NAB 2017: Panasas Demos ActiveStor Integration With axle 2017 Media Management

Panasas (SL9724) and axle Video are demonstrating Panasas’ ActiveStor with DirectFlow for Mac along with axle 2017, the latest edition of axle’s media management software at NAB 2017. ActiveStor with DirectFlow for Mac is the first and only high-performance combination of scale-out NAS with a parallel data protocol for the Apple Mac platform. axle 2017 is a user-friendly media-management solution for post-production teams.

The joint demo highlights an acquisition-to-post-to-delivery workflow that illustrates what some post-production facilities are calling the “Fastest in Hollywood” media production experience, according to Panasas. The demo features Panasas ActiveStor and DirectFlow in conjunction with the simple axle 2017 media-management software. This software, which includes axle’s browser interface and ingest clients, swiftly finds, organizes, shares and optimizes media. Other demo components include a Linux-based encoding server as well as Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Avid Media Composer.

Because axle 2017 employs the Mac Pro as its server platform, it integrates seamlessly with the Panasas storage solution via DirectFlow. The axle software runs on a dedicated Mac in the network, cataloging media assets on ActiveStor via DirectFlow. In addition, axle 2017 presents an uncomplicated browser interface to Macs, PCs and mobile devices and serves the axle Panel for Adobe Premiere Pro CC on Mac and PC.

“Creative work teams in search of a high-performance experience for handling modern-day media and entertainment workflows within an easily managed and effortlessly scalable storage environment need to look no further,” says David Sallak, vice president and chief technology officer for media and entertainment at Panasas. “From visual-effects rendering, to post editing, to active archiving, Panasas and axle deliver the performance advantage and radical simplicity that allow editors to focus on their craft, not on the storage.”

“Production acceleration and the empowerment of every team member are what axle media management is about,” says Sam Bogoch, chief executive officer at axle Video. “Combining axle 2017 with the high-performance storage environment from Panasas delivers a uniquely powerful production workflow solution ready to manage even the most complex media assets across all your storage locations.”

DirectFlow for Mac
Designed as part of the integrated ActiveStor scale-out storage solution, DirectFlow brings the performance benefits of parallel, distributed I/O over Ethernet to media production facilities using the Apple Mac platform and macOS® operating system. Teams achieve faster media ingest, process and delivery by being able to effortlessly and simultaneously handle their media of choice, up to 4K UHD resolution. The ability to flexibly scale bandwidth and capacity for larger high dynamic range (HDR) and virtual reality (VR) projects helps future proof the system as new media formats and more-complex workloads are introduced, while unifying all Macs under a single global namespace simplifies system management and reduces total cost of ownership. Hollywood post-production and animation facilities as well as major broadcasters have already deployed Panasas’ ActiveStor to re-render entire movies in record time, replace outdated scale-up archive infrastructure and significantly accelerate production workflows with DirectFlow for Mac.

axle 2017 Media Management Solution
axle is radically simple software for managing video files through any web browser. The software connects with the storage you already own and uses your existing folder setup. axle 2017 is optimized for media libraries with up to two million plus assets and features the latest technology developments in axle transcode, metadata and hybrid cloud capabilities. Using axle’s simple browser interface, it’s easy to search, comment, mark, approve and annotate assets from any location. And unlike traditional media asset management (MAM) systems, which impose a check-in/check-out workflow where the storage is largely hidden behind the media management, axle allows users direct access to their media and other files at the highest bandwidth and lowest latency supported by the storage device. axle’s new scalable transcode and AI modules now also run on Linux, a platform also directly supported by DirectFlow.