The following lists the typical hardware and software requirements of the FishCat system. We normally ask that these are in place prior to us appearing on site and installing FishCat.

  Network:

A fully functioning high bandwidth intranet running at 1Gb/s +.

  Workstations:

Each workstation will require a 1Gb/s network card and be permanently connected to the network while shooting/setting up shots. Works on Windows XP and later OS.

We recommend Dragonframe software for capture and control of the cameras.

  Server:

A small to medium enterprise quality server with multiple cores and at least 8 GB of ram. OS can be any form of Linux, typically Redhat or Fedora.

The server will be running Apache, MySql (MariaDB), PHP and acts as a Samba server for the studio floor. Backup is via Tar to an LTO tape machine.

  Storage:

A robust, fast, directly attached storage array is recommended. Capacity depends on the production requirements. A typical broadcast production based on 260 minutes of deliverable footage can be expected to require at least 12 Terabytes of storage. Storage can be broken down into “live” and “archive” storage. This can save on costs, where a fast (e.g. SAS attached) storage array can be used for shooting, and a slower NAS array can be provided for archived footage. For example, in a broadcast environment, delivered episodes can be migrated to a slower storage system. The data is accessible in exactly the same way. The only difference is that the presentation of the data is slower, but it is likely to be accessed less frequently.

  Render nodes:

Conversion from raw to 16-bit RGB or 32 bit openEXR and to HD movies can be processor intensive. We recommend at least two Intel cores per animator, typically on a Windows PC platform. The processing does not need any specific graphics hardware.

  Support:

Remote support is provided via SSH over a good quality broadband or higher connection. This is essential for day to day technical support.