Welcome Post Production Increases Flexibility and Performance with Quantum StorNext

Before Welcome Post Production could officially open its doors to ad agencies in 2007, the studio needed to build its technical infrastructure from the ground up. Implementing shared storage was a high priority. The studio’s small team—which includes editors, color graders, VFX artists, a sound design specialist, and a mastering engineer—needed fast, simple ways to collaborate on in-progress work to meet tight deadlines.

The studio needed a more dependable storage solution backed with stronger, more responsive support. As Welcome Post began to take on more 4K and 8K projects, Schultz and his colleagues also wanted to increase storage performance.

Shifting to More Robust, Reliable Shared Storage with Quantum StorNext
After considering a variety of options, the Welcome Post team selected Quantum’s StorNext File System for its scalable performance, reliability, and flexibility. Connected to the studio’s workstations by Fibre Channel, the studio’s SAN is powered by the StorNext File System, which delivers outstanding performance and facilitates simple shared access to files.

The strong reputation of StorNext among post-production studios gave the Welcome Post team confidence to move forward. “By selecting a StorNext solution, we knew we were investing in our future,” says Schultz.

Gaining Simultaneous High-Throughput Performance
Before deploying the new storage solution in production, Schultz ran a test to make sure that it could deliver robust simultaneous performance across multiple workstations. “We have 10 workstations, and our goal was to have seven of them achieve 700 MB per second simultaneously, without dropping frames,” says Schultz.

The test was a resounding success. “Using StorNext, we had seven workstations delivering 800 MB per second read and three delivering 800 MB per second write. And we didn’t have a single dropped frame,” says Schultz.

Those levels of throughput are critical for enabling team members to work efficiently on large, ultra-high-definition (UHD) files. “At Welcome Post, we’re working on more 4K projects and even some 8K,” says Schultz. “The StorNext solution delivers the high-throughput performance we need for that work.”

Improving Flexibility for Multiple Applications on Each Workstation
With the Quantum StorNext solution, in-house staff and visiting freelancers now have the flexibility to use their preferred applications on just about any of the studio’s workstations. Moving from one workstation to the next is also seamless. “With the StorNext shared storage environment, users can get to work quickly, without having to copy files between systems or change hard drives,” says Schultz. “The files are all available from any workstation, and team members can just start collaborating.”

Staying Up and Running with Responsive Support
The Quantum technical support team helps ensure that the shared storage environment stays fully operational, even after unexpected events. After a power outage one night, the Welcome Post team came into the office and discovered that the server room was extremely hot. “Fortunately, the StorNext system had automatically sent temperature warnings to Quantum and created a support ticket during the night,” says Schultz. “With help from Quantum, we were up and running within a half hour.”

Providing the Foundation for Continued Success
The performance, flexibility, and reliability of the StorNext solution enable the Welcome Post team to stay focused on delivering exceptional post-production services on tight deadlines—instead of worrying about storage. “When our team comes in each morning, we know our storage will just work,” says Shultz. “We rely on StorNext every day.”