"What we wanted to do was to build a file system that would support any resolution at any number of streams"
Author:
ContributorPublish date:
Aug 16, 2018
The M&E industry is one of the fastest evolving sectors. The rapid progression of frame rates and video revolution has a considerable impact on production and post-production teams, and their storage and capacity requirements. Throughout the production process, a film increases from approximately 10 TB to roughly 350 TB and the number of workstreams with users working on the same dataset grows rapidly.
To solve this data storage challenge, Technicolor created a scalable and future-proof storage infrastructure using Excelero NVMesh to provide workstations with access to high bandwidth and low latency performance that accommodates streaming, editing and reel presentation at any time.
Future-proofing post-production storage
Like many data centre and infrastructure teams at production and post-production houses, Technicolors IT department along with engineering director Amir Bemanian, were struggling to keep up with the rapid evolution from one resolution to the other.
4K is becoming the default resolution and 8K is on the horizon, and frame rates are increasing from 24 and 30 frames per second to 48fps and even 60fps. The additional storage capacity and thus also bandwidth that is needed for higher frame rates increases linearly: doubling the frame rate from 30fps to 60fps also doubles the storage needs. And increasing the resolution from 2K to 4K quadruples the storage requirements. When a studio switches from 2K 30fps to 4K 60fps, the post-production house also needs to be prepared to store and stream eight times the volume of data, which is a substantial increase.
On top of this, there are also possible investments in extra cameras, additional visual effects, High Dynamic Range (HDR), colour depth, and more. Yet another challenge for post-production workflows is avoiding dropped frames, caused by insufficient performance and high latencies, which impacts the technical quality of an asset and results in on-screen motion.
A common problem is that many companies in the M&E industry such as Technicolor, retain infrastructures which are typically based on a Fibre Channel network with storage arrays serving tens of workstations. This means that the speed to ingest data to the workstations from the Fibre Channel storage arrays is simply too slow and does not scale. At Technicolor, workstreams had to be duplicated in order for multiple people to work on the dataset at the same time.
In order to be better prepared for current and future storage and streaming needs, Amir Bemanian and his team at Technicolor began exploring new "future-proof" storage and network architectures. "What we wanted to do was to build a file system that would support any resolution at any number of streams," explains Bemanian. "And that was essentially impossible until 2017 where we saw an alignment of technologies: the networking, the PCIE slot, the NVMe drives and also the software - from Excelero - that glued it all together. This combination of technologies enabled us to do storage in a very different way to traditional methods.
The IT infrastructure required to feed dozens of workstations of 4K files at 24 fps is mind-boggling and that doesn't even consider what storage demands we'll face with 8K or even 16K formats, Bemanian continues. It's imperative that we can scale to future film standards today. Now, with innovations like the shared NVMe storage that Excelero provides, Technicolor can enjoy a hardware-agnostic approach, enabling flexibility for tomorrow while not sacrificing performance.
Excelero's NVMesh for Any-K workflows
NVMesh software-defined block storage features Elastic NVMe, a distributed block layer that allows any application to utilise pooled NVMe storage devices across a network at local speeds and latencies. Distributed NVMe storage resources are pooled with the ability to create arbitrary, dynamic block volumes that can be utilised by any host running the NVMesh block client. These virtual volumes can be striped, mirrored or both while enjoying centralised management, monitoring and administration. In short, applications can enjoy the latency, throughput and IOPS of a local NVMe device while at the same time getting the benefits of centralised, redundant storage. NVMesh is deployed as a virtual, distributed non-volatile array and supports both converged and disaggregated architectures, giving customers full freedom in their architectural design.
By deploying Excelero NVMesh and six standard NVMe servers powered by Intel 3D NAND flash, Technicolor achieved 4K streaming at 60fps to over 50 workstations concurrently. Delivering 99.8 per cent of local NVMe storage server performance across the network, the solution offers twice the performance of competing solutions at 50 per cent of the cost and requires a much lower data centre footprint.
After an initial proof of concept, the storage solution was brought into production within four weeks for use with a major Hollywood feature film. So far, three projects have been run successfully on the software-defined system.
A major benefit is that the architecture has created an optimal environment where multiple members of the post-production team can simultaneously view and work on the same data set. Bemanian concludes: "It has generated a positive and productive end user experience.
Most recent headlines
15/11/2018
15 November, 2018 - 08:03
The festive season is upon us. And as we get ready to let our hair-down and kick our feet up, Debonairs Pizza rolled up its sleeve...
15/11/2018
Ayrton MagicDot-XT diamond formation for Lenny Kravitz's Raise Vibration posted: 13/11/2018
The Lenny Kravitz 2018 Raise Vibration tour, in support of h...
15/11/2018
Bradley Watson Promoted To New International Sales Director Role Martin Audio posted: 13/11/2018
Martin Audio is pleased to announce the promotion of Brad...
15/11/2018
Loving Rex Orange County is Easy for Robe posted: 14/11/2018
Talented rising star singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rex Orange County (Alexande...
15/11/2018
Victoria Returns for Season 3 on MASTERPIECE
and Ruth Wilson Stars in Mrs. Wilson
FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. Explores the Surprising F...
15/11/2018
On November 10, 2018, The Broadcast Film Critics' Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association announced the winners for the third annua...
15/11/2018
Now available at shop.presonus.com: TEN new Add-ons from SonalSystem, all part of the Sonal Synth Pop family. These Add-ons are available individually or in a s...
15/11/2018
tools of the trade
Nov 14, 2018
Feel like slipping your GoPro into something a little more colorful? Then get excited about the newest Red Sleeve Lanyard...
15/11/2018
Meals on Wheels Rocky Mount will host its fifth annual Beans and Brews event from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, November 15, 2018, at Rocky Mount Mills. With the for...
15/11/2018
MTV will bring back unscripted franchise MTV Spring Break in 2019. It will be held March 19-21 at the Grand Oasis Hotel in Cancun, and will feature its signatu...
15/11/2018
A&E will debut season five of 60 Days In Jan. 3, the season offering new stakes, new twists and seven innocent participants, said A&E, including one lone wol...
15/11/2018
Discovery will explore a remote spot off the coast of Belize when Discovery Live: Into the Blue Hole premieres Sunday, Dec. 2. The show airs 4-6 p.m. ET.
The B...
15/11/2018
EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, is helping UbiSoft Montreal meet the demands of live captur...
15/11/2018
Consistent with UiPath's Culture, Employees Participated in a Partial Liquid...
15/11/2018
By Chloe Breider, Eric Liaw, Alex Lim, and Jules Maltz
Bill Lumbergh is shaking in his suspenders. Today, IVP is thrilled to announce our partnership with UiP...
15/11/2018
Published: Wed 14 Nov 2018
This year, theres a new man in the Jungle - introducing Kiosk Kev, the new owner of the Outback Shack.
Kiosk Kev has already taken ...
15/11/2018
Seoul, November 14, 2018 - Netflix, the world's leading internet entertainment service, and LG U , one of Korea's leading telecommunication carriers, ha...
15/11/2018
Hollywood, Calif., (November 14, 2018) -- Netflix has acquired global rights (ex...
15/11/2018
Logline: Acclaimed British director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, High Rise) has sign...
15/11/2018
November 15, 2018, Seoul, Korea - Netflix, the worlds leading entertainment service, announced the Korean series Memories of the Alhambra, launching globally st...
15/11/2018
Net Loss Reduced by $4.0 million or 53%; OTT Channel Revenues Up 23%; Strategic Transition to OTT Business Model Continues
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NE...
15/11/2018
Are you ready for the Lotto and Lotto Plus draw on Wednesday, 14 November? It's yet another chance to find out whether or not you're South Africa's ...
15/11/2018
The Jozi Stars took advantage of their first round draft seeding to pick up arguably the best batsman in the history of Twenty20 cricket in Chris Gayle.
The so...
15/11/2018
Weather data provided by the South African Weather Service. For a detailed forec...
15/11/2018
Tracey Fellows Named President of Global Digital Real Estate
Will Oversee All of News Corp's Digital Real Estate Interests
New York, NY - November 14, 201...
15/11/2018
All Press Releases Back
PDF Version
Nov 14, 2018
Binge Smarter with Dolby Dimension
The first wireless headphones perfected for home entertainment
Dolb...
15/11/2018
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) has inked a new deal with Telenor Group, the Norwegian multinational telecommunications company, to transform its core network in Sweden...
15/11/2018
You're invited to launch a limited-edition project in January as part of Make 100.
In January 2017, over 470 creators launched projects as part of Kickstar...
15/11/2018
MOMENTUM GENERATION, Chronicling the Extraordinary Experiences of a Band of Youthful Surfers Who Transformed the Sport, Debuts Tuesday, Dec. 11 on HBO November...
15/11/2018
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents Christmas on I.C.E. Holiday Special to Air Wednesday, December 19 at 10:30pm ET/PT on TBS
November 12, 2018
Catholi...
15/11/2018
Kimberly Page Promoted to Senior Vice President, Turner Brand Communications November 12, 2018
ATLANTA - Turner today announced the promotion of Kimberly Page...
15/11/2018
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and IO Interactive Announce the Launch of...
15/11/2018
Game of Thrones Launches #ForTheThrone to Kickoff the Final Season November 13, 2018
Game of Thrones, the hit HBO series, is heading into its final, six-episo...
15/11/2018
CNN Files Suit Against the Trump Administration November 13, 2018
CNN filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration this morning in DC District Court. It d...
15/11/2018
CNN Doubles Down on Digital and Multi-platform Offering for APAC Advertisers November 14, 2018
CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) has appointed two speciali...
14/11/2018
SRT Continues Momentum to Becoming the De facto Low Latency Video Streaming Stan...
14/11/2018
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) named the 2018 Student Heritage Award winners on the evening of October 13 during a ceremony at the ASC Clubhouse...
14/11/2018
By Debra Kaufman
Technology entrepreneur Rachel Payne has a lot to say about women and their participation in technology. As a chief executive, advisor, philan...
14/11/2018
(Burbank, Calif.) - The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the 2019 class of Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP). Sponsored by HPA, YEP ...
14/11/2018
November 07, 2018
-- Mahajak Development deploys JBL Professional, Crown, ...
14/11/2018
In order to make change, everyone has to agree there's a problem to solve in...
14/11/2018
From Arabic classical and pop to gritty folk, funk, and hip-hop sounds, Arabic music is alive, poetic, energetic, and complex. This is why we are excited to ann...
14/11/2018
-- EditShare Jumps Into The Game With Ubisoft Montr al Basingstoke, UK - November 14, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, A...
14/11/2018
BACK TO PRESS RELEASES
ONE OF AFRICA'S LARGEST PUBLIC BROADCASTERS SELECTS...
14/11/2018
VSN, ETIQMEDIA and Harmonic will join this conference to analyze some of the lat...
14/11/2018
For a peek at what the future of supercomputer-powered weather prediction could ...
14/11/2018
The end product isn't what makes a new technology safe. It's everything that goes into a product - from design to development to manufacturing.
That...
14/11/2018
Call it the heart of the heart of the SC18 supercomputing show.
Possibly the world's best-educated graffiti wall, the whiteboard-sized graphic tracks the d...
"What we wanted to do was to build a file system that would support any resolution at any number of streams"
