"Fast access to and efficient management of data, and hardware, and particularly software innovations, such as Tiger Technology’s metaSAN, are the catalysts for success in today’s collaborative, heavy-bandwidth work environments."

 

Robi Roncarelli, Market Analyst, PIXEL Inc.

"I am giving metaSAN five stars! If I ever end up working in another facility that needs to implement a SAN, I will definitely recommend it. I’d also recommend it to anyone involved in video that needs a file-level sharing SAN."

 

Joe Kirby, Assistant Chief Engineer, FOX 54 – WZDX TV

"With metaSAN/metaLAN in place, every artist has instant access to data by simply clicking on the local hard drive in “My Computer” – and all this without having to perform sophisticated network administration."

 

Alex Rizov, FX Supervisor, Topform Studio

"I recommend metaSAN to anyone investigating a shared storage solution, especially to anyone Final Cut Pro based production house wanting to maximize their multi-station editing workflow."

 

Graeme Nattress, President of Nattress Productions Inc.

"metaSAN is the ideal SAN management solution for Fibre Channel, iSCSI, and Gigabit Ethernet networks. So far, we have tested metaSAN with Huge Media-Vault and Fibrenetix Storage systems, Qlogic SANBox switches, and Atto Celerity host bus adapters and have never experienced any compatibility issues."

 

Jörg Hoffman, PSIBER GmbH

"I’m using an HP xw9300 with 4 x SATA2 drives and a Bluefish444 HD Lust board. Whenever trying to capture DPX files, the system would run for 100-250 frames and then drops frames. After installing metaSAN and using DDO and FSO the system can now capture DPX files without any problem!"

 

Gerbrand De Ridder, Trans Tec bv

"Our customers have been clamouring for tools that will help them add intelligence to their workgroups. We are very pleased to be working with Tiger Technology to address this demand."

 

Howard Solomon, President, Integrity Data Systems

"By turning off-the shelf storage and networking components into versatile, easy to support, and highly scalable shared storage workgroups, metaSAN is ideally suited to solve a wide range of workflow configurations at a great price."

 

John Connolly, Midwest Media Group President

"metaSAN’s unique ability to allow multiple cross-platform users to share content and collaborate efficiently while maintaining very high bandwidth will afford us a highly efficient, reliable, centralized and secure storage solution."

 

Michio Fujii, CEO and President, MIC Assosciates, Inc.

stoneGate

Read and write to the Autodesk© Stone FS from your desktop

Tiger Technology stoneGate is an innovative virtual file system allowing multiple Windows and Mac graphics workstations to simultaneously and transparently read and write to Autodesk®’s flame, fire, flint, and inferno’s proprietary Stone® file systems for a tightly integrated workflow.

stoneGate the ideal companion software for all Autodesk flame, smoke, flint, and inferno VFX artists. It eliminates the traditional barrier that has prevented a natural workflow between Windows/Mac workstations and the advanced systems. With stoneGate, there is no need to explore the Stone using a proprietary software interface; then wait for requests to be centralized, queued and processed. stoneGate mounts the Stone file system directly on your desktop like a local drive. This lets you use your favorite software to browse and select the frames you need to be working with.

Using stoneGate, you can manipulate image file sequences directly on the stone array, without disrupting the high-end workflow. The modified sequence is immediately available for playback on the advanced system and doesn't need to be re-imported (stonifized).

stoneGate converts the hierarchical structure of the stone's Clip Library into a standard file system that maps as a local drive on the client's workstation.

Users can remotely browse through Machine, Volume, Project, Library, and Clip folders to access the individual frames. These are exposed as a standard graphic file (DPX, TIFF, Cineon, etc.) or QuickTime movies (at proxy or full resolution) that can then be manipulated using any off-the-shelf paint, editing, and compositing applications such as Adobe© After Effects©, Photoshop©, Apple Final Cut Pro©, Motion©, and Shake©.

stoneGate offers a simple and elegant approach to bridging the advanced systems and the LAN-clients worlds. By taking full advantage of Autodesk© Wiretap™ API, stoneGate does not compete for valuable system resources; does not require any server or client software to run on the advanced system, all while eliminating the need to transfer digital frames to and from a shared depository location using a push-pull model. One stoneGate license is required per connected client workstation. A single license of stoneGate provides access to multiple stone file systems. There is no server license required.

Contact us today to find out how you can benefit from Tiger Technology.

Notes: Linux support planned for future release.

  • Enables multiple, simultaneous, and transparent read and write accesses to the Stone
  • Stone file system mounts as local drive on your Mac and PC desktops
  • Browse through machines, volumes, projects, libraries, and clips folders using standard applications and disk utilities
  • Individual frames are exposed as 8- and 10-bit RGB image sequences
  • Dynamically switch between Proxy and Full-resolution mode to optimize for speed or quality
  • Supports RAW, BMP, TIFF, DPX, MOV, WAV, AIFF, and Cineon file formats
  • Communicates over TCP/IP using Ethernet or InifiniBand connections
  • No need to install software on the advanced systems
  • Utilizes the field-proven, reliable WireTap API to ensure risk-free operations
  • Each client license can connect to an unlimited number of WireTap servers

Each system on which you install stoneGate must meet the following minimum system requirements:

  • Microsoft Windows® XP, Service Pack 2 (32-bit and 64-bit), Microsoft Windows® Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)
  • Mac OS X Tiger 10. 4. 8 or later (PPC or Intelbased), Mac OS X Leopard (PPC or Intel-based)

To be able to share its stone file system(s) using stoneGate, each advanced system on the LAN must have a Wiretap Server API (version 2.6 to 2009).

The effects advanced systems compatible with stoneGate are:

  • Autodesk® Inferno® 6.0 or newer
  • Autodesk® Flame® 9.0 or newer
  • Autodesk® Flint® 9.0 or newer

The editing advanced systems compatible with stoneGate are:

  • Autodesk® Fire® 6.5 or newer
  • Autodesk® Smoke® 6.5 or newer
  • Autodesk® Backdraft® 5.0 or newer

Another way to check if your advanced system is compatible with stoneGate is to check if its Stone+Wire version is 24xx or greater. You can do this, following these steps:

  1. Browse to /usr/discreet/sw/sw_config
  2. Click the Versions button.
  3. Check if software: ProductSW version is 24xx or greater.