Proximity's Artbox Media Management Supports Apple's Xserve RAID/Xsan

Proximity Corporation, a leading provider of media asset management (MAM) software announced that its Artbox MAM solution will now support Xsan, Apple’s 64-bit cluster file system for Xserve RAID storage hardware.

Artbox is designed specifically for broadcast and post production users that want to maximize creative time and minimize administrative overheads. Artbox can catalog all media content in a station or studio and simplify creative production workflow by allowing users to track their projects, associated media and outstanding tasks across multiple platforms.


“Apple has taken the media & entertainment industries by storm by providing its Apple Xserve RAID and Xsan solutions at breakthrough prices. By integrating the Artbox MAM solution with Apple Xserve RAID, Xsan and Final Cut Pro, we are able to provide a compelling solution to our customers,” said Sai Koppala, SVP Sales & Marketing at Proximity. “We’re extremely proud of Artbox’s powerful features and ability to integrate with a variety of broadcast devices and specific workflow solutions.”


“The combination of Final Cut Pro, Xsan and Xserve RAID provides unrivaled features, power and value to creative professionals,” said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. “We’re excited that Proximity has utilized Apple innovation to deliver a great MAM solution for high performance broadcast and post-production environments.”


By integrating with Apple Xserve RAID and Xsan, Artbox can catalog all the content on the Apple Xsan and provide users an intuitive interface to search and browse media content. Artbox automatically generates low-resolution proxies and thumbnails for all graphics and video files. Users can drag and drop the selected content from artbox directly into Final Cut Pro for editing. Additionally, Artbox can either transfer the high resolution content to Final Cut Pro or pass the file reference to Final Cut Pro for edit in place.


Artbox’s integration layer allows seamless transfer of content between the Apple platform and a variety of editing, graphics, play out platforms such as Adobe, AP, Avid, Discreet, Quantel, Pinnacle, PixelPower, Leitch, Thomson Grass Valley and Vizrt. Artbox also provides Newsroom Integration, allowing iNews and ENPS Newsroom users to easily search and browse content residing on Apple Xserve RAID and Xsan.


In the broadcast, cable and post-production markets, Artbox provides the central catalog of all rich media content, such as video, audio and graphics. Traditionally, the lifecycle of creative production (request, creation, use and deletion of creative assets) requires manual interventions with a variety of hardware and software platforms. Artbox integrates format conversion, storage, workflow management, and search and retrieval of artwork (video, graphics, script or audio) into a single device. Users can search, locate, transfer and transcode, edit clips, generate EDLs and manage media across multiple formats and platforms. Artbox's workflow management module, introduces the concept of a project, enabling the user the ability to associate multiple assets that exist in different formats and across multiple devices within a single story.