TechCastles Enables Remote Film Production with Splashtop
Students and editors remotely access sophisticated film industry tools and work from anywhere
Summary
TechCastles Media Services® serves as a critical enabler of the film industry in Georgia. Acting as a managed services provider (MSP), the company implements and monitors IT infrastructure for film-related school environments, film studios and post-production facilities.
Recently, a major film school located in Georgia was struggling to provide high-quality remote access to both their students and their California-based editing partners. The existing remote access solution was unreliable and impacting productivity. With the school semester and film projects already underway, the school needed TechCastles to quickly provide a rapid and robust solution to improve their remote access performance.
TechCastles implemented Splashtop, and within a matter of hours, students and editors alike gained access to the systems and tools they needed, performing remote film production at optimal levels of quality and performance.
The Challenge: Enabling High-Quality Remote Work and Learning
On the TechCastles film school campus, many students work on Macs and use highly specialized film production tools. However, beyond in-person learning, the school must also provide reliable remote access to the school’s production software and tools for three reasons:
Many of the students live far from the school, in dispersed regions of Georgia, making them full-time remote learners who perform 100% of their tasks off-campus.
The in-person students often access tools and systems remotely, especially when they work on major assignments that extend beyond the classroom.
The school collaborates with California-based editors who require remote access to the school’s post-production systems.
Shortly after the school semester began, students and faculty quickly experienced problems while working remotely with their Avid software and tools for post-production, specifically the Avid Pro Tools digital audio workstation and the Avid Media Composer software. Suddenly, students were inundating the support lines at TechCastles. “Students were telling us that the existing remote access solution was unable to sync the audio correctly with the video. And, if you cannot synch properly and quickly, the editors get mad,” explained Margaret Chu, Partner at TechCastles.
Upon further investigation, Chu discovered that the existing remote access solution could not be modified to sync the audio correctly with any of the Avid products. “You just can’t have that situation in our industry,” she stated. “Avid is the market leader, and a remote access tool must integrate seamlessly with Avid software and tools.”
TechCastles needed to find a new remote access solution fast. Moreover, the solution would have to provide simple, intuitive and robust integrations that perform well with complex software, systems and tools.
The Solution: Simple and High-Performance Remote Access
As the TechCastles team evaluated remote access solutions, they agreed that the ideal solution would have to display three proven characteristics, including:
High performance
Simple to deploy
Intuitive for users
After researching several remote access solutions, TechCastles selected Splashtop Business Access. “Splashtop offers everything for a combined learning-work environment for remote users,” said Chu.
Regarding the need for robust performance, Chu noted Splashtop’s high-speed connections and HD-quality streaming and sound. “Splashtop isn’t just fast, everything is seen and heard at the highest quality – and it’s all synchronized,” Chu said.
TechCastles found their deployment of Splashtop far simpler than the prior remote access solution. “I was able to deploy Splashtop to 150 computers in no time. I just click, drag and drop email addresses to enter people into the system,” explained Chu. “Before Splashtop, I had to manually enter each user’s name, email address, specific access and app permissions and restrictions, and then save all that information. It was painful.”
Their students find Splashtop remote access easy to use. How does Chu know that? She explains that students never express themselves when all systems work well. “But when things go bad, they let me know,” Chu said laughing. “I used to do field calls in the middle of the night due to remote access issues. Now, with Splashtop, I never get calls and can sleep through the night.”
Results: Increased Productivity and Unexpected Savings
TechCastles reports that they have had no remote access problems – for both students and editors – since implementing Splashtop. Moreover, Chu was able to deploy Splashtop on 150 standard classroom computers and 25 additional computers focused on Avid Pro Tools by the time students needed to access them.
Chu noted that TechCastles has saved valuable time and resources as a result of selecting Splashtop. “With the prior remote access solution, another team member and I had to spend two full days to get all students up and running, and that’s for every class. Splashtop made it so easy,” she stated.
Finally, TechCastles saved money by switching to Splashtop. “Oh, there are cost savings with Splashtop, for sure,” said Chu. “Whenever you can do more for customers and do it at a lower cost, you ensure a mutually beneficial relationship for the long run.”
Details
About TechCastles Media Services
TechCastles are at the intersection of collaboration, innovation and solutions. Based in Georgia, they help with IT remote services, cybersecurity, AVID and technical support.
About Splashtop Business Access
Splashtop Business Access is a high-performance remote access solution for individuals and teams. Users can control their computer and access all applications, files and data while enjoying a 4k streaming experience with minimal lag and performance of more than 40 fps. Enjoy several remote access features and productively work from home.
