Keeping it simple: although the trend is toward networked storage, Stargate Digital relies on direct-attached disk arrays.(Special section: storage in the studio)

When it comes to managing the many terabytes of visual effects content produced by Stargate Digital for TV productions such as Spartacus and ER, the studio's director of IT Joseph Meier says that his staff's job is twofold: It must ensure efficient work flows with minimal interruptions and implement affordable systems that it can basically plug in and let run without intervention.

Given Stargate Digital's data explosion over the past few years--now at more than 22TB and growing--Meier's first step toward fulfilling his role was to simplify the company's IT infrastructure. "In the past, we had a lot of Macs and SGI systems as well as Windows based platforms. Moving information across the platforms was more trouble than it was worth," says Meier. The team's solution was to reduce the number of operating systems in use to just one--Microsoft Windows. "Having a single platform makes information flow and work flow more efficient," he says.

Meier also decided to keep it simple with respect to storage. Although 22TB of storage may suggest the need for networked storage--such as a storage area network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS)--Meier opted instead to go with a few discrete pools of disk storage directly attached to key servers on the network. "A SAN would not make financial sense for us. We figured out clever ways to keep the traffic down and give everybody access to the information on the drives, which has improved work flow as well as disaster recovery."

The company's storage consists of disk arrays directly attached to each of seven servers on the company's Gigabit Ethernet network. The storage resources currently include four Nexsan Technologies infiniSAN ATABoy2 disk arrays and several Infortrend RAID arrays that Stargate purchased through Zzyzx Peripherals.

To keep track of all the shots moving through Stargate's system, Meier and his team implemented a custom SQL Server based tracking system. "The shots themselves live in a traditional Windows-based file folder, since they need to be accessible by everybody so they all know where the base footage is," Meier explains. Contents of the folders might include such elements as ancillary digital stills or other files containing high resolution, high-definition footage shot by Stargate's photographers or company founder Sam Nicholson.

Some of the major challenges faced by the IT team involve keeping network traffic flowing at a reasonable pace. "Optimizing the network is a huge job ...