Danon Computers blog
Burbank Post-Production IT: Storage, Networks, and Content Security
Burbank post-production IT is its own discipline. Editors, colorists, and VFX artists move terabytes a day, and the studios they work for expect that footage to stay locked down.
A city that calls itself the Media Capital
Burbank has used the nickname “Media Capital of the World” for years, and the studio lots of Warner Bros. and Disney explain why. Around them sits a ring of smaller shops: editorial houses, sound mixers, trailer companies, and boutique VFX teams. Their IT needs look nothing like a typical office.
Storage that keeps up with the timeline
Camera originals and high-resolution proxies are large, and several workstations often read the same project at once. A shared storage system, usually a NAS or SAN built for media, keeps everyone on one source of truth. The common mistakes are filling it past 80 percent, mixing active projects with archives, and leaving no one in charge of permissions.
Plan the network around the storage
Standard one-gigabit office wiring chokes on 4K and higher footage. Edit bays usually need 10-gigabit connections to storage, a switch that can handle that traffic, and cabling tested to match. Office WiFi should stay on a separate network so a guest laptop never shares a path with client media.
Backups for files measured in terabytes
- Keep a second copy of camera originals on separate hardware the day they arrive
- Send a third copy off-site, by cloud or by rotated drives
- Archive finished projects to LTO tape or cold cloud storage, and log where each one lives
- Test a restore of a full project folder, not just a single file
What studios will ask your shop
Major studios increasingly ask vendors to follow the Trusted Partner Network program run by the MPA and CDSA. Even if you are never formally assessed, expect questions like these on a vendor form:
- Are edit systems isolated from the internet, or tightly filtered?
- Who can copy media to removable drives, and is it logged?
- Are visitors escorted and kept away from screens?
- How fast can you prove a file was deleted after delivery?
Having clear answers, and the network design to back them up, can decide whether a small house gets the next job.
Getting help
Our Burbank managed IT page covers everyday support, and the entertainment IT page goes deeper on creative workflows. You can also browse the full list of communities we work in. Serving Los Angeles since 1998, we have watched these workflows grow from tape decks to cloud review.
Keep workstations steady during a job
Editors hate surprise updates in the middle of a deliverable. Good Burbank post-production IT schedules operating system and software updates between projects, tests them on one machine first, and keeps a known-good image ready to roll back. Plugin licenses, codecs, and GPU drivers should be tracked in one list, so a replacement workstation can be rebuilt in hours instead of days when hardware fails late at night.
Common questions
Can editors work remotely?
Yes, with remote desktop tools built for media or cloud workstations, plus strict sign-in and logging.
Do we need a server room?
Not always. A small, well-cooled rack with a battery backup is often enough for a boutique shop.
How do we start?
Book an IT assessment and we will review your storage and network first.