32TB Unity ISIS for Sumners lays foundation for future expansion
Manchester postproduction facility Sumners has installed a 32TB Avid Unity ISIS Storage Area Network (SAN) supplied through root6 in a move to consolidate its central storage and accommodate the increasing amount of broadcast material produced in HD.
Sumners, one of the largest single-site post production facilities outside the M25, worked closely with BBC R&D to trial the Ingex file-based post production workflow on ‘Dragons' Den,’ and the new Unity ISIS, with 26 clients will accelerate file-based post still further.
‘Unity ISIS with its scalable architecture is leading edge from an engineering perspective,” explains Sumner’s Director of Technology Brian Hardman. “ It’s a significant step forward and perfectly complements our roadmap for the future. We’ve replaced an existing LANshare with Unity ISIS and we plan to gradually introduce the new technology into our workflow, eventually replacing our two remaining SANs with further ISIS storage.”
The first project to utilise the new infrastructure will be the HD post production of 20 x 1hr episodes of ‘Waterloo Road’ the comprehensive school based drama for Shed/BBC1.
Technical support for the Unity ISIS will come from re-seller root6. “They thoroughly understand our business,” maintains Hardman, “and it was important for us to keep them in the loop.”
Sumners’ one-stop’ Manchester facility includes 35 edit suites, Avid Symphony HD & SD finishing suites, Pro Tools dubbing theatres, da vinci HD grading and HD graphics.