Blog
Q: Tell us about Nomad
MP: We are a global post-production company with offices in LA, NYC and London. We provide creative editorial, visual effects, graphics design, finishing and sound design services for television commercials, Internet advertising and feature films. Last year we celebrated our 20th anniversary. A large percentage of our work these days is in commercial editorial for some of the biggest brands in the world including Starbucks, Bridgestone Tires, Pepsi, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, Lexus, American Express, Facebook, Visa, Nike, Samsung, T-Mobile, and more.
Q: Tell us about your job
MP: I started at Nomad NYC some 13 years ago as the receptionist. I moved my way into client services, then the tape vault for a couple of years, and then was an assistant editor for five plus years before becoming lead senior assistant editor. Today, I'm the technical producer, which means I am responsible for all the technical aspects of our clients' postproduction workflow.
Q: Can you describe your typical workflow?
MP: In the early days, editing was on Avid systems, and then later on FCP. These days, cutting is all done on Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Here in NYC, all editing work is performed in ProRes LT format to keep material in an HD format while maximizing available space. We use Flame Assist to pull material from our Facilis system in to the Autodesk Flame finishing suite.
Q: What do you do for storage?
MP: When we first moved into shared storage, we wanted something robust that wouldn’t break the bank. We were looking for something that was easy to setup and administer, as we certainly didn’t want to pay $20K- $30K a year in support costs. We were also very attracted to not having to pay-per-seat licenses for each client connection. Working with our reseller Cutting Edge, we chose the TerraBlock shared storage system from Facilis and love it.
Recently, we needed to increase our storage to support the growing needs of our busy offline, online/finishing and VFX rooms in the New York office, and it was a no-brainer to expand with a new Facilis 64TB TerraBlock 24EX shared storage system.
Q: What do you like about your TerraBlock system?
MP: A key benefit Facilis offers that few other storage vendors provide is the ability to support both Ethernet and Fibre connections without added complexity. This flexibility gives our team confidence that whatever expansion or changes may occur, the Facilis system will accommodate.
Another key benefit for us is the TerraBlock's ease of use. Editors new to the system have been shown how to create, mount, and manage volumes in as little as 10 minutes.
We also like that the system is turnkey in the sense that it’s completely self-contained. All the client side apps and documentation are stored on the server, so even if the Internet is down, it’s easy to get to the resources we need.
I find that the Facilis user interface is very streamlined with little to get in the way of an end user. It does not require an IT expert to administer. The cost benefit becomes very apparent when comparing systems if you have to pay for IT support for the more complicated SANs.
Q: In conclusion?
I love my TerraBlock. All you need to do is give it power and fresh air, and it will do its thing. Day in, day out. It just works.
