A little under ten years ago, Warner Bros. Belgium came knocking on the door of GoCreate founder Dietrich, asking him to reconfigure their network after they’d bought a brand-new post-production installation. This ‘one-time collaboration’ quickly grew into a strong partnership. Today, Warner Bros. Belgium still turns to GoCreate for advice, as well as for production storage. Warner Bros. Belgium. Given that the entertainment company relies on 900 terabytes of storage in our country alone, the importance of the role we play in that respect is hard to overestimate. Talle Leyssens, Chief Technology at Warner Bros. Belgium, appreciates the fact that he and his team can rely on GoCreate at all times.
Talle Leyssens: “It all began with Dietrich configuring our switches after we’d ordered a new post-production installation. We got along very well
and he gradually started doing more and more jobs for us. After a while, Dietrich spent one or two days a week at Warner Brothers. He really became a part of the team.” It was, for instance, all hands on deck for both parties when Eyeworks joined Warner Bros. in 2014 and the security requirements increased.
GoCreate was responsible for building and securing the entire network for Warner Bros. Belgium. This project was preceded by an extensive preparatory exercise, for which the Trusted Partner Network or TPN served as a guiding principle. The Motion Picture Association created this standard in 2018 to protect the security of all movie and video companies.
Today, GoCreate still helps out when Warner Bros. Belgium wants to implement new processes. We provide technical support, while the Warner Brothers team takes care of the legal side of things. More specifically, we eliminate critical sensitivities, we keep servers and laptops secure, and we take care of password policies. In other words: we cover every security aspect, even when Warner Bros. teams up with other suppliers.
In addition, GoCreate and Warner Bros. joined forces in the search for a new production storage solution. Talle: “I was looking for a more secure system than the one we were using at the time, and that’s how we ended up selecting Dell Isilon. There are currently not many partners who are able to integrate this type of production server, and I only had confidence in GoCreate. They have acquired an expertise that is unrivaled in the industry.”
The importance of GoCreate as a partner for production storage is hard to overestimate. Talle: “Our server currently stores five movies and six tv series, and millions worth of rushes. If anything were to happen to that content, it would cost us a lot of money. We need constant uptime, and GoCreate makes sure we have it. The team installs patches at night, without me having to worry about that.”
After all these years, GoCreate is still also fulfilling an important consulting role for Talle and his team. We ensured a seamless Office 365 migration, and weigh in on discussions about complex IT questions from the American headquarters. We always speak on behalf of Warner Bros. in those situations, and advise them on the specifications they have to include, among other things. “All of this makes GoCreate a unique sparring partner,” Talle feels. In addition, Warner Bros. Hollywood is increasingly insisting on a policy of centralisation. GoCreate participates in meetings to make sure the IT aspect of that process runs smoothly, and to act as a sounding board for Warner Bros. Belgium.
Talle appreciates that GoCreate is in touch with the needs of the business. “There are not many IT integrators who truly get what broadcast is about and who know exactly what to do without us even having to explain it. Dietrich is aware of the sensitivities and challenges in our sector, because he used to work in broadcast himself. That knowledge is key,” says Talle.
In addition, the level of commitment displayed by GoCreate is unparalleled, according to Talle.. “Dietrich is genuinely concerned about how things are going. When we have a problem, other parties will perhaps send a quick e-mail, while Dietrich comes over and doesn’t rest until the issue is solved,” Talle explains. “And he doesn’t feel the need to discuss prices first, or to set up a project: he just gets to work, because he understands how important our systems are to us. That kind of involvement is very special.”
The conclusion? “I’m really pleased with the services that GoCreate has been providing for nearly a decade now,” Talle says.