Brown Bag Films, the Ireland-based animation producer, is using Aspera Sync to provide fast, secure links with its partner studios in Mumbai, Singapore and Indonesia. The studio claims that, without the file transfer service it was reaching the limit of the work it could undertake. Like most animation producers, Brown Bag Films relies on worldwide partner studios to provide much of the work. With 3D and HD adding to the data demands, the studio needed a dedicated collaboration solution to share files with its partners. It had been using conventional FTP transfers, but this required a dedicated team to manage and frequently resulted in drop-outs leading to corrupted files. The latency between Ireland and overseas studios was also a problem, and it was this that was causing a restriction on business. “We had reached capacity in terms of the work we could realistically handle and the number of new projects we could take on,” said Brian Gilmore, head of technology at Brown Bag Films. “We wanted to maximise our available global resources and implement 24 hour production without being hindered by the transfer of large files. After reviewing the offerings out there, Aspera Sync proved the best solution that could meet our demanding needs.” Aspera Sync moves and replicates file sets between sites in the background. Users at remote studios simply access files via storage mounted on their desktops. When the work is complete the files are stored on the mounted drive, and Aspera Sync automatically transfers the material at high speed back to Ireland. There Brown Bar’s own software packages the files and manages naming conventions. To allow other studios to be used on an ad hoc basis, Brown Bag also uses the Aspera Connect service, which allows anyone to download files from the central server using an install-on-demand browser plug-in. This makes it simple to use for smaller partners. “Aspera Sync has revolutionised our data transfer workflow, helping us take on four times as much work by splitting it between locations,” Gilmore explained. “It has helped us become more productive, at a glance increasing efficiencies across our data flow management.”
