Apple Final Cut Pro 5 - Manual (Page 190)

Chapter 14 Determining Your Hard Disk Storage Options 189
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Storage Area Networks (SAN)
A storage area network (SAN) consists of one or more disk arrays that are made
available to multiple computer systems simultaneously. Software, such as Apple Xsan,
allows an administrator to control SAN access privileges for each editing system. For
example, a capturing edit station may have read/write access to the SAN, while an
assistant editor station may only have read access to media files for a particular project.
Broadcast and postproduction facilities can use a SAN to share a single set of media
files with among multiple editing systems.