News

Anchorage, Alaska (May 21, 2004)--At Mirror Studios, the largest audio post-production facility in Anchorage, Alaska, there are many challenges to operating successfully beyond getting staff to the office in several feet of snow. Having recently turned to the A/V SAN Pro, storage technology offered by Studio Network Solutions, Mirror Studios faces increasingly less challenges today, than in previous years.

From radio and TV commercial production, documentaries and post scores to original music and album recording, Mirror is a one-stop post-production solution. Along with its home studio in Anchorage, Mirror has satellite facilities in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. Wishing to spend most of his time in Alaska, the greatest challenge for Charlie Hewitt--founder and president of Mirror Studios--has always been easy, instantaneous file accessibility.

"As we gradually grew and enhanced our system, it became apparent that we were expending a lot of valuable time moving files back and forth across a network," Hewitt stated. "Meaning, if I wanted to open a session I had been working on in a different studio, I had to drag the entire session over and wait for it to transfer to the local studio. It was rather laborious. We needed to have one central location where everything is accessible and the A/V SAN Pro provides that capability. If we get a call from a client in Washington D.C. regarding changes to a spot, we can pull up their job in our Anchorage facility and make the necessary changes immediately. It has increased efficiency exponentially."

SNS' team of storage technology experts recommended a three seat A/V SAN Pro to link his studios and machine room "utility" computer. The A/V SAN Pro is a one- or two-gigabit storage solution that allows a substantial number of workstations operating on multiple platforms to connect concurrently to a central storage unit. Mirror Studios utilizes a 1u rack mount, four bay loaded with nearly one terabyte of Fibre Channel JBOD storage.

A former singer, songwriter and guitarist, Hewitt has worked on projects for the Indigo Girls, Righteous Brothers and other recording artists. Music clients remain an exciting part of Mirror Studios' business though in recent years, the mainstay has become corporate accounts such as AT&T, Disney and The Denver Post. In the long run, more corporate accounts mean tighter deadlines and the A/V SAN PRO helps streamline the production process for Mirror.

"When you're working back and forth between studios, the beauty of the SNS system is its transparency", Hewitt continued. "So in any one of the rooms the SAN shows up as a local drive. I guess in a nutshell, the A/V SAN PRO is a huge timesaver. There's no transfer necessary, and that's important because you don't run the risk of losing anything during the transfer process."

Studio Network Solutions
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