Centralized Storage Caching: CACHEfx Scalable Caching Appliances From Gear6 Deployed At Sony Pictures Imageworks To Accelerate Image Rendering Applications

Gear6, accelerating storage for real time application performance, recently announced that Sony Pictures Imageworks is deploying its CACHEfx scalable caching appliances to dramatically accelerate image rendering for digital film production. Imageworks selected the Gear6 centralized caching solution because it delivers I/O response times under one half of a millisecond for applications running on thousands of processors. The Gear6 solution also easily fits into Imageworks' existing environment, reducing the need for data replication while simplifying storage tiers. This enhances the flexibility and manageability of Imageworks' storage infrastructure.

"The real time data access capabilities of the CACHEfx appliance ensure we can maintain optimal application performance as we scale our processing render farm," says Nick Bali, systems research and development, Sony Pictures Imageworks. "In the past, we faced challenges keeping I/O performance in balance with our compute power. Gear6 has helped us address this performance gap."

Sony Pictures Imageworks is an Academy Award-winning, state-of-the-art digital production studio dedicated to the art of visual effects production and character animation. Recent feature films from the studio include the summer blockbusters Spider-Man 3 and Surf's Up. The company has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with Oscars for its work on Spider-Man 2 and the CG animated short film The ChubbChubbs!, as well as nominations for Superman Returns, Monster House, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Spider-Man, Hollow Man, Stuart Little and Starship Troopers.

Digital effects and animated film production require rapid processing of terabytes of data to create the highest quality visual effects. An efficient production process is critical in meeting the release deadline with the highest quality film, maximizing production and marketing investment. To meet its business goals, Imageworks needed a solution to support a strategic rendering application scaling across thousands of processors. Rendering applications involve millions of random I/O Operations per Second (IOPS) that can generate a heavy workload for traditional disk-based storage systems. As a result, the company evaluated ways to accelerate I/O access performance in order to scale efficiently.

Imageworks selected centralized storage caching from Gear6 to address IOPS and low latency needs. CACHEfx appliances attach to the network, centralize cache resources in a coherent pool of shared memory, and scale to terabyte levels. Because the appliance serves data to applications from memory with very high throughput and extremely low latency, performance improves significantly over stand alone disk-based solutions. By delivering caching as a shared network service, data can be accessed simultaneously by thousands of clients with no modifications to existing applications, storage systems, or management software.

"The CACHEfx appliance was very simple to deploy and we quickly saw performance jump through the roof," stated Bali. "Once the performance bottleneck was removed, we simplified our overall configuration by placing our data in a single storage tier. This eliminated the need for replicated data which provides significant cost, resource, and management savings."

Deploying Gear6 is non-disruptive to Imageworks' production process. CACHEfx appliances transparently complement existing infrastructure, and do not require any changes to applications or storage and server hardware. This is a major advantage for the company's creative staff, allowing for increased productivity. At the same time, they preserved their existing investment in network attached storage. The built in workload profiling capabilities of the Gear6 Reflex OS software also provided Imageworks with detailed information on application I/O patterns that were impossible to identify previously. This deep visibility enables further performance optimization for Imageworks' complete digital production solution.

"Trends in the animation and digital effects industry are widely viewed as a key barometer for technologies set for broad industry impact," said Tom Shea, CEO Gear6. "The success of Imageworks and other studios where centralized storage caching has been deployed showcases how other industries with demanding service level requirements and a need for improved I/O performance can benefit from our solutions."

About Gear6
Gear6 delivers the industry's first centralized storage caching solutions that close the widening performance gap between increasingly powerful servers and lagging mechanical storage devices. By transparently delivering scalable, real time data access, Gear6 eliminates productivity-killing I/O bottlenecks and delivers guaranteed transaction response times optimized for time-sensitive Fortune 1000 enterprises. The company's CACHEfx appliances accelerate business critical applications, protect against peak load disruptions and maximize quality of service levels.

For more information call 877-GEAR-SIX (432-7749), email contact2@gear6.com or visit www.gear6.com

SOURCE: Gear6