Good Egg Studio uses NBN to set itself up for a cracking success story in Riverstone
LABOR leader Bill Shorten only made one stop in the Greenway electorate during the election campaign and it was in Riverstone where Good Egg Studio was graced with his presence.
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LABOR leader Bill Shorten only made one stop in the Greenway electorate during the election campaign and it was in Riverstone where Good Egg Studio was graced with his presence.
But why Good Egg Studio? “In part it’s because we’re on the full NBN,” business owner Warren Kirby said.
“We have the full fibre to the premises model and it works so well we can run our business from here without any problem.”
Riverstone’s NBN follows the original blueprint of full fibre to the premises rather than the current incarnation which sees the last few metres bridged by older and slower-performing copper wire.
Mr Warren and his business partner Paul Pearson operate Egg Studio — Sydney’s last remaining purpose-built photographic studio capable of taking anything up to a full-size truck — and Autodeadline, a leading industry website for motoring journalists. Their businesses rely on the ability to send large data files.
“We used to have an office in Baulkham Hills but the area was being redeveloped so we had to look for new premises.”
Mr Kirby’s family has deep roots in Riverstone going back generations so when he heard back in 2012 that NBN was coming he decided to look at his hometown with new eyes.
“We did look first of all at Baulkham Hills and Norwest business park but then we found for the same cost as a one room office there, we could get the full warehouse and offices we have here, along with a large car parking area. And then the NBN was the final piece of the jigsaw.”
It turns out to have been a wise decision. The smoothly sculpted and perfectly white space at Egg Studio is so large it’s possible to get a truck inside and this has meant plenty of advertising clients from the automotive industry, as well as becoming a home for TV commercials for the likes of Kmart.
“At the time we were looking for new premises we were starting to see more and more demand for our content, so we needed good broadband.
“We looked into it and we asked the local council and other local politicians but the only person who came back to us was Michelle Rowland (Greenway Labour MP). She responded and helped us and put us in touch with the right people and she helped us with grants too — she was very helpful, so when we officially opened we got her to come along and cut the ribbon.
“For us, NBN is phenomenal. The more I have to deal with it, the better I like it. It’s not unusual to have up to 30 people on the studio floor and they are using Twitter and Facebook and Snapchat and all those other things, as well as sending content to other people who could be in offices anywhere. All those other things require good internet.”
Mr Warren makes the point that photographers who come to photograph cars for leading advertising agencies often want to send the pictures they take there and then in high resolution so their art departments and retouchers can work on them.
“It takes around 15 seconds for a raw file to go away and be in the hands of retouchers anywhere in the world. They might look at the image and say, give us a bit more light on the front, or on the car’s A-pillar.
“Video crews can send their raw film to art departments who look at them and then send proofs back and all this can happen on the floor right here.”
Mr Warren says those who don’t see the value of the full-blown NBN simply don’t understand business today.
“My business partner Paul lives in Beacon Hill where he produces Autodeadline. If he has a car launch video from, say, Jaguar to upload on normal ADSL broadband it will take him five to six hours. He doesn’t do that, he drives over here and it uploads in six minutes. Six minutes. That’s the difference.
“From a business perspective, if you think the only benefit of a high speed broadband is how many videos you can watch or download you just don’t understand business today.
“As a society we are at the beginning of a wave where location is not important, location is becoming irrelevant.
“With NBN superfast data speeds I could design a T-shirt here, get it made in Bangladesh and sell it globally without leaving the building.
“That’s why places like Riverstone have a future, as long as they have to have the technology.”
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