At NAB will show the world’s first end to end 4K and 4K DPX storage solution Directors of photography are rushing to shoot 4K and 5K resolutions.

The resulting RAW and DPX files are straining existing post production workflows and many post production supervisors are discovering that their primary and secondary storage systems simply cannot deliver the speed and capacity to support concurrent 4K users. Bottlenecks are frequent: data offloading onto RAID or tape drives is typically slow and complicated.

With new solutions on show for the first time at NAB 2012, GB Labs sweeps aside each hurdle and every complication to deliver an unfettered 4K workflow.

Fast workflow, end-to-end

SPACE SSD has the storage power (over 3GB/s) to handle multiple concurrent streams of 4K DPX video. With this primary system residing on a standard 10GB Ethernet network, file transfer onto a 128TB SPACE ECHO (36 bay) nearline system is fast and simple. ECHO (36 bay) also has intelligent built-in tools for automated replication of the primary drive for total security of the media assets. Long-term 4K project archiving is taken care of by GB Labs’ new range of LTO-6 archive appliances. LTO SPACE makes the most of the tape’s 160MB/s native speed to back up and restore projects at the fastest possible data rate. LTO SPACE features up-to four 2.5TB tape drives, supports multiple tape spanning and efficient DPX sequence back up.

Growing capacity

Because the SPACE environment uses standard IP protocols, each element of the workflow – primary, secondary or tape storage – is scalable: additional units can be connected to the network for ever greater capacity. GB Labs goes further, however, with a range of EX expansion units that can be added affordably to any main unit with virtually no downtime. The new SPACE SSD EX units can increase the volume of a SPACE SSD from a maximum 14.4TB to a massive 210TB. Similarly, ECHO’s (36 bay) capacity can be inflated to as much as 3PB. What’s more, each EX unit also have the added benefit of increasing the raw speed of the main storage system.

“Many organisations now have a workable tapeless HD workflow. But when it comes to editing 4K, data bottlenecks and system slowdowns are becoming a big problem for postproduction teams. GB Labs SPACE users have a simple upgrade from an HD to 4K DPX workflow by connecting SPACE SSD, a process which requires no network re-configuration, no system drivers and no new workstation adapters. New SPACE users will find that their complete 4K storage infrastructure is installed very quickly and immediately delivers the data rates and capacities they now need.” Said Ben Pearce, Senior VP Sales and Marketing of GB Labs.

GB Labs is demonstrating its 4K workflow at NAB 2012 on booth SL5016.