PART 1: EDITING IN THE CLOUD INDUS TRY.
automotive and architecture. The media and entertainment industry has been one of the most understanding of the technologies needed to achieve this move. Our customers were already familiar with connecting remotely to workstations within their own facilities, via technologies like Teradici PCoIP and utilising the co-location of equipment into data centres around the world. While there was some learning to be done, the road to user acceptance has been relatively straightforward. We’ve supported multiple customers developing their own internal cloud platforms, such as the BBC’s Cloud-Fit team and Grupo MediaPro’s Mediacloud systems. This gives them the ability to deploy the exact platform they want, with complete control, as well as the advantage of bursting to public cloud platforms when needed. Customers see the positives and negatives of cloud workflows very quickly, and many ascertained that hybrid workflows will be the way forward. ST: We always knew that the cloud was a viable and desirable direction of travel for most production businesses. Over the last 18 months, we have seen through gritty experience that cloud workflows are real, reliable and relatable. We’ve learned that initial hesitancy has morphed into an enthusiastic embrace of the cloud, and the tangible benefits it brings. At first, the cloud can be overwhelming for some customers and we’ve invested heavily in simplifying things. Most recently, GBH implemented our EFSv solution into
learned with how the cloud impacts our industry and customers. For some, it’s applying new terminology. For others, this is a crash course in understanding how bandwidth (especially while so many people work at home) is critical to workflow. Ultimately, the biggest lesson we’ve learned is how important an intuitive, elegant design experience is. With so many users across the world that serve varied roles in a production, it is critical for people to be able to quickly integrate. Frame.io is becoming an operating system for both creative and technical aspects of production. For many, this is a big step from the safety net of working daily at a post house. Massive adoption of Frame.io throughout the pandemic has revealed new opportunities to educate seasoned professionals on how to run post- production workflows using virtual files and remote assets. We’ve learned how to better demonstrate, organise and capture feedback, which goes right into making the platform look and feel more familiar. AG: The biggest eye-opener we hear is unforeseen costs and complexities. Especially because many enterprise cloud vendors didn’t understand media workflows. They didn’t deliberately mislead users, but often underestimated deployment and ongoing costs. JA: Nvidia has supported migrations to cloud with cloud-based or virtualised workstations across many industries, including financial services, healthcare,
their workflows to maximise operational efficiencies – as well as reducing overall costs. In the words of Tim Mangini, senior director of production technology for GBH: “We require adaptable, efficient media systems for all of our clients. EditShare’s cloud solution gives our producers flexibility and scalability. They can work wherever they want, with whomever they want, whenever they want, and only pay for resources they actually use. They upload their media once and work from anywhere, as if they were working in any GBH edit suite.” PML: The reality of the cloud is far easier than many people in post-production would believe. Still, until it became an absolute necessity because of Covid-19, the industry was resistant to this inevitable change. But migrating to remote, collaborative workflows in the cloud does not require large investments into new gear. With the right set-up, cloud does not need to have high bandwidth at all. The first-to-market cloud editing and collaboration products all required a lot of bandwidth to make it shine, but tools have evolved to operate smoothly on lower speeds, and we understand how to get around such limitations. We’ve learned a lot from our customers, many of whom are evangelists for Hedge software. They have to deal with the traditionalists who aren’t convinced editing can be done just as well in the cloud. Developing post- production solutions that extend their facility infrastructure into the cloud has been one of our missions from day one. Is the future completely cloud-based, will it return to the way it was, or are there other options for post-production houses to collaborate remotely, such as using streaming media with the cloud? MC: The future will be completely cloud-based, but one way to think about it is how deep cloud reliance will
“It’s hybrid, from now on. Producers understand that they have a choice to go on-premises, remote, or both. We’re living in a free world”
33. NOVEMBER 2021
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