Is FCS Right Tool for this job?

Question

Newbie, here so please, bear with me.
Where I work, our expanding video production demands have finally overwhelmed our stack o' external drives storage and organization "system."
What we need is the following:
1) A single, organized data store for projects and "B" roll.
2) The ability to search that store.
3) The ability to download "B" roll and other video pieces for inclusion in new projects.
4) The ability to add new projects and "B" roll.
Right now, our network won't support direct editing of video from the server, so the plan would be to use FCS to locate and preview videos, and then to download what's needed to the local machines for use in projects.
We use Final Cut Studio and iMovie in my department, another department uses Avid (at the moment).
We have maybe a dozen people who would be browsing the video store, and maybe 4 who would be downloading and uploading items back and forth.
So, would Final Cut Server do what we need it to do? And given that our network will continue to be a bottleneck for the foreseeable future, could we get by for a year or two with a Mac Mini Server talking to a networked file store, or a DroboPro or Firewire RAID?
Thanks in advance for your advice. I'm trying to build a case to take to my bosses, and with the budgetary straightjacket we're in, cheap and good enough is more salable than expensive and perfect.

Answer 1

Final Cut Server will be running on Leopard Server, not the desktop Leopard OS. "Server" helps manage clients on a network. AFP is part of that set up, and not difficult at all.
The main reason to not use a Mac Mini, is the RAM requirements of FCSvr and a file server managing many clients. A Mini's CPU power is fine. Redundant power supplies in an XServe will only prove useful in an Enterprise level network. The power supplies rarely go out on computers. But you do have the space for the RAM upgrades you'll need, as I stated before.
If you're running Ethernet, you'll be editing Pro Res proxies locally, and the full res files linking back automatically when you check the FCP project back in. OR you can have FCSvr download the full res files to your local workstation to edit with, but be aware that with Ethernet, this can be, depending on project duration and amount of media, a very LONG, LONG, LONG process.
If you can afford Fibre cards and some prefabed cables, go for it. You don't need XSAN to run Fibre on a small network.