Celebrating 25 Years of SNS Shared Storage Workflow Solutions

True story: We’re so focused on the future that we almost forgot our own 25th anniversary.

Cue the confetti!

It’s time to celebrate an incredible 25-year journey of media workflow solutions brought to you by Studio Network Solutions.

In honor of our milestone 25th anniversary, we’re taking a nostalgic look back at our roots, how we got here, and where we’re headed.

A Shared Storage Odyssey

If you haven’t heard the SNS origin story yet, grab some popcorn.

Flashback to 1998: “Titanic” ruled the box office, the iMac was poised for takeoff, and Google was still finding its footing.

Life was fantastic, but sharing media files in a multi-room production studio? Not so simple. 

Our founders were running a successful production studio in St. Louis, where they found themselves struggling with the challenge of sharing files across multiple editing suites. They knew there had to be a better way to store and share media, but existing solutions fell short. 

So, with the tenacity that defines true Midwestern spirit, they rolled up their sleeves and took matters into their own hands.

(Techni)Color Me This

That “can-do” attitude led to SNS’s first groundbreaking solution: A/V SAN PRO. It was a special-purpose, Fibre Channel disk array, which allowed multiple users to simultaneously access centralized data storage from multiple edit stations, each capable of flawlessly playing and recording everything Pro Tools could handle. 

With a prototype in hand and business cards at the ready, our founding fathers debuted the inaugural SNS solution at the NAB Show that year. There, representatives from Technicolor came by and were amazed by the claims of our product, thinking it was too good to be true. But skepticism quickly turned into curiosity, and they wanted to witness the magic firsthand. 

Following the trade show, Technicolor’s engineers visited St. Louis to put SNS’s shared storage solution to the test—the “storage torture test,” that is. That’s what they called the rigorous series of intensive workflow tests they subjected new storage systems to. 

It was our moment of truth. Other systems had stalled or failed, but the SNS solution passed with flying colors. We had earned our stripes, and our first purchase order.

A Decade Of Disruptive Innovation

Industry leaders around the world started knocking on our door: NBC Universal, Abbey Road, Wally World Music, New Line Cinema… The list goes on. Our inaugural solution was even used to create the music score in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers—a personal high point for several of our staff at the time.

But with all these “we made it” moments, we never stopped innovating new ways to connect creative users to their media, projects, and collaborators, in the studio and around the world. With each new customer we gained, we listened to what else wasn’t working in their workflow, and we started solving those problems, too.

A few years after A/V SAN PRO, we developed SANmp, a storage management and file sharing software for Windows and Mac. Then, we blazed a new path with globalSAN, the first iSCSI solution compatible with Windows and Mac systems. A parade of transformative products followed—FibreDrive, Postmap, Ellipse—each playing a pivotal role in paving the way for our big breakthrough technology: EVO. 

SNS launched EVO, our flagship shared storage workflow solution, in 2007.

EVO: A New Era Of Media Storage

EVO stands as an unparalleled, high-performance data storage system that simplifies media storage and workflow management. Rapidly gaining worldwide acclaim, EVO systems have been integrated into leading creative institutions in more than 80 countries. From award-winning production studios, VFX wizards, live event crews, YouTube sensations, broadcasters, sports leagues, houses of worship, educational institutions, corporations, governments, and beyond, EVO has become the cornerstone of creative media production all around the world. Here’s what some of these customers have to say.

As the premiere shared storage workflow solution for video and audio production teams, EVO features built-in workflow tools like the EVO Suite, ShareBrowser MAM integrations for various video editing software applications, new form factors, expandable capacity, customizable connectivity, cloud functionality, and so much more. In the past two years, the EVO workflow won three Product of the Year Awards in Cloud Computing, Storage, and Remote Production, adding to its credit as a leading innovation for creative media production.

Even today, EVO stands as SNS’s most sought-after solution, and we continue to enhance the EVO product line with fresh features and workflow tools to improve content creation in the studio, at home, and in the cloud. In 2023, we launched EVO Cloud and MOD—two incredible new ways to elevate creative workflow. EVO Cloud is the complete and comprehensive cloud workflow that enables content creation from anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, MOD is a travel-friendly edit server and cloud edge device that lets you bring your studio with you, wherever you go.  These solutions underscore SNS’s unwavering commitment to empowering editors whether they work in the studio, in the cloud, or the realms in between.

Building A Legacy

For the past quarter-century, our mission has always been to help media teams of all sizes succeed, by enabling them to affordably collaborate and easily store, organize, and share huge amounts of data. 

Studio Network Solutions is still operated by our original founders, and we remain committed to that mission as much as we did on the day we launched back in 1998. 

In the coming 25 years, SNS will continue to innovate shared storage hardware and software solutions for creative teams. Expect more breakthroughs, expansions, and accolades for our innovations in on-premise and cloud storage purpose-built for professional media production teams. Because that’s what we do.

History Still In The Making

Take a closer look at some of SNS’s most formative years in the timeline below.

Join the celebration and share your favorite SNS memories from the past 25 years with us at @snstweets.