Sunnyvale, Calif.-February 3,
2010-NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) announced today that Weta
Digital, a world leader in digital effects and animation, relied on
NetApp® storage for the production of the record-breaking film
Avatar.
Avatar was filmed with revolutionary new
motion-capture techniques, which generated more data than any other
movie in history (more than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy
combined), creating a new set of challenges never before faced by
the digital effects industry. The key data storage challenge for
Weta Digital during the production of Avatar was how to efficiently
manage the huge amounts of data generated and rendered during
production. They also needed to provide the artists with fast
access to that data when changes were made to the master texture
files. (A texture file is a picture of an object used in Avatar,
such as a leaf or a thread of hair, which is wrapped around a 3D
model during the rendering process.)
Because reliability and data management were
of paramount importance, Weta used its NetApp storage arrays to
store all of the high-value, artist-generated data. Weta had to
deal with a large number of unique data hosts, a read-heavy
workload, and very high numbers of medium-sized files. Weta worked
with NetApp and Fujitsu New Zealand to develop a scalable storage
solution, which reduced the amount of manual data management
required in the process of rendering files and maximized the
price-to-performance ratio for its storage environment.
Together, NetApp and Weta devised a system
that allowed Weta to automatically balance the throughput
requirements of the renderwall (the computer system used for
real-time rendering) to provide more than 35,000 rendering cores
with the fastest possible access to frequently used texture files.
This solution was based on NetApp FlexCache® to maintain
high-speed access to the updated texture files to all users
simultaneously. By taking advantage of NetApp FlexCache systems,
Weta Digital reduced manual data movement and management by 95%,
greatly reducing pressure on technical staff and speeding
production time.
"A traditional storage approach would have
made it very difficult to manage the workload required for Avatar,"
said Paul Ryan, CTO of Weta Digital. "Having partnered with NetApp
successfully for 10 years, we were delighted they delivered an
innovative, efficient storage environment that reduced our data
management overhead costs by 95% and increased our storage
price-to-performance ratio by over 40%. Most importantly, this led
to faster rendering time and more productive artists."
Weta's complete storage solution includes a
NetApp FAS6000 series storage system with four SA600 FlexCache
cluster units running NetApp Data ONTAP® and connected to
450GB Fibre Channel drives. This is supported by two 16GB
solid-state Performance Accelerator Modules in each system, which
maximizes read performance and allows more artists to access the
same information simultaneously without the need for more expensive
disk. This system is then linked to the renderwall via two 10
Gigabit Ethernet connections so that processed artwork can be
rendered and finalized immediately.
"Our relationship with Weta is an example of
how NetApp continues to meet the market's demand for solutions that
address real business challenges and enable business
breakthroughs," said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions
and Alliances at NetApp. "Our solutions are efficient, powerful,
and smarter, and they help our customers achieve exceptional
storage results while delivering end products that can be faster
and cheaper."
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For more information about NetApp FlexCache,
visit www.netapp.com/us/products/platform-os/flexcache/.
About NetApp
NetApp creates innovative storage and data management solutions
that accelerate business breakthroughs and deliver outstanding cost
efficiency. Discover NetApp's passion for helping companies around
the world go further, faster at www.netapp.com.
NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further,
faster , Data ONTAP, and FlexCache are trademarks or registered
trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other
countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be
treated as such. The word "partner" or partnership" does not imply
a legal partnership between NetApp and any other company.
Contact:
Nathan Phillips
NetApp
(408) 822-7284
nathan.phillips@netapp.com