CASE STUDY
STS-GRIOT Gets Organized with Facilis TerraBlock SAN
Michigan-based creative editorial boutique STS-GRIOT (now Territory Post) offers clients a complete post-production experience – delivering rough cuts, finishing, motion graphics, compositing, color grading, sound design and more. Award-winning editors at the mid-size studio collaborate with local and national ad agencies to deliver TV and web spots for high-profile companies such as Toyota, Ford, Chevy, Comcast and the US Navy.
Earlier this year, Burrell Communications enlisted STS-GRIOT’s services for a new Toyota campaign involving several different vehicles. In anticipation of such a large project, Owner/Editor Terry King and Operations Manager Greg Gabry opted to invest in a Facilis TerraBlock 24D shared storage system to streamline media organization across the facility and enhance collaboration.
Before transitioning to TerraBlock, Gabry and his 10-person team had relied on an Avid Unity shared storage system, but when it became obsolete, they turned to individual hard drives for storage. “Quickly, the external hard drives began accumulating; we knew what we were missing and that we we had to have shared storage again,” he explained. “With TerraBlock in place now, it’s scary to think we ever lived without it; it’s huge for us. Our projects are more organized and accessible, and we no longer have to waste time mounting external drives just to see what’s on them.”
STS-GRIOT works on a variety of projects, so having access to a wide range of toolsets that are compatible with the TerraBlock is essential. The facility houses five offline editing bays, two online editing bays and a graphics suite – all connected to the TerraBlock via high-speed Fibre Channel. Each suite runs different creative programs including Apple® Final Cut Pro®, Avid® Media Composer®, Adobe® Creative Suite®, Autodesk® Smoke® and Quantel® Pablo Rio®. Gabry shared, “Different jobs call for different tools, and I love that TerraBlock gives us the freedom to choose the best tool for the job. We can easily move from room to room to work on whichever application we want.”
“Centralized storage has changed our workflow so much for the better,” he added. “As a team, we now have access to everyone’s work, so we’re able to collaborate across workstations more effectively. This is vital when working on projects that involve multi-spot packages like the Toyota campaign.”
Project to project scalability is a key component to STS-GRIOT’s success, and the option to connect to the TerraBlock via Ethernet has also allowed Gabry to bring in additional freelance team members. He can easily install TerraBlock Manager to a freelancer’s laptop, plug it in via Ethernet (or even wirelessly) and give the freelancer direct access to project files on the TerraBlock. “Ease of use is huge for me, especially because I’m not an engineer,” expressed Gabry. “I’m responsible for making everything work, and I’m 100% confident that I can have a group of freelancers up and running in just an hour. I couldn’t say that about any other competitive solution on the market.”
After a few months, STS GRIOT has only just begun to scratch the surface of TerraBlock’s capabilities. “In a short time, we’ve already grown leaps and bounds, but there is so much more we look forward to exploring. There are so many different ways of using the TerraBlock; it’s just bulletproof.”
He concluded, “Talent is what sets companies apart, and bottom-line, TerraBlock allows our editors more freedom to be talented, which we appreciate immensely. It’s been a great addition to our workflow!”
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