At the 2016 National Association of Broadcasters Convention, LaCie, the premium brand from Seagate Technology plc, announced the LaCie 12big Thunderbolt 3, a professional 12-bay desktop RAID storage unit. With up to 96TB of capacity, the breakthrough performance of Thunderbolt 3 and RAID 5/6, the LaCie 12big helps video professionals meet the data demands of 4/5/6K cameras.
The LaCie 12big offers a footprint smaller than a tablet. It features Seagate’s enterprise-class drives with a five-year limited warranty and data availability to safely store and edit massive amounts of ultra high-res footage.
For the 12big, LaCie added a hardware RAID controller and 7,200RPM drives.
Users can ingest hours of RAW footage from a Blackmagic cinema camera into Adobe Premiere Pro and then edit multiple streams of ProRes 422 (HQ), ProRes 444 XQ, as well as uncompressed HD 10-bit and 12-bit video. For big projects packed with high-def clips, thumbnail and preview rendering is designed to become much more responsive.
With double the video bandwidth of its predecessor, Thunderbolt 3 lets the user daisy chain dual 4K displays or a single 5K display to the LaCie 12big. With two 4K displays, a video professional can spread out a workspace by dedicating one display to the timeline and the other to previewing 4K footage. La Cie states, “It is even possible to provide power to a compatible laptop through the Thunderbolt 3 cable.”
With up to 96TB of capacity, the LaCie 12big can store 100 hours of 4K ProRes 444 XQ footage in RAID 5. With that capacity, it’s possible to store footage from 48 LaCie Rugged Thunderbolt 2TB shuttle drives. Instead of buying a new storage device every time more capacity is needed, LaCie recommends that its customers invest up front in a future-proof, RAID-protected solution. This consolidated approach improves data access and security, which can save money in the long term.
The LaCie 12big features 256MB cache, 7200RPM Seagate enterprise-class drives for superb accessibility, reliability and robust performance. Designed to operate 24×7 on 16-bay racks (instead of 8×5 operations for traditional hard drives), these HDDs are rated for 8760 hours of operation per year for extraordinary availability. The LaCie 12big also comes with a five-year limited warranty that covers drives, enclosure and spare parts.
The redesigned LaCie RAID Manager offers an intuitive interface to administer the LaCie 12big. A new and more user-friendly interface assists the user in setting up and monitoring storage. Wizards help easily create and manage volumes optimized for individual needs. Plus it offers advanced features such as CPU settings, auto rebuild, and drive diagnostics.
From the front of the product, drive status LEDs keep track of drive health and RAID build status, and drives can be conveniently accessed. Ensuring long-term component health, the aluminum enclosure dissipates heat efficiently and four thermoregulated fans pull heat away from the drives. And even if a fan fails, the product is still fully functional. For universal compatibility, users can connect to USB-C laptops—including USB 3 computers via the included USB-C to USB-A cable.
The LaCie 12big will be available in the summer of 2016 in 48TB, 72TB and 96TB capacities through the LaCie online store and LaCie resellers (prices are TBA).
Find out more at www.lacie.com/products/raid/12big-thunderbolt-3.
