Sony Imageworks Scales Out Visual Effects Pipeline With Isilon

Isilon Systems, Inc. announced that Sony Imageworks, the visual effects (VFX) company behind Alice in Wonderland and the Spider-Man trilogy, has deployed Isilon scale-out storage to help power its leading-edge post-production pipeline.

Using Isilon’s X-Series, Imageworks has consolidated a wide range of file-based applications onto a single file system, simplifying data management and accelerating productivity. With Isilon scale-out storage, featuring its OneFS operating system, Imageworks can easily align storage performance and capacity with workflow demand, increasing IT efficiency.  

"We’re all about creating visually stunning imagery," said Nicholas Bali, senior software engineer, Sony Pictures Imageworks. "To do so, we need every artist focused on the job at hand, not on storage management. With Isilon, we can do just that, because it’s simple to manage and easy to scale. Now we can generate more iterations in the same amount of time and turn out better imagery, which leads to a better product."

Leveraging its large Linux compute cluster and a suite of leading third-party post-production applications as well as its own proprietary software, Imageworks provides award-winning VFX and animation for Hollywood blockbusters, including 2012, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and this year’s top box-office success, Alice in Wonderland.

Imageworks will use the Isilon 36000X to unify its content streaming, particle simulation and animation applications, as well as its NFS-based virtual servers, onto a single, shared pool of storage, which will reduce storage management and operating costs. By combining Isilon’s SmartQuotas data management application with the 36000X, Imageworks can easily provision its Isilon scale-out storage across different user groups and applications, improving system utilization and application performance for both its VFX pipeline and virtual servers. Imageworks is also planning to use Isilon’s SyncIQ software application to replicate data between its primary 36000X and multiple offsite 36000X clusters that serve as both disaster recovery targets, as well as general purpose storage for animation storyboards, layouts and other file-based data.

"Sony Imageworks continues to set the pace for innovative VFX in both live-action and animated movies," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon. "Imageworks’ use of Isilon scale-out storage to consolidate applications and streamline the flow of content through its VFX pipeline is further proof of Isilon’s ability to simplify management and accelerate time-to-market for data-intensive businesses, while reducing both capital and operating costs."