Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 8, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
To record HD footage as well as 35,000 photos and 34 live tracks from its concerts on the “Somewhere Back in Time” tour, legendary rock band Iron Maiden is currently using eleven Sonnet Fusion F2 RAID storage systems. Their minimal dimensions (1.8 x 14.9 x 15.7 cm) and independent power supply, operating solely through the FireWire 400 port, mean they can be used anywhere at any time. Iron Maiden is taking advantage of this: for the first time, the musicians are reviewing and editing each day’s footage aboard an aircraft above the clouds, on a beach in Puerto Rico or in the middle of the Andes, saving valuable time in their tight touring schedule.
Fusion F2 offers speed, reliability and convenience for on-location video editing and use in remote places where mains power is unavailable. Two side-by-side 2.5-inch hard drives fit inside the robust, shock-resistant aluminium enclosure, which is as tall as two CD cases stacked on top of one another. Data is transferred through two eSATA connections. On the Iron Maiden tour, a Sonnet Tempo SATA ExpressCard/34 provides the interface.
The Iron Maiden crew also benefits from using the Sonnet storage systems. On the way to the next concert venue, crew members can save valuable time by reviewing how the lights and cameras were positioned on the previous stages. This prevents valuable time from being lost during setup.
Pricing
The Fusion F2 used by Iron Maiden (FUS-F2-640M5) is available at a recommended retail price of EUR 550 including VAT. Since July 2008, Sonnet has also offered the Fusion F2 in a 1 TB version (FUS-F21000M5) at a recommended retail price of EUR 770 including VAT. The recommended Tempo SATA ExpressCard/34 interface card (TSATAIIE342P) has a recommended retail price of EUR 80 including VAT.
