Gorilla bets on Object Matrix for £1m-plus-per-episode TV shows

Cardiff-based Gorilla Post Production has built up a very successful business with customers that include Netflix and Amazon, with around 1PB of Object Matrix object storage as its nearline repository and add-ons such as the ability to provide web access to content for customers.

Video production company Gorilla is based in Cardiff Bay and employs about 60 full-time staff plus numerous freelancers, including in its special effects and animation subsidiaries.

It is heavily invested in TV post-production, which includes sound and image editing, special effects and delivery of media to broadcasters.

Notable content that Gorilla has worked on includes Doctor Who, One Born Every Minute and Bargain Hunt.

A huge consideration for the company, said managing director Richard Moss, is that customers need to be certain that valuable content – which in some cases costs millions of pounds per episode to shoot – is retained securely and protected against loss. That usually means three copies of everything is kept.

Previously, content was stored on RAIDed local drives and servers with tape for backup copies.

That has been superseded by Object Matrix’s Matrix Store, of which there are eight nodes providing 1PB of storage as nearline storage, while production storage is handled by 1PB of Avid Nexis storage, which comes from the supplier of Gorilla’s video editing environment.

Object Matrix storage is also integrated into the Avid workflow, while features such as Vision allow partners to view video content online from the Object Matrix store.

All recorded media is ingested to Object Matrix, replicated to the second set of Object Matrix nodes and also written to tape, which is LTO-7/8 on a 96-slot Oracle tape library.

The big advantages of using Object Matrix, said Moss, are the peace of mind afforded by the solution and the ability to make a selling point of that to customers.

“The main thing is I know we are able to monetise the cost of storage, that I can sell it as safe, split-site storage and with other products such as the Vision service,” said Moss.

“Hand on heart, I know we don’t have to worry about it. If Netflix is in town with content worth millions of dollars per episode, then they know their stuff is not on just some commodity storage, but that we have support and auditability.”