Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic Cloud Store

Blackmagic Design announced Blackmagic Cloud Store a new extremely high performance network storage solution with four 10G Ethernet connections and a parallel memory core that can sustain maximum possible transfer speeds on each 10G Ethernet port, all at the same time. The Blackmagic Cloud Store features an elegant design that’s been specifically designed for the requirements of the television and high end film industry.

Blackmagic Cloud Store will be available in Q2 2022 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide from US$9,595.

Blackmagic Cloud Store is the perfect network storage solution for any use. But it’s perfect for film and television where large media files need to be shared between multiple users for editing, color correction, audio post and VFX work. It even handles massive 12K Blackmagic RAW digital cinema files. Each user gets zero latency and they don’t need to store files on their local computer. It’s the perfect solution for DaVinci Resolve.

Unlike IT industry storage products that are rack mounted and have loud cooling fans, the Blackmagic Cloud Store is an elegant vertical design that’s portable. It’s also whisper quiet so it can be used on location. Internally it has an array of flash memory cards working in parallel for speed and data protection. The four 10G Ethernet ports operate as a switch so customers can connect four separate computers, or they work together using “link aggregation” for a massive 40G Ethernet speed. There is also an HDMI monitoring output so customers can watch a live graphic view of the storage operating on a TV or monitor.

The Blackmagic Cloud Store is available in 20 TB, 80 TB and massive 320 TB models, so customers have lots of space for all their business files and video media. M.2 flash memory cards are used for extreme reliability, high access speeds and zero seek times. Plus the M.2 cards are arranged in parallel RAID 5 groups so they can operate much faster than a single card. That ensures massive speed combined with fault tolerance.

With 4 separate very high speed 10G Ethernet connections, Blackmagic Cloud Store is extremely fast. The internal memory core has been designed to saturate all four 10G Ethernet ports to their theoretical maximum speed, all at the same time. At maximum speed, the Blackmagic Cloud Store is extremely quiet with very little cooling fan noise. Even when editing large 12K digital film RAW files. It’s so fast, multicam editing is incredibly smooth, even if it’s used with massive digital film camera files.

Now customers can setup a local cache of their Dropbox files. This makes working much faster because files are instantly available without needing to be loaded from the internet. Blackmagic Cloud Store will constantly work to stay in sync. Plus customers can also save space on their computer by moving cached Dropbox files to the Blackmagic Cloud Store so they are accessible to everyone on their local network. Customers can even sync multiple Blackmagic Cloud Stores via Dropbox so people in different geographic locations can collaborate without latency because everyone has a local copy of the files. Dropbox is also a fantastic backup solution.

The most exciting feature is the HDMI monitoring output. Simply connect a TV or monitor to see live status of the Blackmagic Cloud Store. The storage map shows a graphic representation of the memory core and where the read and write access is happening for the connected users. There are also four graphs that show customers the data transfers on the four main 10G Ethernet connections. The main space indicator shows customers the capacity of the memory core and how much is currently used. The status for each Dropbox connection is also shown. It’s even possible to see connected users and the power supply status.

The Blackmagic Cloud Store has four high speed 10G Ethernet ports, which are only found on expensive workstation computers. The Blackmagic Cloud Store is so fast, it will run each 10G Ethernet port to its maximum capacity. With a built in Ethernet switch, each port can be plugged into a separate computer, or they can be used together for 40G Ethernet. Two extra 1G Ethernet ports let customers keep the 10G Ethernet ports free for faster computers.

Modern laptop computers are so thin, they often don’t even have an Ethernet connection. Blackmagic Cloud Store has a USB-C to Ethernet adapter built in and customers can access it simply by plugging their computer into the USB-C port on the store. That means customers can just plug in to quickly grab files when customers need them urgently.

The two USB-C ports on the Blackmagic Cloud Store can be used for loading and backup of files. If customers connect a media card reader or a USB-C disk to the ingest port, then all files on that disk will be loaded into the cloud store. Backup is also important and while Dropbox is a good backup solution, by connecting a USB disk to the backup port, customers can do local backups without any ongoing costs and with total privacy. It works with a USB-C disk, or even large USB-C disk arrays.

One of the big advantages of Blackmagic Cloud Store is that it’s private storage that customers fully control. There are no subscriptions to sign up for. There are no monthly license fees. There is no tracking of their usage or data. That means customers can run a private network, totally disconnected from the internet. This is critical for many security standards where computer networks cannot be connected to the external internet. With Blackmagic Cloud Store, customers get enterprise level performance, but with total freedom.

When customers need to change settings, customers can use the Blackmagic Cloud Store utility that’s available on Mac and Windows. The utility also lets customers add Dropbox sync folders.

“We are very excited with the new Blackmagic Cloud Store,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “We have been extremely unhappy with storage solutions in the market as they didn’t have the performances needed by the high end feature film and TV industry. Now, editors, colorists, visual effects artists and audio engineers can work together in DaVinci Resolve on the same project at the same time!”

Blackmagic Cloud Store Features

• Elegant design with whisper quiet cooling.
• Features 20 TB, 80 TB and 320 TB models.
• Extremely high performance RAID 5 flash memory.
• Sync to Dropbox.
• Includes HDMI monitoring output with live storage status.
• Includes four 10G Ethernet ports with built in switch.
• Supports Ethernet over USB-C connection to computers.
• USB-C ports allow local ingest and backup of files.
• No subscriptions, no licenses and no user data tracking.
• Includes software utility for Mac and Windows platforms.

AVAILABILITY AND PRICE

Blackmagic Cloud Store will be available in Q2 2022 From US$9,595, excluding duties, from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.