Universal Music Group picks Globalstor

Geffen Records has acquired an ExtremeStor-iTrax T160 storage server from Globalstor Data for the Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) label group’s new in-house recording studio. Secure and reliable storage of an enormous volume of content is of paramount importance to IGA, a division of Universal Music Group, which is one of the world’s largest record companies. Globalstor’s experience in the film and video post-production industry, as well as the broader information technology sector, led to the selection of the firm’s ExtremeStor-iTrax T160. IGA preferred the 16-drive solution that included two separate RAID controllers.

While IGA’s studio is under construction, the group continues to work at the Record Plant, a state-of-the-art, five-room recording facility that has served as its base for the past five years. Engineer/producer Tal Herzberg notes that the ExtremeStor-iTrax T160 has seamlessly integrated into the Record Plant’s infrastructure, will accommodate IGA’s new studio and can function in virtually any other IGA facility.

Among the advantages of Globalstor is the system’s plug-and-play simplicity. Globalstor’s approach, a series of robust and flexible server platforms, represents a quantum leap forward from the “sneaker net” of removable hard drives or fiber channel infrastructure. This solution delivers a comprehensive, centralized and searchable database. In the professional audio industry, Globalstor data storage solutions are used in conjunction with Pro Tools and other digital audio workstation software on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

Using an iSCSI initiator, the ExtremeStor-iTrax appears as a local disc drive on any computer. It has a pair of iSCSI initiators for Mac bundled with each Globalstor solution, while Windows users can download the free Windows iSCSI initiator offered by Microsoft. Globalstor solutions can also be used as NAS (Network Attached Storage) servers in conjunction with iSCSI.

With all media assets concentrated in a single location with redundant backup, search and retrieval is greatly simplified, substituting 9TB of hard drive capability for the former methodology of diffuse individual hard drives and manual data basing.

For more information, visit www.globalstor.com.