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Post-Production Studio Unifying Remote and On-Site Storage
Company Situation
The company operates within the media and entertainment post-production sector, managing a sizable team with a significant portion working remotely. Their post-production team is split roughly 50/50 between on-site and remote personnel, requiring flexible and efficient storage and collaboration solutions to support their workflows. Handling large volumes of video content, including multicam podcast recordings and YouTube long-form content, they maintain extensive storage both on-premises and in the cloud.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company relies on a hybrid storage environment that includes an on-premises SAN with 384 terabytes capacity and around 200 terabytes of cloud storage on Wasabi, which they are actively migrating to Amazon S3. They use Iconik for storage management and integrations, alongside webhooks to connect to homegrown applications primarily for review and approval workflows. For cold storage, they utilize Amazon Glacier via S3 buckets. LucidLink is being considered or trialed to enable remote collaboration by connecting cloud buckets to active projects and teams.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
The on-prem SAN is nearing capacity and offers only an “OK” remote workflow experience, which is cumbersome and inefficient.
Managing a large remote post team requires a more seamless, collaborative cloud-based solution.
The current setup involves complex, multi-step workflows with duplication and transfers between on-prem, Wasabi, S3, and Glacier, which can be operationally heavy and prone to bottlenecks.
Transitioning off Iconik entirely is recognized as a long-term process, adding complexity to changing workflows.
There is uncertainty about the best cloud collaboration tool to adopt, with ongoing evaluation between LucidLink, Suite, and Shade.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a comprehensive cloud-native storage and collaboration platform designed to streamline the company’s post-production workflows. By integrating Shade, the company can:
- Directly ingest content into Shade’s cloud file space, bypassing the need to ingest first to on-prem SAN for certain workflows such as long-form YouTube content.
- Simplify storage management by using Shade as a unified active cloud workspace that connects seamlessly with archival cloud buckets, automating transfers and archiving processes.
- Enhance remote collaboration with a more robust, user-friendly interface tailored for distributed teams.
- Reduce dependency on multiple tools and complex integrations by consolidating storage management, collaboration, and review workflows within Shade’s platform.
- Implement the transition gradually over a year-long timeline, minimizing disruption while evolving their infrastructure.
Benefits
- Scalable cloud storage that alleviates on-prem capacity constraints
- Streamlined remote collaboration supporting over 50% remote post-production staff
- Simplified, automated workflows connecting active projects to archival storage buckets
- Reduced operational overhead with fewer tool integrations and more transparent processes
- Flexibility for phased migration from existing infrastructure, mitigating risk
- Enhanced review and approval workflows directly integrated into the storage platform
- Access to expert technical guidance and support for custom API integrations
Technologies Used
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