Tiger Technology and FilmPartners Deliver Universal Production Workflow

Tiger Technology, provider of cross-platform SAN management software solutions, and Netherlands-based FilmPartners of the international Euro Media Group announce a new strategic partnership for delivering a production workflow for Avid MediaComposer, Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro.

FilmPartners’ MXFserver software provides the universal project management, user control and bin locking capabilities needed to streamline the most demanding collaborative editing environment. Thanks to its unique virtualization technology, complete projects – metadata and media files – are stored in universal MXF containers that are accessed through a virtual abstraction layer by different editing applications. Multiple users can work simultaneously using a choice of QuickTime (all supported codecs) or native MXF file formats (Sony XDcam and Panasonic P2). Each editor is given access to project(s) and can work privately or collaboratively through their software of choice, with no transcoding or file copying required. The MXFserver’s virtualization technology offers media and project protection, so no one can inadvertently alter or delete valuable content.

A special API was co-developed by Tiger Technology and FilmPartners so MXFServer can interact directly with metaSAN/metaLAN.

"Our joint customers will benefit from this tight integration," says Pieter Hornix, CTO at FilmPartners. "MXFserver controls how projects and media are stored while metaSAN ensures file-level SAN management. The result is a cost-effective and high-performance universal production workflow."

metaSAN/metaLAN enhances the solution by providing the SAN infrastructure that allows MXFserver to provide scalable edit-in-place for demanding SD, HD, 2K and even 4K workgroups. metaSAN/metaLAN support for flexible topologies allows a combination of Fibre Channel, Infiniband, FCoE, iSCSI or 1Gb/10Gb technologies to be used to accommodate for a range of performance requirements and budgets.

"Tiger Technology has always been a strong proponent of open systems because they consistently offer freedom of choice and best overall value," says Alexander Lefterov, CEO at Tiger Technology. "We’re really excited about this partnership as the combination of metaSAN and MXFserver truly sets new standards in project-based, multi-user collaborative workflows."

Key features:

• Project-based, collaborative editing over high-performance and scalable SAN
• Avid MediaComposer, Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro edit systems can simultaneously access the same media using either Mac or Windows workstations
• Universal MXF container with bi-directional virtual abstraction layer eliminates the need to ever copy or convert projects and media files
• Direct ingest by MXFserver of Panasonic P2, Sony XDcam and EVS servers.
• AMA for AVID© network wide available
• Bin locking for AVID and FCP
• Web based MediaBrowser for low-res logging, browsing and pre-selecting media (EDL)
• Flexible SAN topologies support multi-user SD, HD, 2K and 4K workflows using off-the-shelf hardware

The MXFserver/metaSAN solution will be introduced at NAB 2011 on Tiger Technology booth. It will be sold as an integrated solution through a select network of trained and qualified FilmPartners/Tiger Technology resellers.