Breaking Through Barriers 

How DataSprint is Democratising High-Speed File Transfer for Post-Production 

By Lee Otterway, Commercial Director, Dot Group 

In today’s content-rich media environment, post-production facilities face unprecedented pressure to move larger files faster than ever before. As deadlines tighten and project scopes expand, the infrastructure supporting creative workflows must evolve, particularly when it comes to file transfer technology. 

For years, high-speed, secure file transfer was a luxury available only to those with significant budgets and long-term commitments. Today, that’s changing. At Dot Group, we’re witnessing a democratisation of enterprise-grade file transfer technology through solutions like DataSprint that are making the gold standard of file movement accessible to facilities of all sizes. 

The Financial Barriers to High-Speed Transfer 

A content transfer solution can make or break a post-production workflow. The wrong choice can lead to missed deadlines, compromised security, and unpredictable costs – particularly in an industry where workloads fluctuate dramatically from month to month. 

Traditionally, post-production facilities have faced significant barriers to adopting enterprise-grade file transfer solutions: 

These barriers have created an environment where only the largest facilities can access the best technology, while others make do with consumer-grade solutions that can’t meet the demands of professional workflows. 

The DataSprint Advantage 

DataSprint, powered by IBM Aspera technology, was developed specifically to address these barriers. While the underlying technology has long been recognised as the gold standard in secure, high-speed file transfer, our approach has focused on making this technology accessible to facilities of all sizes. 

What makes DataSprint stand out is our commitment to flexibility – both in deployment and in commercial models: 

Deployment Flexibility 

DataSprint offers complete flexibility in deployment, allowing facilities to implement the solution in the way that best suits their infrastructure and workflows: 

• Cloud-based: Fully hosted in the cloud, requiring minimal setup 
• On-premises: Deployed within existing infrastructure for maximum control
• Hybrid: A combination of cloud and on-premises components for optimal flexibility

This deployment flexibility ensures that post-production facilities can implement DataSprint in the way that best aligns with their existing workflows, security requirements, and infrastructure investments. 

Commercial Flexibility 

Even more significantly, DataSprint now offers unparalleled commercial flexibility through two distinct models: 

DataSprint Private: Fixed Price, Unlimited Use 

For facilities with consistent, high-volume transfer needs, DataSprint Private offers predictable costs with unlimited transfers. With this model: 

• Unlimited data transfers: No volume-based charges 
• Unlimited users and workspaces: No additional costs as your team grows 
• Fixed monthly fee: Complete cost predictability 

DataSprint on Demand: Pay As You Go 

The newest addition to our offering – DataSprint on Demand – addresses the needs of facilities with more variable workloads. This model features: 

• Low entry cost: Accessible starting point with minimal upfront investment 
• Usage-based pricing: Pay only for what you transfer 
• No long-term commitment: Scale up or down based on project demands 
• Maximum bandwidth flexibility: Access full-speed transfers when needed 

This dual approach allows facilities to choose the model that best fits their workflow patterns and budget constraints – and even transition between models as their needs evolve. 

Real-World Impact 

The transformative impact of DataSprint is perhaps best illustrated through the experiences of facilities currently using the solution: 

Timeline Television Ltd, a leading provider of broadcast technology and services, has implemented both DataSprint models to address different aspects of their workflow. For their day-to-day operations, they rely on DataSprint Private with fixed bandwidth for predictable costs and consistent performance. When special projects arise – ike their recent work on the Euros – they temporarily deploy DataSprint on Demand to handle the surge in transfer requirements. 

As Dominic Eaves, CIO of Timeline Television Ltd, explains: “DataSprint enables Timeline to offer robust, reliable, and affordable solutions to our clients, ensuring we can meet broadcast and business-critical requirements with confidence. The system’s reliability in supporting critical transfer and sync requirements has been particularly valuable for our day-to-day operations.” 

Molinare, London’s foremost post-production company celebrating over 50 years in business, faced the challenge of exchanging large numbers of often very big files between production, partner facilities and clients worldwide. DataSprint’s 1Gb/s bandwidth implementation gave them predictable, fast delivery times and fixed costs, even as their workflows grew increasingly complex. 

“We are continuously sending and receiving large amounts of data,” notes Darren Woolfson, Director of Technology and Visual Services at Molinare. “The data needs to be sent quickly and securely, and we need to be working with a solutions partner that can offer a highly reliable solution while remaining cost effective. DataSprint offered what we needed, with the features that we and our clients need.” 

Pip Studios, the UK’s first purpose-built immersive audio post facility, uses DataSprint to handle the secure transfer of original content from Hollywood studios and deliver localised audio in up to 30 languages worldwide. With DataSprint’s 500Mb/s throughput, they can balance high throughput loads with inevitable last-minute deadlines. 

“We built our facilities to the highest specifications, using the best industry suppliers,” says Mark Sheffield, Co-founder and Managing Director of Pip Studios. “Dot Group fits into that ethos: they understood our requirements and supported us to quickly set up our workflows. They provided a system that provides 500 Mb/s throughput which enables us to balance our high throughput loads with the inevitable last-minute deadlines.” 

Beyond Speed: The Complete Solution 

While speed and accessibility are central to DataSprint’s appeal, the solution delivers a comprehensive set of features that post-production facilities require: 

• Enterprise-grade security: AES-256 encryption for data both in transit and at rest 
• Complete visibility: Console provides detailed tracking of all transfers 
• Automation capabilities: Streamline repetitive transfer tasks 
• Sync functionality: Keep folders synchronized across multiple locations 
• Direct object storage integration: Upload directly to cloud storage 

These capabilities ensure that facilities don’t have to compromise on functionality when choosing a more accessible solution. 

The Future of File Transfer in Post-Production 

As we look to the future, the trend towards more flexible, accessible file transfer solutions will only accelerate. The post-production industry is evolving rapidly, with more distributed teams, variable project loads, and increasingly complex workflows. 

The facilities that will thrive in this environment will be those with the agility to scale their infrastructure – including file transfer capabilities – up and down based on current needs. Solutions like DataSprint on Demand are designed specifically to enable this agility, removing the barriers that have traditionally prevented facilities from accessing enterprise-grade technology. 

By democratising access to high-speed, secure file transfer, we’re enabling a more level playing field where facilities of all sizes can compete based on their creative talents rather than their technological resources. 

Whether you’re managing a large post-production facility with consistent high-volume transfer needs or a boutique studio with variable workloads, today’s file transfer solutions should adapt to your needs – not the other way around. DataSprint’s flexible approach ensures that the gold standard of file transfer technology is now within reach for the entire post-production community. 

Lee Otterway is Managing Director at Dot Group, the leading European experts in IBM Aspera technology and data management solutions for the media and entertainment industry.