Draco tera KVM system brings flexibility in seminar and work spaces
Ludwigsburg, GE
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany, is one of the most renowned international educational institutions for film and media.
Founded in 1991, the film academy has an attitude of “learning by doing”. Teachers and professionals from the international film and media industry support 500 students who produce around 250 films each year. All areas of film production are covered: from scriptwriting, directing, production and camerawork, to set construction, montage and editing, animation and visual effects, film music and sound design, as well as interactive media.
The academy’s animation department is responsible for producing animation and interactive media and manages the digital post-production systems for the entire institute. As one of the most successful training centers in Germany, the institute enjoys an excellent international reputation. Animated films produced by the Film Academy win numerous prizes at the most prestigious international festivals every year. It also runs the annual international FMX conference.
The Challenge
In order to provide the best possible facilities, the academy wanted to create new, highly flexible editing and creation rooms capable of 4K production with high frame rates (4K60). All noisy and heat-generating workstation computers were to be located well away from the working areas with real-time access to data and video material.
The Solution
Existing point-to-point computer-to-workstation extenders were replaced by a powerful Draco tera enterprise KVM matrix switch system. The switch allows a wide range of source devices, including editing computers, storage devices and video servers to be instantly connected and switched to seven different working areas with displays, projectors and high-quality audio systems. A 40-seat seminar and presentation room is also connected to the system. All connections throughout the facility are by means of fiber-optic cabling.
Draco ultra DisplayPort KVM extenders are deployed around the site. These extenders, developed in cooperation between IHSE and the Fraunhofer Institute (IIS), enable students to access video material at the highest levels of resolution and image quality.
Individual workstations are equipped with integrated USB 2.0 modules. These allow connection of special input and control devices such as Wacom graphics tablets and Tangent Element panels for color correction.
The benefit
Instant switching and full flexibility in connection enables each workstation to be connected to every available source device as required. As a result students save a significant amount of time and inconvenience when changing tasks.
The suites and the seminar room can be quickly adapted to changing requirements for film or television. Central location of the source devices reduces noise and heat in the vicinities of the user workstations and aids security; protecting both hardware and software from unauthorized access. Students work in real time, using all the video production tools that reside on the machines in the server room as though they were located beside the workstation desks. The system supports a wide range of equipment including Avid Symphony, Adobe Premiere and R&S Clipster for finishing and mastering, as well as Assimilate Scratch, Nucoda Filmmaster and Blackmagic DaVinci for 2/4k color correction. Almost all digital formats from HDCAM SR to Red RAW or ARRI RAW can be edited using the KVM matrix system to accommodate the range of film, HD and 3D production undertaken by students in the academy.
