45Drives' 45Studio Launches Beta for On-Premise Video Collaboration Platform

Open-source storage leader 45Drives announced the beta launch of a remote collaboration platform using on-premise storage for video professionals, developed by its creative technology division, 45Studio. Currently in active beta testing, this new platform serves as a powerful, self-hosted alternative to Frame.io and other cloud-based collaboration tools, designed to give post-production teams a faster, more secure, and more cost-effective way to work together on video projects.

Through this beta program, 45Drives is inviting professional editors, colorists, and production teams to test the platform in real-world workflows and provide feedback that will directly guide product development. Dr. Doug Milburn, President of 45Drives, emphasized the company's collaborative approach, stating that working hand-in-hand with professionals ensures the platform evolves into something truly built for them, not just for the market.

The platform addresses significant pain points that modern production teams face with proprietary cloud collaboration platforms. These challenges include cloud dependency that introduces latency, long upload times, and bandwidth challenges; security risks from third-party exposure that puts mission-critical creative content in the hands of external parties; cost scalability issues where pricing tends to scale steeply with storage, usage, and sharing activity; and pay-per-share limitations that require costly higher-tier plans or paid seats when inviting clients or collaborators.

This yet-to-be-named platform, built by 45Studio, takes a fundamentally different approach by being on-premise, allowing teams to collaborate directly over their own infrastructure. This delivers the same seamless review and approval experience professionals expect, but without the delays, ongoing fees, or data control tradeoffs associated with cloud-based solutions. The implications for the video production industry are substantial, potentially shifting how teams approach remote collaboration while maintaining complete control over their sensitive content and reducing operational costs.

45Drives and 45Studio are partnering with industry expert Nicholas Wiczynski, Founder of NGW Post, an award-winning boutique post production company specializing in offline editing, re-recording mixing, color grading, and network delivery. Wiczynski is working directly with the 45Studio team to ensure the platform fits the real-world workflows of professional editors and post facilities. He noted that in post-production, professionals live and die by speed, collaboration, and reliability, and this platform is shaping up to solve real pain points that every professional editor knows too well.

The beta launch exemplifies 45Drives' open, community-driven philosophy that has characterized their approach across enterprise storage, homelabs, and now media production workflows. Professionals interested in joining the beta program and helping shape the future of video collaboration can sign up at https://45drivesstudio.com/beta. This development represents a significant shift in how video professionals might approach remote collaboration, offering greater control over data security and potentially reducing long-term operational costs while maintaining the collaborative efficiency required in modern production environments.