EditShare With XStream EFS Scale-Out Storage Solution

The EditShare, LLC NAB 2015 showcase headlines include XStream EFS, a distributed, redundant scale-out storage system that brings enterprise features to a range of facilities at breakthrough prices, and the latest release of the company’s media asset management platform, Flow 3.2.

In the shared storage product line, XStream EFS is an distributed and redundant scale-out storage platform, offering performance and resiliency for real-time workflows. It gives mission-critical media workgroups an open storage platform with smart collaboration features, such as project sharing, combined with fast performance, multiple levels of redundancy and scalability.

“XStream EFS is a game-changing product release for EditShare that brings enterprise storage to even modest-sized facilities. It incorporates the clever media management tools EditShare is known for with an architecture developed from the ground up for large media workgroups and very large data volumes. And it’s ideal for mission-critical operations that require fast and reliable mass content management,” comments Andy Liebman, founder and CEO, EditShare. “In addition to EditShare’s core high-bandwidth architecture, the XStream EFS system offers multiple layers of redundancy that can tolerate the failure of multiple drives, even an entire node. With XStream EFS, you have an intelligent, highly scalable media storage platform that’s rock-solid and affordable – the best of all worlds.”

Based on EditShare’s media management tools, the XStream EFS solution was specially architected to support high-bandwidth, high-volume media ingest, transcoding, online collaborative editing and multiplatform distribution of HD, 2K, 4K and beyond. Whenever a file is written to an EFS system, pieces of the data – along with a second level of redundancy information – are spread across multiple nodes ensuring users get the combined speed of the nodes, plus extra file protection security. The HA architecture offers advanced redundancy and data protection features at multiple levels, including redundant metadata controllers, ensuring work continues irrespective of a hardware failure. Flexible storage capacity configuration options let facilities build storage systems from under 100TB all the way up to 5PB.

Flow 3.2
The Flow 3.2 release features new format support, remote collaboration and automation capabilities, a ‘HA’ database option, and other enhancements that help facilities build a more efficient production pipe.

Topping the robust feature list are: expanded support for 4K codecs and single-file-per-frame formats such as DPX and CinemaDNG; download capabilities that expand the remote collaboration power of AirFlow, the web-based portal into Flow; and automated transcoding and delivery workflows.

“Flow is the key to building a much more efficient production workflow and minimizing the time spent manually ingesting, transcoding and moving media,” comments Jeff Herzog, Flow product manager, EditShare. “Its wide-ranging format support combined with new Watch Folder and FTP delivery options will, in many cases, alleviate the need for dedicated transcoding tools, making Flow 3.2 a must-have platform. Facilities can automatically process and standardize a wide range of disparate incoming media formats, making content ready for editing as quickly as possible.“

Enhancements to AirFlow allow users to batch download both high-resolution media files as well as proxies via a web browser from anywhere in the world, opening up new possibilities for remote collaboration and proxy workflows. In addition, Flow’s expanded format support means facilities can better manage new and emerging 4K formats such as ProRes 4444, AVC-Ultra and XAVC as well as R3D files and ‘one-file-per-frame’ formats including DPX, CinemaDNG, ARRIRAW, PNG and TIFF.