AVID'S NEW ISIS
As this issue was going to press, Avid announced that it is expanding its ISIS shared storage product family with the introduction of the ISIS 5000. The company introduced the flagship Unity ISIS back in November of 2005, and James Frantzreb, Avid’s senior marketing segment manager for broadcast and storage, says the ISIS file system has since “been proven in the most demanding and high-profile media production environments in the world.”
The new ISIS 5000, which should be shipping as you read this, leverages the ISIS file system, but in a more affordable package. The solution is designed for clients that are “more price sensitive,” says Frantzreb, “or just don’t need that level of scalability or high availability that Unity ISIS offers.”
Avid is offering three configurations of the ISIS 5000: The direct connect “DC” version is outfitted with 16 2TB drives in a RAID-5 configuration, and four Gb Ethernet connections. Storage is fixed at 32TB and the user can add a third-party switch. Avid is also offering 32TB and 64TB switched configurations. Both include a 24-port Gb Ethernet switch, support for an additional 24-port switch, and support for dual-link Ethernet connectivity. All three configurations support Mac or PC clients.
ISIS 5000 can support up to 40 clients, and all 40 client licenses are included in the system price, which is $38,000. That also includes one year of Avid priority support, and customers have the option to extend that support to three years, if they choose.
Most importantly, Frantzreb says, ISIS 5000 has been completely tested and qualified for Final Cut Pro workflows, as well as with Avid Media Composer, Symphony and NewsCutter. In fact, Frantzreb says the ISIS 5000 “is targeted to be the storage solution of choice, even if you are running only Final Cut Pro.”
Unity ISIS will now become the ISIS 7000. “It offers high availability and linear scalability,” he notes. “It supports large or multiple workgroups, and it really is for enterprise-wide connectivity. There is going to be a pretty clear delineation between whether you are a candidate for Unity ISIS or for ISIS 5000.”