(Inter BEE 2018) MIC Associates demos 4K production environment using Tiger FAN, a SAN built using Thunderbolt 3 that enables seamless data sharing with the cloud

At Inter BEE 2018, held from 11/14 (Wes) to 11/16 (Fri) at the Makuhari Messe, MIC Associates will exhibit the Tiger FAN series, a new product manufactured by Tiger Technology (hereafter referred to as "Tiger") and sold by MIC Associates.

• Easily build a SAN using Thunderbolt 3 connections
Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, Tiger Technology develops management tools for innovative, high-performance Storage Area Networks (SANs). Tiger’s high-speed SAN filesharing software and appliances have been widely used, primarily in the broadcasting and video industries, and have received high praise. Tiger FAN, exhibited at the NAB Show in April of this year, enables the building of a SAN by connecting multiple PCs using a variety of OSes to a high-volume, high-speed storage network using Thunderbolt 3. It also provides an environment allowing seamless use of the SAN and the cloud, producing a production environment in which high volumes of data can be efficiently shared at high speeds. In addition to Thunderbolt 3, 16Gb/8Gb Fiber Channel and 10Gb/1Gb Ethernet can also be used for connections.

• Seamless use of local disks and the cloud
FAN, “File Area Network,” is a filesharing system introduced by Tiger. By using hierarchical technology, files can be stored locally or in the cloud according to their frequency of use, allowing seamless sharing of huge quantities of data. Exclusive control is ensured using a metadata controller to monitor and control connected devices, and securing write priority using tokens, enabling smooth reading and writing from multiple connected locations.
Using the pooling feature, multiple storage devices can be made to appear and managed as a single storage medium. A single file will not be divided across multiple storage devices when saved, allowing addition and removal of storage devices for maintenance, etc. even while a project is ongoing.
Tiger specializes in building systems designed for production. One such specialized feature is a defrag function for optimizing the management of the storage of numbered files. Using this feature, large quantities of numbered files can be efficiently reorganized within storage, vastly speeding up the retrieval of data.

• Reduce yearly management costs with easy storage expansion/reduction
Akiko Torigoe, Account Manager of MIC Associates’ Technology Sales Department explained Tiger’s Tiger FAN series as follows:
“This system allows a SAN to be built more easily than previous SANs built with fiber channel (FC), permitting smooth operation of video editing that deals with large, 4K and 8K files among several networked machines. Until now, Thunderbolt 3 cables have mostly been 2 meters long, but in future, 10 meter and 30 meter cables will be put on sale. This will allow network construction in a production context to be carried out at a lower cost. Though existing solutions often use network switches, using this method allows a direct connection.
“Previous construction and management of SAN networks has also made retaining engineers for network management a necessity, but with a FAN, a concurrent editing environment using a Thunderbolt 3 network can be built simply by installing drivers on a connected computer and connecting to commercially-available Thunderbolt 3-compatible storage. It is also possible to connect to cloud services such as Amazon AWS S3 and Microsoft Azure Blob, and through hierarchical storage management, create a workspace that encourages cooperation between project management and MAM. Initial installation can be performed at a low cost, with the number of storage devices expanded up to 7 through daisy-chaining. In addition to being simple to expand storage according to need, rental storage can be used at peak times, while it is also easy to scale down after the peak has passed. This enables users to vastly reduce operating costs throughout the year.”

In the venue, MIC Associates will demo a 4K- and 8K-compatible video-editing-targeted high-volume data workflow engine. The product demo requires a reservation.

Exhibitor Overview: MIC Associates Co., Ltd.
• Head Office
Sakura Masamune Higashi-Nihonbashi Building 8F, 3-12-12 Higashi-Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo-to
• URL
http://www.micassoc.co.jp
• Hall/Booth Number
Video production/broadcasting-related equipment division, Hall 8/8203