CreativeCow.net by Bob Zelin

At NAB 2016, G-Tech released their first shared storage product, the G-RACK 12.

In the past, G-Tech has made large drive arrays that used ATTO or Highpoint RAID controllers, but over the years, seemed to have phased these out, concentrating on smaller drive arrays, that were more affordable. This changed in 2015, when G-Tech released the G-Tech Studio XL, which was a full 8 bay RAID array for Thunderbolt 2 systems, that could support up to 8 TB SATA hard drives, for up to 64 TB of RAID protected storage. This product became wildly successful for them.

The G-Tech Studio XL was (and still is) great, an excellent choice not only for standalone large RAID arrays, but also for the type of shared storage system that I have been building for years.

G-Tech has gained a reputation over the years of making very reliable products. They have relative recently been acquired by giant drive manufacturer HGST, which in turn has been purchased by the largest drive company in the planet — Western Digital (who just purchased SanDisk for 16 billion dollars), so when they announced that they were making a shared storage product, I knew that this was going to be a serious product.

Unlike the new craze of ZFS based shared storage systems from Small Tree, LumaForge and Other World Computing, G-Tech has decided to use Btrfs. Pronounce it any way you want. Butter FS, Better FS, or just spell it out. This is a Linux-based system that’s designed for maximum speed, reliability, and flexibility, including things like reconfiguring workspace allocations on the fly. Don’t worry about not knowing Linux, though. You can find everything you need in a very easy to use web browser interface. (More details about that below.)

The actual chassis only takes up 2 rack units, and as you can guess from the name, the GS 12 holds 12 drives. Because G-Tech is owned by HGST, they are fortunate to be the first company to get access to the new 10 Terabyte HGST Enterprise series SATA drives. This means that you can have up to 120 TB (100 TB after RAID 6 configuration) in only 2 rack units…[continue reading]

Let your editing team fly. G-RACK 12 brings G-Technology’s industry-leading scalability, reliability, and studio-friendly technology to centralized storage. It’s the only platform to combine all these technologies into the ultimate centralized storage solution for demanding “4K-and-beyond” workflows.

Introducing G-RACK 12

Your productions matter. See how G-RACK 12 can help your entire team to store, color correct, composite, assemble and manage colossal amounts of video content with new speed and confidence.

• High-performance Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
• Scalable 12-Bay server from 48TB to 120TB capacities
• Ultra-reliable Enterprise-class HGST hard drives
• G-Technology developed NAS operating system
• Advanced BTRfs file system for reliable data protection
• iSCSI support for simplified shared storage management
• Seamless integration with top non-linear editing suites
• Optional 48TB, 72TB, 96TB or 120TB Expansion Module
• Future-friendly platform for software add-ons
• 5-Year limited warranty

Interested in becoming a Certified Partner Pro to sell the G-RACK 12?

Your business must meet the following criteria:

• Currently sell and install NAS / SAN Solutions
• Ability to show solutions in demo room or tour kit
• 1st level technical support staff
• Employ a minimum of 1 pre/post sales engineers & 1 technical support staff
• Commit to & participate in required certification and on-going trainings
• Sell Components such as:
• NAS / SAN storage storage systems
• Ingest Systems
• Digital Camera Systems
• Transcoding systems

If you think your business is a good fit, please reach out to your G-Technology Account Manager or g-technologychannelprograms@hgst.com for more information.

Find all Premier Partner Program assets at the following:
Current Unilateral Price Grid
Premier Partner Pro Box Site
Marketing Assets Guide

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Channel Team.