Written by Ludovic Francois, Conrado Oliveira, and Adithya Bodi
Since its launch in April 2021, Amazon Nimble Studio (now AWS Studio in the Cloud) has enabled creative studios to migrate their video editing, visual effects, animation, and interactive content workflows to the cloud.
Migrating a production workflow to Amazon Nimble studio can undoubtedly be rewarding, but it’s not without its challenges. For many Nimble Studio implementations, an unreliable internet connection at the artist’s location often becomes a single point of failure. Despite being very light on CPU and other hardware requirements, Nimble Studio does require a dependable internet connection to ensure adequate performance. High latencies or low throughput not only limit artist job performance but can also reduce overall productivity.
When artists complain about slow performance, it sometimes can be challenging to determine whether the issue is with the artist’s internet connection, the artist’s workstation hardware, or Nimble Studio itself. To address this challenge, The TrackIt team has built the Nimble Studio Latency Watcher that proactively monitors latencies experienced by users.
Contents
The TrackIt Latency Watcher Add-On Workflow
To enable the Latency Watcher application, it needs to be installed on the user’s local machine.
Application Launch Window
When launching the application for the first time, a user is required to fill in three fields of information (Company Name, Username, and Nimble Studio Region) for the initial configuration.
Initial Configuration
Once the initial configuration is saved, the user can proceed to use Nimble Studio normally without any additional operations required. The Latency Watcher application works behind the scenes and tracks the latency between the artist’s local workstation and their Nimble Studio.
The Latency Watcher monitors and collects the latency data and uploads it to a time-series database called Amazon Timestream. This allows users to visualize the time-series data via a Grafana dashboard called the ‘Nimble Latency Dashboard.
The screenshot below is a dashboard displaying the latency data for an artist using Nimble Studio with Adobe Premiere.
Nimble Latency Dashboard
The Nimble Latency Dashboard can also be used to identify periods of activity and inactivity. As seen in the screenshot below, the dashboard assists in the identification of periods when the workstation was used by the artist.
Identifying Periods of Activity and Inactivity
Pinpointing the Issue
When artists complain about slow performance, the Nimble Studio Latency Watcher enables IT or DevOps engineers to quickly assess the potential causes of the issue.
Alerts
Alerts can be configured to trigger based on specific rules, such as latency values beyond a specific threshold. Under its MSP (Managed Service Provider) program, TrackIt proactively monitors latency performance and sends alerts to designated users when instances of high latency are detected.
Alerts
Conclusion
Amazon Nimble Studio provides a relatively easy path for implementing a creative content studio in the cloud. Companies that choose to implement Nimble Studio on their own, however, might not have the time or expertise to proactively monitor and manage their studio to the extent they could have enjoyed by working with an AWS-recognized and experienced partner like TrackIt.
For additional information on The Nimble Studio Latency Watcher and other value-added services available for the creative community, please feel free to reach out to TrackIt directly.
About TrackIt
TrackIt is an international AWS cloud consulting, systems integration, and software development firm headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA.
We have built our reputation on helping media companies architect and implement cost-effective, reliable, and scalable Media & Entertainment workflows in the cloud. These include streaming and on-demand video solutions, media asset management, and archiving, incorporating the latest AI technology to build bespoke media solutions tailored to customer requirements.
Cloud-native software development is at the foundation of what we do. We specialize in Application Modernization, Containerization, Infrastructure as Code and event-driven serverless architectures by leveraging the latest AWS services. Along with our Managed Services offerings which provide 24/7 cloud infrastructure maintenance and support, we are able to provide complete solutions for the media industry.
About Ludovic François
Ludovic François founded TrackIt, a full-service cloud engineering and consulting company in 2014 and serves as its CEO & CTO. He has over 20 years of experience with start-up, cloud, storage, and M&E businesses.
Prior to founding TrackIt, Ludo has held key roles at Thales Airborne Systems, DataDirect Networks, and Nexsan. Ludovic is passionate about system administration, automation, education, and sailing.
About Adithya Bodi
Having spent over 6 years as a consultant working with companies spanning a broad variety of tech niches, Adithya has gained deep expertise in planning and executing content marketing and lead generation strategies. Adithya has been working with TrackIt since 2018 and has taken on a full-time position to assist the company in its growth while deepening his knowledge and expertise in AWS.
Adithya has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics and is an AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate. He is also an avid calisthenics practitioner, a stock market enthusiast, and a recreational painter.