Avid Sets New HD Production Standards with Avid Unity ISIS 2.0

Tewksbury, Mass. – Setting a new standard for real-time HD collaboration, client scalability and the highest-availability for media organizations operating in mission critical environments, Avid® today unveiled Avid Unity™ ISIS® 2.0. The innovative media network solution sets new benchmarks in system capacity, performance, and scalability, offering up to 384TB of storage and the ability to scale up to 330 real-time clients with full system monitoring. Now, customers will be able to reduce administrative costs associated with maintaining multiple storage systems and increase productivity by extending the collaborative capabilities of the Avid Unity ISIS system to all staff involved in the production process.

Ian Burling, head of technical support services at Films @ 59 LTD in Bristol, England – and a beta tester of Avid Unity ISIS 2.0, said, “The performance of the 10 GigE client connection in the Avid Unity ISIS has been fantastic. It’s allowed us to connect multiple Avid Symphony™ systems working in various HD uncompressed frame rates, each pulling multiple streams at the same time. In fact, we just can’t seem to max out the bandwidth capabilities of the system. Avid Unity ISIS makes scheduling the online edit suites a simple task. Previously, we had to use SCSI storage to get uncompressed HD performance, which limited the flexibility to move projects around the building. As a post facility where we do lots of HD work and have an ever-changing schedule, this high resolution support is a huge benefit and has the ability to greatly increase our productivity.”

Avid Unity ISIS is a blade-based storage subsystem that features intelligent dual drive storage elements, integrated Ethernet switching and redundant power and cooling. Unlike common storage area networks (SANs), the self-balancing Avid Unity ISIS architecture distributes data and metadata so that each intelligent storage element can make instant decisions that collectively optimize the performance, capacity and health of the entire system. The system also automatically adapts to component failures and replacements without delay, and provides uninterrupted availability and performance - allowing customers in high-pressure broadcast, film or post production environments to work free of downtime, saving time and money.

Some of the ways Avid Unity ISIS will impact customers’ workflows include:

* Providing a high-performance infrastructure that enables users to save time through immediate and simultaneous access to media - by combining offline and online workflows on a single system;
* Delivering a 10 GBps Ethernet client that supports resolutions up to uncompressed HD and 2K, made possible by performance of up to 400 MBps per ISIS Engine, scaling to maximum performance across 12 engines of 4.8 GBps or a total of 32 streams of uncompressed HD or 240 streams of compressed HD;
* Offering flexibility that accommodates rapid changes in priority and timelines. Avid Unity ISIS eliminates the cost of multiple ingest stations, output devices and similar tools, and enables customers to accommodate users beyond the editorial staff. For instance, media loggers, journalists and producers will be able to work simultaneously to improve productivity and streamline workflows and keep projects on schedule to meet rigorous deadlines;
* Increasing total capacity of the system to 384TB (maximum capacity) or 196TB (when fully mirrored) of space, with full system monitoring. In mirrored mode, this will enable customers to store up to 300 hours of uncompressed HD or 6300 hours of 50 MBps compressed HD.
* Providing powerful virtualization that allows for flexible and exact allocation of storage resources for the given circumstances, with the ability to accommodate daily, hourly or minute by minute changes in a schedule, with no downtime. The system’s seven layers of protection assures every piece of data and component has a backup - unlike traditional RAID systems that may require immediate user intervention when a failure occurs and can consume 50% or more of a system’s performance during the rebuild process. This ultimately saves time and costs associated with system downtime experienced by other systems.

“Downtime is not an option for post facilities and broadcasters in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments,” said Patrick McLean, director of product marketing at Avid. “Avid Unity ISIS 2.0 sets a new standard for Avid production environments by offering the trifecta of real-time performance, scalability and high-availability – which are vital to media organizations operating in mission critical environments. Our customers can’t afford to miss a beat, and we are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, and broadcast professionals – as well as for home audio and video enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid, Digidesign®, M-Audio®, Pinnacle Systems®, Sibelius®, and Sundance Digital®. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning students, Avid’s products and services enable customers to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar® statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer® system for motion picture editing. For more information about the company’s Oscar, Grammy® and Emmy® award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com, del.icio.us, Flickr, technorati and twitter; connect with Avid on Facebook or subscribe to Avid Industry Buzz.