The launch of Unify Hub Generation 2, a global unified file system

The launch of Unify Hub Generation 2, a global unified file system

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Well welcome everybody! Thank you very  much for joining us today on our webinar.  I'm Dominic Harland. I'm CTO and CEO of  GB labs and I'm really excited to share   with you the new Unify Hub Generation 2. We've  been working really hard on evolving our Unify   Hub Gen 2 and we're really looking forward to  sharing that with you throughout this webinar.   We've also got some great shows we  look forward to hopefully seeing a   lot of you at NAB this year and only a  few weeks time which should be great.

So the launch of Unify Hub Generation 2, it brings  to a close the generation 1, which is end of life   effectively immediately. But don't worry,  customers can upgrade to generation 2 either   straight away or whenever their renewals are  due. The hardware appliance is also end of life   it'll be no longer available, mainly due to the  fact that some of the new features of Gen 2 just   simply aren't available to work with third-party  storage therefore limiting the usefulness of that   appliance. As a software it's available on all  of our storage appliances and will come with   the CORE.5 OS, which in effect is our connected OS  and brings a far greater integration between cloud   storage and cloud accounts. CORE.5 is not due to  replace CORE.4 at this moment in time and will  

run alongside it. CORE.5 will come free of charge  with any annual subscription to Unify Hub Gen 2.   So let's have a look at some of the features now  included in CORE.5. The first one is the ability   to use single sign-on and also to be able to take  your cloud endpoints and share them out using SMB.   So very simply you can mount your cloud storage  endpoints within the CORE OS using your admin   privileges and then you can create a workspace  from those which allows you to share them out   over SMB on your local network. Your local on-prem  users will simply log in with their username and   password as determined by the CORE.5 OS that  you've set up and then they can just log in and  

work with that storage as if it's local storage.  The advantage of this is it gives you the ability   to use auditing within our software, so you can  simply manage your users for all of your cloud   endpoints as well as being given the information  on which users have accessed which files and when.   So CORE.5 also introduces the ability to  accelerate your cloud endpoints using Block   Level Acceleration. This is a big step forward,  we don't have to download entire files we can  

simply use parts of files in a very similar  way to how HyperSPACE or Nitro operates.   This is really important for media workflows  because it's very rare in media that we need   the whole file and obviously moving large  media files across the internet is time   consuming and potentially expensive,  With the Block Level Acceleration,   we only need to move the key blocks of data that  we're using on our timeline or video workflow So, the advantage of this are far faster workflow.  You can start editing far quicker. Obviously the   the cache is saving you from egressing data over  and over again and you also naturally preserve   your internet bandwidth not only are you only  having to download the information you need if   there are other users also use that information  you only need to download it once. This will   save you a lot of time and money. So another  key advantage that's now built into CORE.5 is  

the ability to take that storage from within  your GB Labs appliance and share it out using   the S3 protocol. This allows you to connect  either on-pro to other devices that require   communication using S3 or indeed share it out  for other cloud services and storage to access. The ability to export via S3 also allows you  to effectively create your own private cloud.   The final feature within CORE.5 is the ability to  see everything in effectively one pane of glass.   So by having your cloud accounts  mounted and accessed through CORE.5,  

this gives you a really easy  way to see what's going on,   allow management of the cloud accounts as well  as giving secure access to your on-prem users. So introducing Unify Hub Gen 2. This  is a global unified file system,   it's a big departure as I said earlier  from Unify Hub 1 and it simply allows   people to really access a central store  so a single file system that everyone can   access anywhere. So let's have a look  at what that means and how it works.   So first of all Unify Hub is a GB Labs unique  technology. It's something we've worked incredibly   hard on for quite a long time now and we'd like to  say thank you very much for our partners and our   customers that have worked with us to get this to  market and develop it and to get it to the point   where it really does work completely seamlessly  and just allows people to to work from anywhere.  

The facilities that it gives users is the feeling  that they're working on a local storage no matter   their location so at all times they have a  fast flexible and I guess importantly secure   way of accessing their media storage. So Unify Hub  really breaks down into four key areas that makes   it uniquely different from the previous version.  The first one is OnePath. So OnePath is critically   important for the success of a global file  system and what this means is wherever you are,   whatever location you're on your relevant  file path is identical. So for example,   if you're in the office on SMB and you then  go home and you connect via Unify Connect,   the relative path is actually identical  and we'll have a look at that in a second.  

The second thing is the HyperAcceleration.  So this is true Block Level Acceleration,   meaning that the minimum amount of data needs  to be moved when you move. The third part is the   Centralised Access Management. This gives you real  control for single sign-on, gives you excellent   user management, it gives more importantly or  mainly it gives you the security that you're   used to for on-prem but for all of your remote and  potentially your cloud users as well.The last part   is that it integrates very well with our Nebula  cloud storage. When paired with Nebula this gives  

you a truly elastic storage and gives you a great  global performance like no other cloud storage. So let's have a look at OnePath. This is really  important. So as I mentioned it gives you the same   path no matter where you are. So for example if we  look here, whether you're a local SMB user on-prem   whether you decide to move to a satellite office  and you're also an SMB user or whether you're   truly remote user using the Unify Hub Connect  client application, you will see exactly the same   file system in exactly the same file pathing.  This means that it makes Asset Management,   orchestration and any automation  products meaningful in every location.  

It also means that if I've created  a project file in any location when   somebody in another location opens it I don't  need to re-link any files. The same is true   with any media application so really really  big step forward in working from anywhere. So the next part of Unify Hub is  HyperAcceleration. This is the Block Level  

Caching that makes it so quick to use, so quick to  get going with media files. So if we have a look   at a timeline for example you may well have five  or ten minutes on a timeline, but it's quite often   that you'll have several hours of footage behind  that. Now with traditional systems if you want to   work remotely, you typically have to copy or move  all of those files from one location to another.   With the HyperAcceleration, you only need to  use the parts of files those relevant blocks   if you like, from one location to another. Now  you can of course populate that cache either   on-prem before you move or you can completely  independently work remotely the choice is yours.   The HyperAcceleration is a similar technology to  our HyperSPACE and gives you really good usability   for media workflows. The HyperAcceleration can  be broken down into two categories. The first  

is communal acceleration. So this is where we  use one of our products to act as a large block   Level cache device, so this would be typically  connected to either a Nebula cloud or a primary   location. So all your users connected to that  would connect to this unit via SMB and then   it in turn connects to the master file system  if you like. So only the blocks that the users   on-prem are accessing come down, and they're  then held within that GB Labs product. This   means that on typical video projects where users  are sharing similar or the same data and every   user does not need to download again and again  the same information and this can save not only   a large amount of time and also cost, but it also  means that you're just not taxing the internet   connection again and again and again repeatedly  having to download the same amount of data.   The second type of HyperAcceleration is what we  call private acceleration. So this is when you're  

using the Unify Hub connect client application it  can leverage part of your internal SSD or nvme or   indeed an external drive you choose the location  of where those blocks or Block Level Acceleration   is held. So this means that somebody can go out  literally with just a laptop and they are they   have the key blocks information for their their  video project and any additional work they need   is just downloaded and held within their internal  hard drive or SSD. So this allows the playback of   even challenging codecs to be possible once  you've got the blocks of data cached and you   don't need to download any further information  continually across your internet connection. So with the Centralized Access Management this  gives you a really good view on what's going on   not only have you got active directory and LDAP  support but you can allocate users to all of   the different parts of of the storage. It also  allows complete integration with our auditing   which is extremely useful, so this allows you to  see what users whether they're on-prem or remote   what files they're using and when they've  last accessed them as well so it gives you a   great insight into what all of the users all  over the world are doing within the system.   Another extremely useful feature is that  you can actually manage the individual   cache centrally from the CORE OS. So  for example, if you have a user that's  

a freelancer and they've now finished  working for you, you can actually hit   a click of a button remote wipe the cache from  their system and terminate their access so you   can be extremely certain that they can no longer  access and have no previous access to the files. So Nebula is a fantastic addition to Unify Hub.  We've partnered with Storj to provide a fantastic   cloud storage that really is different to others  on the market. This is a truly distributed shared   storage which quite simply means it's as fast  in Singapore as it is in London and LA all at   the same time without having to make copies of  your data. But more of that on another webinar,   we will have a look at how Nebula integrates  with Unify Hub on some diagrams in just a moment. So I guess the question is, is who is Unify Hub  for? Well really anybody who's working with media   files video editors, small or large companies it  doesn't really matter the challenge of working   with media from any location is pretty similar  however you're trying to do it and this product   is extremely suitable for all of those use cases.  So unify Hub Connect Client. This is our client  

application that's that will work on Windows,  Mac or Linux. This if you like is the key to   your true remote working so if you're away from  the office you do need the Unify Connect Client   app and it provides a support for the OnePath,  it'll connect to either nebula directly or you can   use VPN to log back into wherever the primary  system is and it leverages that Block Level   Acceleration. So you can either choose to go to  one of the on-prem locations and you can pre-cache   or you can literally just work from anywhere  and leverage that Block Level Acceleration.   It's fully it talks back completely to wherever  the primary system is so all of the user   management and the sort of security authentication  is done centrally from that primary system   and it supports the CORE OS auditing and  compliance as well so when you're logging   in and you're doing things that's been recorded  on the primary system for the system integrator   to take a look at. It also supports some other  additional functionality for manually caching  

entire files and gives you some information  on what is or isn't cached on your systems. Okay so let's now have a look at Unify Hub in  action! We've got a video here from Matt who's   kindly put together a demonstration of how to  use it all so let's take a look at that now.   Jello and welcome to GB Labs. Unify Hub 2.0  adds significant new technology to make it   the ideal solution for hybrid, remote  and multi-office workflows. Our goal is  

to create a global file system with a single  point of truth for each file so teams of any   size in any location will always be able to  work with the latest iteration of any file.   With packages tailored for the smallest of shops  to the largest multinational media corporations,   Unify Hub is the right solution for every  company. Let's take a look at the new technology   now available in Unify Hub 2.0. The first new  feature we are revealing is called OnePath.   OnePath gives you the ability to match your  workspaces both locally and remotely with the same   file path no matter the speed of your connection  or connection protocol. For today's demonstration   I'm going to show how users can connect directly  over ethernet and using Unify Connect over Wi-Fi   to mount the same workspaces and launch the same  project with no need to relink. Here you can see   we are connected to the house switch then to  a GB Labs SPACE server that is also directly   attached to the same switch. You can see this in  the networking pane of system preferences in the  

upper left. So now I will mount the workspaces  I normally would on a local connection over SMB.   Next I'll launch DaVinci Resolve and go into  this demo project I've loaded up with prores 444   footage. As you can see there are three tracks  of this huge file and when I go to play it it   plays fine, though you should know there are some  speed ramps in the footage. Now that we see that's   working over a hardwired connection let's quick  DaVinci and change our network settings. The goal   here is to simulate a remote user connecting over  the Internet so I'll unplug my ethernet cable and   you can see that the light is now red in system  prefs. Next I'll enable my Wi-Fi to simulate an   internet connection and as you can see that's now  the only connection. Now I'll use Unify Connect to  

mount the workspace with my demo footage. Now I'll  launch DaVinci again and go to that same project   and as you can see it opens right up, however the  thumbnails are taking a bit longer to populate and   as I start to play the sequence it's very slow to  respond. This brings us to our next new feature   Block Level Acceleration. Starting in Unify Hub  2.0, users who are connected to their workspaces   via Unify Connect will be able to automatically  cache just the data they need for the active parts   of the files they are working with by calling for  that data once. For example when an editor loads   their sequence, then place it back one time, the  sequence will play back quite choppy, then on a   second playthrough will play smoothly as the data  has been cached. Which we see here. So now instead  

of downloading 10 plus hours of raw footage to  enable an edit to relink and play back editors   will only need to Cache the parts of the footage  that they are actively working on which could be   as little as a few minutes or possibly an hour  of content, saving them significant time to get   up and running on a new project. Users will still  be able to pre-cache data from Individual files   folders and workspaces as they did in version one  of Unify Hub, the only restriction to block level   acceleration is the media must come from a media  space that lives on a GB Labs appliance. All of   these features will be available in the unified  Hub bronze package. To further assist our users   another new feature we are releasing are satellite  UniFi Hub servers to support editing teams working   in remote offices away from the Central Storage.  In this situation a second GB labs server of   nearly any model can be installed in a remote or  regional office to serve as a Unify Hub cache from   the primary server accelerating footage to editors  working on-prem in that office. So now with Block  

Level acceleration when one editor in the UK okay  placed through an edit for the first time, those   blocks of data are cached in the satellite server  local to that user allowing them to be played back   in real time for that user and other on-prem users  in that regional office. Users working remotely   or those editors not in a regional or global  office on a local network containing a unify   Hub server with still VPN to the primary server  and may encounter some slower performance than if   they were directly connected over a network to the  Unify Hub server. This configuration can be scaled   out through Unify Hub to support multiple regions  all pulling the same material from the same home   server. The last piece of new technology we will  be covering in this video is Nebula, GB Lab's new   vision for cloud storage. Built in partnership  with Storj, Nebula redefines the concept of cloud   storage by breaking out of the data center using  in simplified terms a proprietary combination of   torrent and blockchain technology to slice,  encrypt and redundantly distribute your media   across twenty thousand plus servers around the  world. This process has multiple advantages.  

First, it accelerates download speed significantly  by geolocating your data around the world,   in tests these speed improvements grow the farther  the downloader is from the data center. Second   Nebula's elastic storage, upload and store as much  as you like then pay for only the storage you use   monthly, downloads of a hundred percent of the  storage you are using every month are free then   a nominal meter would rate thereafter. Third with  data encrypted in flight and at rest in Nebula,   connecting is easy from the Unify Connect app  and does not require a VPN for safe and secure   caching. Nebula is available in the Unify  Hub gold package. Unify Hub is available now,   reach out to GB Labs or your favorite reseller  today to learn more, thank you. That's great  

thanks very much Matt so hopefully we have a  better idea of what's in town with the bronze   silver and gold packages as well. As we can see  the product is really easy to use and it's really   just about matching your client's workflow to the  right package. Packages can be tailored as well we   have additional user licenses available from $195  dollars each and we can add additional satellite   offices to certain packages as well for only a  thousand dollars on the subscription pricing.   There's additional materials there's a table  that will break down further information on the   packages and that's available at request after  the webinar as well so if you do have further   questions please do pop them in the chat box or  contact us after the events we're more than happy   to discuss any client scenarios and which would  be the applicable product and package for them. So   for the pricing of Unify Hub it will be sold on an  annual subscription basis much like the previous   Unify hub Gen 1 and the pricing is extremely  competitive the bronze package that we just   looked at will be priced at only £2995 dollars  for the year the silver £4995 and the gold £6995. These prices do include a copy of V5 and that is  for the version 5 that is a perpetual license so   for example if you subscribe to just the  bronze for the first year and afterwards   you decided that you wouldn't continue with  the Unify Hub you would still get to keep   the version 5 so all of those fantastic cloud  functionality would still be there within the V5.

2023-04-04 19:27

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