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Post-Production Studio Integrating LucidLink and Wasabi Storage
Company Situation
The company is a post-production facility specializing in short-form commercial content for high-profile brands. Their team includes on-premises workstations connected to a SAN storage system, with some remote editors and freelancers working from various locations including overseas. Their projects often involve fast turnaround times and collaboration across dispersed teams.
Existing Workflow
Currently, the company relies on a legacy infrastructure featuring self-hosted SAN storage accessed via remote desktop connections for high-speed file access. For cloud-based workflows, they use Lucid Link’s classic platform to enable remote shared storage. Additionally, they utilize Frame.io for review and approval processes, which their companies are accustomed to. Some projects maintain libraries of footage for extended use, but many are one-off projects where footage is archived or discarded after completion.
Issues with the Existing Workflow
The company faces several challenges with their current setup:
The legacy SAN infrastructure requires remote logins, which can be cumbersome and limits flexibility for remote workers preferring their own devices.
Lucid Link’s dependence on Wasabi cloud storage has caused latency and reliability issues, negatively impacting user experience during critical projects.
Pricing and scalability concerns with current cloud solutions, compounded by a month-to-month contract that allows for switching but requires thorough cost comparison.
Separate tools are used for file access (Lucid Link) and review/approval (Frame.io), leading to fragmented workflows.
Limited capabilities for advanced asset search and metadata management, relying primarily on file and folder naming conventions.
How Shade Would Change Their Workflow
Shade offers a modern, cloud-native shared storage platform that can replace Lucid Link, providing more reliable and performant access to media assets without the latency issues caused by underlying storage infrastructure. Shade integrates built-in review and approval tools, potentially consolidating the company’s workflows into a single platform and removing the need for a separate service like Frame.io. Shade’s AI-powered asset indexing enables semantic search capabilities beyond traditional folder naming, unlocking the ability to search assets by content attributes, transcription, facial recognition, and more—features that can add value for certain projects and companies. The platform is flexible, allowing adoption of only the storage replacement functionality initially, with additional features optional based on the company’s comfort and data sensitivity concerns.
Benefits
- Improved reliability and reduced latency with a cloud storage system designed for media workflows
- Potential cost savings through competitive pricing and right-sizing of cloud usage
- Unified platform combining file access, review, and approval, simplifying workflows
- Enhanced asset discoverability using AI-powered semantic search and metadata indexing
- Flexibility to adopt features incrementally based on project needs and data security considerations
- Month-to-month contract allowing agility to switch platforms without long-term commitment
Want to see how Shade can improve your workflow?
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