Oscar-winning Weta Digital Ltd. (THE WATER HORSE, AVATAR), has implemented BlueArc Corp.s Titan 2000 storage system for use in the intensive process of visual effects development.
Based in New Zealand, Wetas technology infrastructure presents some of the biggest challenges for high performance storage with thousands of render nodes acting in concert to produce some of the most dramatic vfx in the industry. Owning one of the world's top supercomputers, Weta required storage that could keep up with the information generated by its massive server and render farm.
"Titan 2000 delivered consistent top-line performance during testing, and gives us the capacity we need as films increase in complexity and higher resolutions become the standard," said Milton Ngan, cto of Weta Digital. "Since integrating BlueArc into our systems, we've found that the system performed beyond our expectations. Titan is able to process and store the visual effects data from our more than 4,000 processors allowing for an accelerated workflow for our artists, removal of major bottlenecks, simplified management and reduced complexity and cost."
Weta's environment contains both large and small files, and unpredictable combinations of sequential and random access, producing one of the most demanding throughput and IO intensive storage environments in existence. To test transaction level performance, Weta tested Titan with hundreds of thousands of requests and found that the system was able to consistently sustain over 230,000 NFS requests per second. The ability to sustain this level of throughput even as more render nodes were added was an important part of Weta's buying decision. In addition to delivering exceptional performance, Weta also selected BlueArc because of the ease of use and management that the company's intensive workflow requires.
"We are thrilled to add Weta Digital to our rapidly expanding roster of entertainment customers worldwide," said Steve Daheb, vp, marketing and business development at BlueArc. "Network storage without compromise is vastly important in content creation for visual effects firms, which is why so many companies have turned to BlueArc to provide them with the storage they need to create stunning visual effects on time and under budget."
BlueArc (www.bluearc.com) is a world leader in network storage innovation. BlueArc's Titan storage system family delivers unparalleled performance, scalability and simplicity, enabling customers to accelerate their digital world. Utilizing a unique patented architecture, Titan customers can achieve tasks impossible with alternative systems, implementing tomorrow's solutions today. The company's headquarters are in San Jose, California, with European operations based in Bracknell, England.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
