Aurora Media Relies on GB Labs Storage Solutions

GB Labs Limited announces that sports production specialist, Aurora Media Worldwide UK Ltd, has built live production workflows for 3 flagship motorsport events around its storage solution.

Aurora deployed GB Labs FastNAS platform for the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed and is using the system for the inaugural Extreme E season which kicked off in April 2021. In addition, the GB Labs SPACE storage has been central to the production workflow for the 2020/2021 season Formula E. These projects see the continuation of a long-established partnership between Aurora, CCK Tech Ltd and GB Labs.

Aurora has been using GB Labs storage since 2015/2016, having invested in a Midi SPACE 3RU along with an additional SPACE system that was later extended and then upgraded in 2019 to the powerful Hyperspace intelligent storage system to gain greater capability and disk capacity. During a live race event, Aurora deploys two identical SPACE units trackside in the bespoke POD-based OB facility with one acting as a redundant backup for the other. A GB Labs FastNAS storage platform was added to the workflow in January 2020 to support Extreme E’s remote production workflows.

Based on its robust and reliable performance Aurora invested in a second dedicated FastNAS for the 2021 Goodwood Festival of Speed on 8 -11 July and the revival in August, to help support the sheer scale of the live hours per day that the event requires. FastNAS, which delivers a cost-effective way to leverage huge performance and capacity, is also playing a central role during live production of the 2021 Extreme E and Formula E seasons. CCK Tech has been integral to bringing together the projects for Aurora over the last four years.

“Through our long relationships withGB Labs and ccktech, we are confident that they can meet all our needs, from performance and robustness to reliability,” said Lee Flay, technical director, Aurora. “GB Labs gives us the ability to support all our post production, media management and live playout workflows in the field in a very compact footprint. Everything fits into a single flight case, which means less equipment to transport and a lower carbon footprint, which ties in nicely with the growing environmental consciousness of our industry and events like Extreme E.“

Dan Deadman, head of solutions, CCK Tech explains: “We’ve been asked by Aurora to provide shared storage solutions both for on-location and in-house needs on many occasions and we just keep going back to GB Labs. Their ease of use and configuration for editors and tech admins alike make it a no-brainer for reliability in a high-intensity environment that the fast-turnaround world of Aurora’s production demands.“

SPACE packs a punch in a small footprint, supporting the highest resolutions and providing fast efficient data transfers across 1Gb/s, 10Gb/s, 25Gb/s, 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s connections. The solution offers easy installation, maintenance, and upgrades, while IP connectivity ensures remote dial-in support.

Peter Walshe, UK, sales manager, GB Labs, commented: “Live sports production is one of the most fast-paced environments with zero room for error – and nothing comes close in terms of speed and the pressure for rapid turnaround of content as motorsports. We are extremely proud of the significant role our solutions play in helping Aurora deliver their world-beating service for some of the world’s most avidly followed motorsports events as well as the other premium productions they are involved in.“