Creativity Sets Sail with Back-End Apple Systems

Profiles in Success: Full Sail Real World Education

Apple Systems Support Digital Mastery

In the Digital Arts and Media program students gain multiple skills, including video and web production and 3D animation. Students regularly capture high-definition (HD) video streams on Power Mac G5 workstations, and then edit them with Final Cut Studio. With Soundtrack Pro, students can add high-quality audio to their projects, while Compressor gets the final pieces ready for burning to disc via DVD Studio. The finished projects typically yield huge, bandwidth-consuming files — files that students need easy access to as they matriculate through the program. Galbreath says Apple offered a powerful yet simple solution to Full Sail’s storage and file management challenges.

“Our students continuously create content, and a lot of that involves motion and digital video,” Galbreath explains. “File management was becoming a real problem. Apple really stepped up to the plate and helped us, with their Xserve, Xserve RAID, and Xsan systems. Now students have access to their work in every class, and the folders follow them from lab to lab.”

“Now we use all kinds of equipment that we never could have considered without the Apple systems.”

— Bill Galbreath

Xsan Keeps Video Projects on Track

Full Sail’s Xserve RAID storage and Xsan file management systems are connected by Ethernet (with two fiber channels) to the Power Mac G5 computers, allowing students to pull high-bandwidth files off of the server and edit their work. Users simply enter their password into Full Sail’s Xserve, and instantly have access to their complete range of digital files, in any location.

Student at a monitor

Says Galbreath: “By having a direct connection to the Xsan from the HD camera, we can capture at true HD. Running the fiber channels to each Power Mac gives students access to that footage as well as the supporting assets — video, virtual 3D sets, and complex motion graphics elements — needed to create high-end, professional projects. And, our back-end system helps students keep track of their assets throughout their career with us.

“With the storage and file management capabilities of our Xserve RAID and Xsan, we were able to add a whole digital arts studio,” Galbreath continues. “Now we use all kinds of equipment that we never could have considered without the Apple systems. They’ve really helped our program.”

PowerBook Laptops Easily Manage Multiple Programs