I recently spoke with Divyesh Lavingia, IT Director with Bridge Studios, a full-service motion picture and television production facility in Burnaby, British Columbia. We discussed how utilizing Cisco Solutions is helping Bridge Studios meet day-to-day production needs and ensure quality. Check out our conversation below and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Rod Scotland: Tell us a little bit about Bridge Studios. How many employees does the studio have?
Div Lavingia: Since 1987, Bridge Studios has hosted over 100 productions, we’re home to one of North America’s largest effects stage, and we have seven sound stages totaling over 135,000 sq. ft. We have another 40,000 sq. ft. of production offices and 35,000 sq. ft. of workshop facilities on a 15 acre site. We’re 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver and at the studio we have around 400 users with a support staff of 5.
Rod: Can you name a few of the Cisco technologies you’ve incorporated into the studio?
Div: Cisco Network, Voice, Video, Wireless, Access Control (ACS), Security, Nexus and UCS Servers, all of these solutions have helped us modernize the entire facility and also enable us to build a new 18,000 sq. ft sound stage and 3000sq. ft of office/support space.. With Cisco technology, we are able to meet our customers’ needs better than before and provide outstanding production services.
Rod: How is Bridge Studios utilizing these solutions?
Div: We faced the challenges of competition across North America and increased demand by customers for technology and special effects driven production support. Our solution was to evolve the way our company does business in order to remain competitive and provide customers the highest quality services to support their technology needs.
When a production arrives at Bridge Studios, they have immediate requirements for voice, data and wireless delivered with reliable technology and outstanding service. Productions can start with as little as 2 individuals and increase to 100+ within days. This sudden increase in demand along with the need to provision services quickly and customized to each customer’s needs is crucial.
We started by completely re-designing our voice, video, data and wireless infrastructure utilizing Cisco technologies. By doing so we are now able to provide differentiated services to each production group while provisioning and delivering voice, video and data services to them in a fraction of the time it took in the past.
Rod: How have these solutions helped production at the studios?
Div: Cisco has allowed Bridge Studios to be more competitive while providing outstanding services and technology to customers in a close-knit, feicy competitive industry. We have had record growth years since implementing the technology, improved our efficency and enabled film/television productions here at the studio to collaborate globally with Hollywood and locations abroad.
Rod: Do you plan to showcase your new sound stage?
Div: Absolutely, Bridge Studios is hosting a grand-opening ceremony for our new sound stage in June. We’ll have on-hand local politicians, business people, representatives of the Hollywood film industry, and local insiders.
Rod: Thanks for you time Div.
Div: My pleasure!
Cisco remains committed to Canada’s mid-market. Whether it is a motion picture and television production facility or a business looking to increase operational efficiencies and provide better customer service.
Do you have additional thoughts or experiences with technology solutions that your small to mid-size company has? We want to hear about it. Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. You can also learn more about Cisco’s Midsize Business Products and Solutions here.