SUCCESS STORY FRAMESTORE | PROBLEM SOLVED Media and Framestore transformed its integrated advertising infrastructure Entertainment and can now bid on and deliver larger projects with confidence.

Framestore Brings Extraordinary Ideas to Life World-renowned (VFX) company Framestore is changing the way we see and explore our world, through movies, advertising, and immersive digital experiences. From offices around the world, Framestore’s VFX artists work night and day to transport us to new places and bring our favorite characters to life. Framestore partnered with Pixit Media and NetApp to In partnership with: empower its global integrated advertising team with higher performance and nonstop access to data. pixitmedia

270K  NETAPP.COM/CONTACT IOPS for processing and rendering

BMW ‘Eyes on Gigi’ (KBS, Tool of North America, Framestore). “In VR, we are seeing more requirements for complicated and resource-hungry projects. With the PixStor and NetApp solution in place, Framestore is positioned to bid on and deliver large projects with confidence.” Beren Lewis Global Head of Technology, Integrated Advertising, Framestore

Since its founding in 1986, To meet demand for fast, reliable we have partners that really Framestore has had a singular data access throughout the understand our workflow and mission: Use technology to create creative process, Framestore’s applications. Pixit guarantees the most extraordinary images integrated advertising division performance to the edit stations possible. Over the last 30 years, chose Pixit Media’s PixStor in a model that we can easily the Oscar-, Emmy-, and British software-defined scale-out reproduce globally.” Academy Award–winning storage solution running on creative studio has left its mark NetApp E-Series systems. With PixStor running on E-Series on countless blockbusters, this solution in place, Framestore provides the high performance including Harry Potter, Gravity, and can ensure performance and Framestore needs so that its VFX, Guardians of the Galaxy. consistency across all five finishing, and rendering workloads sites; can take a cost-effective, can all run full-out with no negative Framestore’s integrated advertising simplified approach to disaster effect on the finishing editors’ or division is also behind iconic ad recovery; and has a modular graphic artists’ user experience. campaigns for global brands such infrastructure to support multiple This capability is revolutionary in an as Guinness, Coke, AT&T, BMW, workflows and future expansion. industry that traditionally partitions and Geico. Recently, Framestore off these three workloads to keep has also leveraged its expertise to “We often need to adapt quickly to artists from grinding to a halt. By create eye-popping content for accommodate multiple workflows consolidating all three workloads virtual reality (VR) experiences and like stereoscopic 4K and VR,” onto a single IT infrastructure, end- theme-park rides. says Beren Lewis, Global Head of to-end production of projects is Technology, Integrated Advertising streamlined, reducing both time to Framestore’s reputation as one of at Framestore. “With PixStor and completion and operational costs. the world’s foremost VFX houses NetApp, we get exactly the right And a hidden, but not insignificant, has brought in a growing stream of balance of everything we need— benefit is that both IT acquisition high-profile, super-data-intensive the ability to control hardware and maintenance costs are reduced. finishing and VFX projects. costs, and the reassurance that Geico ‘Team up’ (The Martin Agency, Marvel Studios, Framestore).

With PixStor running on E-Series, of content. “The PixStor and Backups to remote colocation Framestore can now confidently NetApp system supported video sites sync every two hours without scale to take on multiple data- preprocessing—decompression, compromising artist, rendering, or intensive, high-resolution projects warping, wrapping, and stitching— finishing workloads, providing a at the same time. Recently, the of multiple camera angles into cost-effective, simplified approach studio spent several months 360-degree volumetric images for to disaster recovery. Most important, with 60 VFX artists creating 4K, real-time VR playback,” adds Bees. Framestore now has a fast, tightly 60-frame-per-second content integrated platform to support its for a major theme-park ride. “In During the heaviest days of ambitious expansion plans. the middle of this production,” processing, the PixStor solution explains David Bees, lead systems was running at 270,000 IOPS, “In VR, we are seeing more engineer at Framestore in Los which was at least several times requirements for complicated Angeles, “Framestore took on a what Framestore’s previous and resource-hungry projects,” VR project that alone would infrastructure would have says Lewis. “With the PixStor have meant trouble for our been able to handle in a single and NetApp solution in place, previous storage infrastructure.” namespace. Meanwhile, the Framestore is positioned to bid on development workflow for the and deliver larger projects The project involved 20TB of theme-park ride proceeded, with confidence.” source material, which when unhindered by all the decompressed resulted in 70TB VR preprocessing. SOLUTION COMPONENTS

NETAPP PRODUCTS

E-Series E5660 storage systems

PIXIT MEDIA PRODUCTS

PixStor data-aware software- defined storage

Gatorade ‘Sports Fuel’ (TBWA\Chiat\Day, Framestore).

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solutionconnection.netapp.com/pixstor

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