For some time now, Rule Boston Camera has been working hard to become the leader in New England of shared storage, digital asset management and archiving. As the industry moves away from tape and into file-based media, safely and intelligently storing your digital video files has become increasingly important. Our goal in this “Smart Storage Initiative” is to provide the best possible solutions for each customer’s needs—from the one-man-band all the way up to the enterprise-level customer. Naturally, a significant part of this initiative is education and not just for our customers. Recently, we have been putting our vendors’ shared storage products through rigorous testing to see which products fit perfectly with which workflows. No single product, be it from Avid, Facilis, SNS or Apple/Promise, is right for every need or for every customer. We’re doing speed tests, checking compatibility with third-party software, figuring out how you can use each one in collaborative workflows (and more) in order to find how each shared storage product shines and in which areas. The end result:  when you tell us about your business and your needs, we will be able to confidently recommend a product that will be a perfect fit for you and your workflow as well as your budget. While shared storage products like Apple XSAN/Promise V-Trak, Facilis Terrablock, Avid ISIS and SNS EVO are a significant part of the puzzle, we also provide solutions for digital asset management and archiving with products like CatDV from SquareBox and the Cache-A line of products among others. Don’t need or can’t afford a large shared storage system or LTO-5 backups? We can recommend the right storage and backup solutions to fit exactly what you need and want with products from Promise, LaCie, G-Tech and more. The industry is constantly changing and as a result it can be difficult to navigate which is why we’re always on the lookout to find the best solutions out there to match your specific needs. Peter Brunet, Engineering Technician, brunet@rule.com