Webb Electronics
In the competitive world of sports, coaches and players are constantly looking for new ways to gain an edge on the opponent. And some of the nation's most reputable teams are finding the effective use of video technology a resourceful tool in mastering their game plans. When they look for new video technologies, they look to Webb Electronics.
Webb Electronics is a Dallas-based digital video company, focuses on the development of technologies that help coaches win more games. Webb got its start in 1986 when the NFL switched from film to video. The video team for the Dallas Cowboys came to Honeywell Engineer Joel Krause for help in finding a way to provide Cowboys coaches with fast, easy control of video playback. In response to their need, Webb worked out of his garage to develop the Cowboy Remote, the original video clicker. Joel Krause then began to focus on other ways to improve the use of sports video, growing Webb Electronics into the leading source for sports video software and hardware, and forever changing the way professional, college and even high school athletic departments use video for game analysis and strategy.
Webb's offerings include computerized game analysis, digital video editors, coach's stations, dubbing devices, game time recording, video chalkboards and custom remotes. Webb's Game Analysis software and the open architecture of Webb systems allows the company to customize solutions to meet specific needs of individual coaches, teams and sports.
For Webb, it became apparent there was a need for the addition of data storage components as more and more customers asked for help in developing systems that are always accessible and that will allow them to store and access larger and larger quantities of game footage. Webb chose Chaparral Networks as its exclusives provider for storage components.
"Chaparral products give us the layers of speed and redundancy necessary for our high-performance video backup and storage solutions," said Webb Electronics Founder and President Joel Krause. "The Dallas Cowboys as well as several other of our NFL customers can be confident in knowing their video backup requirement are met with Chaparral's reliable storage components."
When the Dallas Cowboys wanted to update their video editing system, they again came to Webb for help. The team's homemade network of editing bays, connected to a group of servers had its limitations. If there was a power surge or if even one cable in the system failed, the entire system went down and data was lost, resulting in days of lag time while the system was rebooted and reconfigured. Additionally, the system did not allow coaches and players to receive practice and competitive footage in a timely manor since only one tape of footage could be downloaded into the system at a time, and it took a complete day to edit and make 10 copies of six hours of tape.
The Cowboys needed a redundant solution that would protect data and eliminate system downtime. They also wanted a system that would allow them to store and easily access stored game footage. And they wanted a system that would allow all of their coaches to have simultaneous and more immediate access to that footage.
Webb Electronics custom designed a system for the Cowboys, using its Webb 4 Windows system, supported by Chaparral's Javelin JSS122 RAID controllers for speed, redundancy and data storage and backup. The entire system is managed by Webb's Game Analysis Software, which Webb customized to meet the Cowboy's specific game tape storage and editing management needs.
Now power surges and single cable failures are problems of the past. Since the Cowboys' new video editing system is built with Chaparral's JSS122 RAID controllers for speed and redundancy, if a power surge our outage effects the system or if a drive goes down, the system can immediately restore itself. Additional speed and flexibility built into the system allows the digital download of three tapes at once. This means Cowboys coaches have access to complete practice footage the minute they leave the field. And, with tape duplication capabilities increased to 10 tapes in only two hours, the Cowboys' coaches now provide their players with practice review tapes before they go home.
Cowboys Quote
The Webb 4 Windows system provided me with an extremely flexible system at an affordable price. The multi-tasking abilities of the Webb system will increase our productivity with only minimal system hardware changes. Also, Webb 4 Windows will allow us to easily make the transition into non-linear video editing…In my opinion Webb 4 Windows and the people who design and service this system are the most knowledgeable about sports editing in the business today.