GRCC's Top of the Class Storage and LTO Archive Workflow

GRCC's Top of the Class Storage and LTO Archive Workflow

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Truman Wheeler June 17, 2021

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Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) doesn't look like many of the community colleges you're used to. Their diverse student body occupies a large urban campus in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. Students choose between academic programs like architecture, culinary arts, mathematics, and manufacturing, with many more options available to kickstart their career or post-secondary education.

GRCC has relied on their video production department for over 40 years to provide technology support for instructors and students, enhance learning with programs and lecture series, produce marketing and instructional videos for school administration, and run two cable access channels: one for higher education and the other for K-12 schools. With decades of rich archival footage and a highly-skilled video production department, this school's media team is always immersed in their work.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2411962 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1.jpg 960w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1-624x351.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1-50x28.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162412/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_1-100x56.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px />So much media has to be reigned in somehow, which is exactly why Grand Rapids Community College decided to reinvent the way they store and archive their media.

Long-Term LTO, A Long Time ComingGRCC housed their vast and valuable video archive across walls of tape in a closet in their video production facility for many years. In the late 2000s, they switched to digital and started storing archived content on spinning disks. After one-too-many disk failures, it was time for a new video archival strategy.

It's a big deal to lose 500GB of content when one of those disks failed, said Noah DeSmit, Video Production Coordinator at Grand Rapids Community College. We're so used to having everything we've ever shot at our disposal. We knew we needed to rethink the way we kept our media secure.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2411963 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3.jpg 960w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3-624x351.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3-50x28.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162425/grcc_top_of_class_storage_and_lto_workflow_3-100x56.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px />GRCC maintains over 40 years of legacy footage in their media archive.

When the academic institution invested in a longer-lasting, more centralized archival system with StorageDNA, another issue still persisted in their workflow. Their aging Avid Nexis and Avid ISIS servers offered no integration with their LTO archive solution, leaving their video editors burdened with an inefficient online and archive storage workflow.

DeSmit started searching for Avid ISIS and Avid Nexis alternatives that both enhanced his tape archiving experience with StorageDNA and supported his team's video editing workflow.

A Storage and Archival Solution We needed three things: kick-ass storage, proxy generation, and a StorageDNA integration, said DeSmit with confidence. That's what led us to EVO.

Their A solution was none other than an EVO 16 Bay shared storage server. EVO includes the powerful and easy-to-use ShareBrowser media asset manager that integrates seamlessly with StorageDNA, plus the built-in Slingshot automations engine that generates proxy files on a recurring schedule set by the user. And yeah, it's pretty kick-ass.

data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2411964 data-srcset=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5.jpg 960w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5-300x169.jpg 300w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5-768x432.jpg 768w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5-624x351.jpg 624w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5-50x28.jpg 50w, https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/17162438/GRCC_5-100x56.jpg 100w data-sizes=(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px />Noah DeSmit, Video Production Coord

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