TIXstream MFT Manages File Transfers between ARRI Media Facilities

BERLIN - Sept. 5, 2019 - PRLog -- ARRI Media, the postproduction branch company of the globally operating ARRI group, now uses TIXEL's transfer system at three facilities in Berlin and Munich for efficient file exchange in multiple production workflows. Terabyte large directories with high-resolution image sequences and video files of 100 GB and more need to be transferred between ARRI Media locations on a daily basis. The workflow used up until now was based on standard network file transfer and had difficulties meeting the continuously growing demands. In particular, efficient and deterministic network utilization, automation and the traceability of transfers were previously either highly complex or impossible to realize.

Now all kinds of files can be exchanged between facilities with TIXstream MFT. Job-based processing makes it easy to assign the various production steps to projects and simplifies the monitoring of file transfers. With TIXEL's integrated high-speed transfer engine, transfer times become predictable and configurable bandwidth limits, intelligent queuing, and retry mechanisms make efficient and fair use of network, storage, and other system resources. This also allows other processes to make optimal use of the same infrastructure simultaneously.

TIXstream MFT's decentralized system architecture enables direct transfer between source and destination storage system at the involved sites — without having to go through central instances. This completely avoids unnecessary transfers and copy processes. The TIXEL Control Center is used as Web UI to control and monitor transfers. At the ARRI Media facilities, TIXstream MFT runs on different Linux systems, which are connected to NAS and SAN storage systems via NFS, CIFS, StorNext or FTP.

"We are excited that, with ARRI Media, another major player in the media production industry is impressed by our turn-key solution TIXstream MFT," says TIXEL CEO Ralf Einhorn. "Due to its flexible software architecture, TIXstream MFT was easily configured for ARRI Media's workflow requirements," adds TIXEL CTO Andreas Aust.

Connectivity to standard IT systems like MSSQL/MySQL database servers, LDAP/Active-Directory servers, e-mail and HTTP based notifications, HA cluster support and a REST API for integration with third-party software enables the use of TIXstream MFT in a wide variety of system landscapes. The microservice based application stack provides the foundation for future developments, while TIXEL attaches particular importance to backward compatibility.

"With TIXEL's software solution, we now have a transport layer for our high-volume file transfers that can be quickly integrated into our system landscape and workflows," explains Martin Markert, IT Team Lead at ARRI Media. "After a short test phase, we were able to use the TIXstream MFT systems and ever since then, we have benefited from an efficient and consolidated file transfer process between our locations that smoothly integrates into our workflows."

About ARRI
Arnold & Richter Cine Technik (ARRI) is a global company within the motion picture media industry, employing around 1,500 staff worldwide. The company was founded in 1917 in Munich, Germany, where the headquarters is still located today. Other subsidiaries exist in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia.
The ARRI Group consists of five business units: Camera Systems, Lighting, Media, Rental, and Medical. ARRI is a leading designer and manufacturer of camera and lighting systems for the film and broadcast industry, with a worldwide distribution and service network. It is also an integrated media service provider in the fields of film post- and coproduction, international sales, as well as equipment rental, supplying camera, lighting, and grip packages to professional productions. ARRI Medical focuses on the use of core imaging technologies for surgical applications.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has recognized ARRI's engineers and their contributions to the industry with 19 Scientific and Technical Awards.
For locations and more information please visit https://www.arri.com.

About ARRI Media
Germany's largest postproduction company with its head office in Munich and branches in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Halle, and Ludwigsburg, ARRI Media provides all creative and technical services in the field of film production—from the screenplay phase and on-set support through to the entire range of picture and sound postproduction and digital distribution to movie theaters. At its ARRI@Bavaria Film venue in the Geiselgasteig suburb of Munich, ARRI Media offers the only Dolby Vision grading suite in Europe and produces immersive audio in Dolby Atmos. Its International Sales & Productions department distributes feature films, develops its own motion picture projects, and participates as a co-producer in international movies.
For locations and more information please visit https://www.arrimedia.de.

About TIXEL
TIXEL is a Germany based software vendor creating solutions for high-speed data transfer in wide area networks. TIXEL products are used to optimize data-intensive distributed workflows primarily for cloud services, archives and media production.
With an international partner network, TIXEL software and services are distributed in Europe, North America and Asia.
More about TIXEL on https://www.tixeltec.com.

Contact
Affonso Gavinha, Head of Marketing ARRI Media, agavinha@arri.de
Ralf Einhorn, TIXEL GmbH, re@tixeltec.com