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~ Space becomes a key part of the facility’s asset management solution ~

9 September 2011 – itfc, a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group and supplier of content preparation and media management services, has deployed GB Labs’ Space storage technology to manage HD content for its clients, who include Channel 5 and ITV.

itfc deployed GB’s Space central storage solution along with two Space EX’s and two additional RAID units for added performance, to help it store and manage HD content for its clients. Implemented and fully up and running within three weeks, the storage solution has already been used to accommodate the increasing volumes of HD files.

“To keep up with our Final Cut editing architecture, it was essential to have an Ethernet based solution that could cope with multiple high-speed HD streams, allowing us to play a minimum of 20 HD streams simultaneously,” explained Gez Quinn, technical services manager at itfc. “Not only did Space promise peak performance, it also offered extra ease and compatibility with our existing systems, which saved us having to alter the network in order to make it work.”

itfc tested a number of competitor solutions over several months and chose Space as their storage solution following a recommendation from GB Labs’ reseller Encompass. With itfc currently streaming HD at a maximum of 220 Mbits per second, they needed a solution that would allow more guaranteed throughput under simultaneous read and write conditions, GB Labs were able to offer performance speeds of up to 4500 Mbits per second during testing with its Space solution.

“I never have any qualms in recommending GB Labs or its solutions,” said Peter Lea, director at Encompass. “With twelve years experience of the reseller channel, they understand that plug and play and low maintenance technology, which offers resellers margins, is the key to success.”

Since implementing the Space package, the system has fulfilled itfc’s initial objectives for a HD storage solution and it’s now an integral part of the facility’s asset management solution.

“Space was a great solution to buy into,” Gez continued. “Not only did GB Labs clearly understand our business model and knew exactly what we needed, their Space worked straight out of the box with no fuss or bother.”

In the weeks leading up to this years IBC we were frantically running around building demo systems, getting literature printed and liaising with our stand designers. We set off towards Harwich with vehicles full of Mac Pros and a hundred other things that we would never need but packed "just in case".

The drive around the M25 was actually rather painless and if it wasn't for the camper van flipping in front of us covering the road in pots, pans, suitcases and small china dogs we would have made the ferry in record time. We were slightly worried when we arrived at the port to be nearly blown off of our feet by a howling gale but were assured that the boat had the latest stabilisers and we would not notice the force ten winds. Within the hour we knew that the people in the booth at Harwich must be bent double in laughter as our ferry bobbed up and down like a cork in a jacuzzi.

A few sleepless hours later we arrived at the Hoek and within the hour were at the Rai. We took the long walk to hall 7 the new home of GB Labs. The lights were dimmed and we could see the pink glow of the Avid stand and there just to its left was the shimmering blue Space logo high above our stand. We were all delighted with the build and even had many competitors coming along and complimenting us, I think a few of them were shocked at how far we have come so quickly.

The first few days were a blur of worldwide resellers and distributors desperately trying to secure the rights to sell Space within there region along with a huge amount of end users who wanted to see just how good the Space offering is. We launched our SSD range as well as Avid compatibility so were swamped with inquiries. On Sunday evening we had chartered a boat to take fifty of our resellers on a few hour cruise along the canals of Amsterdam, we had a very nice meal washed down with some very welcome beverages, the entertainment was provided when the boat nearly got stuck under a bridge and myself and Duncan were directed to hang off the side of the boat as ballast to enable it get through.

The show seemed to fly by, perhaps that was due to the vast quantity of energy drinks and coffee consumed by us all. The event was a huge success in securing resellers and distributors in new territories and demonstrating the systems to the cream of Europe's broadcast community. Our manufacturing division has been working all hours in a bid to satisfy the orders ever since.

Here at GB Labs Towers we are running around adding the final touches  to what promises to be a superb IBC show. We are looking forward to welcoming you all to our stand J15 in Hall 7.

We will be showcasing the entire Space family as well out new SSD offering which has blown the competition into the weeds. If you would like to book a team to sit down with one of our consultants to discuss anything at all then please drop me a line and I shall be delighted to put you in the diary.

chris@gblabs.co.uk

GB Labs US launched on June 1st. Adi Antariksa our colleague based in LA has been very busy in showing the Space range not only to the resellers but also to the mover and shakers in Hollywood with superb results.

The Space range is a family of products that has to be seen in order to be appreciated; with this in mind we have a full diary of exhibitions around the world including London, Barcelona, San Paulo, Los Angeles, Sydney and Amsterdam. We will issue full details of these shortly.

If those dates should prove to be inconvenient for you we will arrange to have a reseller in your area go through the range at a more opportune moment.

GB Labs is proud to announce its newest product. An SSD based RAID which is exhibiting some scorchingly fast results using standard benchmark tests. Initial results indicate that it will be able to handle no less than 900 concurrent streams of HDV or 30 concurrent streams of uncompressed HD (10 bit 1080p 25). This is unprecedented within the industry and sets new targets within the mass storage market.

For more information on Space SSD, please contact us or one of our dealers.

Following a few months of flat out activity by the R&D department, GB Labs are pleased to announce the latest version of Space. The new unit boasts a 50% speed increase over its predecessor, under similar conditions, and also has the option of 3TB drives giving a maximum capacity per unit of 48TB.

Our formidable programming and technical team has also expanded in order to enable us to continue to create new products at the same time as finely tuning existing products to give you the absolute best in world class performance.

In order to ramp up manufacturing throughput, we have recently purchased additional premises adjacent to our current facility in Berkshire (UK). This will also provide suites for a demonstration area and an increased sales floor to assist our new worldwide partners

Alexei Mazin of Eureka Pacific is representing us in Australia and New Zealand and has already brought many interesting deployments to the table.