed online work; and Seagate NL-SAS storage for additional capacity.

As Molinare team members moved more projects to the new system, longstanding scheduling conflicts disappeared. With technical hurdles cleared, Molinare found new time to innovate and push creative boundaries. The company launched Molinare Creative Group, a collective of 5 specialized brands, and is expanding into new markets with facilities planned in Malta and Liverpool. They’re also exploring short-form digital content to reach wider audiences.

“Technology sets the stage for business success, and we are delighted that our sister company pixitmedia, leveraging our Ngenea data acceleration platform, has been able to help Molinare take its business to the next level,” said Eric Baissus, CEO, Kalray, parent to pixitmedia.