The Briefing Room

Drastic DDR Customers to Benefit Through Elimination of Time-Consuming Disk Optimization Tasks

Las Vegas, NV, USA, April 14, 2008, www.4bright.com: Bright Systems, Inc., developer of disk recording and data infrastructure technology, has announced that Drastic Technologies, a leading developer of capture and delivery products for digital media, has joined the growing list of software developers that are supporting Bright’s new BrightClip intelligent data recording technology. BrightClip is being shown for the first time at NAB 2008. Other companies supporting BrightClip include da Vinci Systems, ARRI Film & TV and Thomson Grass Valley.

BrightClip represents a major new technology that will bring cost savings to digital postproduction workflows by providing superior disk recording and playback of media within the digital postproduction environment by overcoming the need for disk optimization. Drastic Technologies, based in Toronto, Canada, will integrate BrightClip with its upcoming Version 4 software, initially with its Drastic Titan and VVW Series digital disk recorders. All Drastic DDRs will ship with BrightClip from summer 2008.

“We see BrightClip as the first sensible solution to the problem of media becoming randomized as it is moved between applications in a typical multi-project, multi-artist post facility,” said James Brooks, Development Manager, Drastic Technologies. “No other system guarantees that file sequences and media streams are laid down in the most optimal pattern, or that multiple writers will not cause data to become interleaved, causing systems to slow down and stop working efficiently.”

He continued: “We need recorded media to be instantly accessible to other clients. There is no time for copying media from local storage to shared storage, and we need multiple writers to be able to write at the same time. Before BrightClip, systems had to be ‘kludged’ together with multiple storage pools and paper access systems – and a lot of waiting. With BrightClip, everything can run into the system as fast as the operators can ingest it.”

Disk optimization is a time-consuming task that arises from the process of moving media from one postproduction or DI system to another. As it is received, it is laid out randomly and therefore illogically on the new host application’s disks. Due to this random use of disk space, disk optimization must take place to avoid errors in processing, and ultimately, a complete systems failure. By integrating BrightClip technology into digital postproduction and DI systems, manufacturers know that when their equipment receives media, it will always be laid out intelligently, thus avoiding the need for users to perform disk optimization.

“We are delighted that Drastic is adopting the BrightClip technology,” said Antony Harris, CEO, Bright Systems. “Our BrightDrive media recording system and Drastic’s DDRs already provide some of the world’s leading DI and digital post facilities with tightly integrated and powerful workflows. By adopting BrightClip, system manufacturers can be confident that customers will benefit from advanced, intelligent data recording technology that will significantly contribute to minimizing project turn-around times and maximizing workflow efficiencies.”

BrightClip is configurable either direct through API, or indirect through an administrative interface. With the API, an application developer has full access to all recording functionality within their application. Alternatively, if an application is not BrightClip-enabled, an administrator can set up or script tasks to create a BrightClip. BrightClip files appear as normal alongside regular project and other files, making their use entirely transparent.

ENDS

About Drastic Technologies

Drastic Technologies Ltd, founded in 1991, is a major industry provider of products for digital media capture, control, conversion and delivery. These products are sold as software only applications or as part of a complete DDR solution built and certified by Drastic. Drastic’s head office is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Drastic Technologies Ltd has resellers and distributors operating in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. www.drastictech.com

About Bright Systems

Bright Systems was founded in 1999 to design and develop advanced infrastructure systems for data-intensive environments. Based in Reno, Nevada, a centre associated with important milestones in the development of video disk recording, Bright Systems provides a range of extremely high-performance file servers capable of record/playback of real-time uncompressed video and data streams. With its unique expertise in advanced engineering and facility integration/workflow, Bright Systems is able to deliver a significant competitive edge to the post production industry. www.4bright.com

Contacts:

lynne.lambert@4bright.com, PR, Bright Systems, Inc.