G-Technology: Storage Specialists

Mark Billington, UK Channel Director, G-Technology, answers our questions...

BFV: G-Technology delivers premium storage solutions for audio/video production, photography and the professional content creation market. Do each of these sectors vary when it comes to their needs for storage solutions?

MB: The economic success for creative professionals across all industries depends on delivering a quality piece of work to their clients on time. They all require reliable and fast storage solutions for every step in the creative workflow to ensure that their valuable data is secured on every step of the journey from the production site to the client. The storage requirements of creatives only vary when it comes to their preferred way of working. While a photographer's workflow is quite linear, filmmaking and professional content creation is primarily a team business, with several team members working simultaneously on projects at any given time. Working efficiently in a team requires a so-called network attached storage solution like the G-RACK 12. Depending on the size and complexity of the production, and integrated mobile and desktop storage solutions like our Evolution series with interchangeable and expandable external hard drive modules and a docking station and a RAID-system might also be an option. This is also a photographer's choice to ensure a seamless storage workflow from start to finish.

How has the industry changed over the years with regards to storage solutions, and what are some of the challenges you face as a result?

Digital content creation has seen dramatic changes in the past years. With high-resolution capture proliferating, consumers and content creation professionals have required ever-increasing storage capacities. For example, professional videographers capturing 4K resolution video at 60fps create 400MB per second, or 1.4 terabytes per hour of raw footage, and are often required to back-up their footage in multiple places for safekeeping. This storage capacity does not even take into account post-production, or transferring that content to clients. By 2020, industry experts predict that the media and entertainment industry's storage requirements will grow by nearly five times, and the average consumer will need an enormous 5.2TB of storage. G-Technology closely monitors customer requirements and continuously adjusts its portfolio to reflect market developments. We have, for example, only recently introduced higher capacity editions for a number of products. Our goal is to provide reliable, fast, stylish and easy-to-use storage solutions that fit the current and future needs of professionals and consumers alike.

A priority for many users is saving time and money in production, but ensuring quality remains. With more production now taking place in the field and 'on the go', does this add to the challenge?

Producing in the field and 'on the go' does indeed add an additional layer to the creative workflow but the only additional challenge from a storage point of view is keeping valuable data safe even in adverse conditions. The simple trick here is to ensure that the storage solution you use offers ruggedized external hard drives that are water-resistant, dustproof and survive a drop on the floor.

It isn't just about storing and managing data, however, as there is protecting those assets as well. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Creatives focus on their creativity and creative workflow and often only seriously start thinking about protecting their work and ultimately their career when they have had their first encounter with data loss – incurred by a hard drive failure, a hard drive lost in the mail or even a burglar in case of G-TEAM members Miss Aniela or Lucas Gilman. When creatives round the corner from photo or video amateur to professional, their creative skills often grow faster than their IT. Most of them don't know that they actually don't need to be a tech geek to implement a storage strategy that starts at the shoot and ends with delivery to the client – if they choose an integrated, plug-and-play solution that helps them streamline the digital content workflow, making copying, protecting, transferring, editing and distributing content more efficient, scalable and reliable – and easier.

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This article is also available to read at BFV online as part of this issue's Archive feature here, page 12.

(JP/LM)