New 8D Is Aimed at Smaller Customers While 24D/HA Features Hybrid Disk Configuration

Targeting content creators who find themselves looking seriously this year at 4K workflow—and scrambling for affordable ways to bring their storage infrastructure up to snuff—Facilis Technology introduced the TerraBlock 8D, an eight-drive system starting at less than $10,000 for 16 TB of capacity.

"The market needs that type of low-end unit for smaller shops," Facilis VP of Marketing James McKenna said. He likened it to the new Avid ISIS 1000, which has a similar appeal to smaller, cost-conscious facilities.

Asked about scalability, McKenna noted that the 8D is priced so that a customer can buy three and end up with the same amount of storage as the existing Terrablock 24D.

Speaking of the 24D, the other hardware introduction from Facilis at NAB this year is the TerraBlock 24D/HA. The "HA" stands for "hybrid array," referring to the 72 TB system's combo of eight high-speed SSDs alongside 16 traditional 4 TB SATA drives.The SSDs provide performance for uncompressed 4K workflow, and the SATA drives enable collaboration on HD projects.

Also new at NAB is the company's FastTracker software, which provides basic media asset management on TerraBlock servers. It allows custom metadata tagging and Boolean search capabilities for files on the server. McKenna acknowledged that many users will require more full-featured asset-management, but said it makes sense to keep FastTracker both quick and simple. "Most customers are just wondering how they're going to find their stuff," he said.

The new Facilis products are scheduled to become available in the second quarter.