Qlogic SilverStorm 9000 Manual

CASE STUDY
CNBC
QLogic Switches Give CNBC an
Edge with Improved Production
Time
Challenge
Improve workflow processes and employee productivity
Solution
A primary and backup storage area network (SAN), each with
a QLogic®SANbox®9000 Fibre Channel Switch, two Apple®
Xserve®servers, and an 18TB Apple Xsan®file system; both
SANs are connected via Fibre Channel to an Apple Xserve
server that provides the mirroring function between the two
SANs; 10 Apple Mac®Pro workstations
Result
The new high-performance SAN has vastly improved television
production time; CNBC artists are no longer constrained by
slow systems as they do their work, resulting in a 20 percent
increase in their productivity
“As CNBC competes in the world of business news programming, the speed of
production process is essential. QLogic switches have helped us dramatically
increase workflow.”
— Rich Tallmadge
Graphics Engineer, CNBC
CNBC, the cable network of NBC Universal Cable, reaches more than 300 million
viewers in the United States and abroad each day with a lineup of fast-paced business
and financial news programs such as Morning Call, Squawk Box, and Mad Money.
To compete with other networks, CNBC makes programming compelling by providing
a daily stream of animation, illustrations, and designs that vividly explain the business
world to viewers. But until recently, an outdated storage system created bottlenecks
that slowed down this part of the production by forcing the production staff to wait
hours for servers to finish their work.
Presentation is the key to owning market share in the television industry, and the
CNBC production department makes demanding use of the storage environment to
generate those compelling images. Several high-performance applications are used by
staff, including Autodesk®Maya®3D modeling and animation software, Zaxwerks®3D
Invigorator graphics, and Adobe®After Effects®software for motion graphics and visual
effects. CNBC artists also use 10 Apple Mac Pro workstations.
Each production staff member used a Mac Pro workstation with local storage and a
4TB Apple Xsan file server for shared files. But the storage system was slow and lacked
sufficient throughput to handle all production workflow. “The slowness hurt employee
productivity as our production staff waited for their projects to be completed,” said Rich
Tallmadge, CNBC’s graphics engineer. “We needed to accomplish much more in less
time. The storage system was the bottleneck.”
QLogic switches selected to provide high bandwidth for SAN
To provide high-speed storage, accessible to all production employees, Tallmadge
decided to adopt a SAN architecture.To ensure continued data availability, he elected to
build two SANs—one as the primary storage environment and another mirrored version
to be used in case of a failure in the primary system.
To support their high-end production applications, the staff needed the SAN to be very
fast. Tallmadge chose QLogic SANbox 9000 Fibre Channel Switches and two Apple
Xsan file systems with 18 terabytes of storage for each SAN. The high bandwidth of the
QLogic switches allows CNBC graphic artists to move the huge files efficiently through
the production process.The Xsan file systems connected the artists directly to the high-
speed Fibre Channel network.

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CASE STUDY
The cost of the QLogic switch factored into the selection process, according
to Tallmadge. “At a third of the cost of director-class switches but with all the
power we need, the SANbox 9000 made our decision easy,” he said.
QLogic and its partners form an experienced team
“QLogic’s reputation in networked storage, the high performance assured by
its switches, and its industry relationships made it an easy choice,” Tallmadge
said. “QLogic understands our business and what we wanted to accomplish.
Plus, QLogic works closely with Apple and is a partner of TekServe, the Apple
deployment specialist that works with us. With the three teams working
together, it really simplified the project.”
Installation by QLogic partner TekServe was nondisruptive. “TekServe has
worked with us before and knew our operation, so the deployment moved
along as planned,” Tallmadge reported.
QLogic switches include tools for SAN management
According to Tallmadge, management of the SAN requires little staff time. The
QLogic Enterprise Fabric Suite 2007™ management tools provide SAN-wide
control, including setup, configuration, zoning, fabric management, fabric
monitoring,and SAN performance monitoring. Enterprise Fabric Suite 2007 can
manage an unlimited number of switches and fabrics from a single console.
Because of the large capacity of the SAN, all files are kept in a shared, central
location for quick access.“The SAN makes it easy to see all versions of the work,
and the staff can immediately tell which version is most recent,” Tallmadge
explained. “Before we installed the SAN, there were different versions of files
on various Macs and had trouble keeping track of revisions.”
QLogic switches help increase employee productivity
With the primary SAN in place, CNBC production staff have seen a 20 percent
improvement in productivity. “With this SAN, our staff can complete their time-
sensitive work without long delays,” Tallmadge said. “It helped streamline our
workflow and has given us the ability to produce more content in less time.”
CNBC gains competitive edge with QLogic switches
The QLogic switches give CNBC the flexibility to accommodate future needs.
With capacity for up to 128 nonblocking ports in a single chassis, the QLogic
switches have plenty of room for growth.Any mix of 4Gbps and 10Gbps Fibre
Channel blades can be used to connect servers and workstations.
The modular design of the QLogic switch can reduce storage costs and offer
cost-effective scalability by allowing other less expensive blade options, such
as QLogic iSCSI Intelligent Storage Router I/O blades, for applications that
require less bandwidth than high-definition graphics software. “We wanted
something that would allow for future scalability and the SANbox 9000 gives
us that option,” Tallmadge commented.
With the QLogic switches,the network can significantly improve its competitive
position. “The QLogic switches have allowed our production department to
increase its output substantially by eliminating the time spent waiting for the
old systems,” Tallmadge said.
CNBC
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QLogic SANbox 9000 switches provide immediate
access to storage from multiple workstations
As seen in this illustration, a QLogic SANbox 9000
Fibre Channel switch forms the backbone of a primary
and secondary SAN within the CNBC production
department. Fibre Channel connections between the
Apple Xserve servers, the Xsan file systems, and the
10 Mac Pro workstations provide high-performance
storage access to boost staff productivity.