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MONTREAL, February 16, 2004
– Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com), a developer and
provider of high-performance, networked storage and media management
solutions, announced today that Hollywood, California-based REZN8
(www.rezn8.com), has acquired a Sledgehammer NAS system to drive the
back end of both their two and three dimensional (2D and 3D) productions.
One of the pre-eminent design and production houses of its kind, REZN8
uses rendering clusters for both 2D and 3D, relying heavily on a distributed
facility architecture. With a 120 CPU render farm and 25 seats running
a variety of software on a Windows OS, an extremely powerful, multi-protocol
storage solution was considered essential to their growing requirements
for both reading source material as well as writing rendered results.
“We evaluated other solutions,” said Bob Cazzell, Chief
Information Officer at REZN8. “But compromises in price and performance
versus Sledgehammer quickly became evident with regard to some well-established
players in the market. The remaining alternatives were cost-prohibitive
with respect to both our immediate and long-term mandate(s). And, quite
frankly, we didn’t want to be bound to anyone’s proprietary
hardware.”
When REZN8 selected Sledgehammer NAS, the system was configured for
eventual upgrade to Sledgehammer HD!O. The planned addition of video
input and output (I/O) capabilities will further enhance shared access
and help speed 2D and 3D projects, collaboratively, through the facility.
Cazzell continued, “Our immediate needs were pretty straightforward;
namely more and faster storage, and Sledgehammer has indeed delivered
in both 2D and 3D applications. For example, our compositors can scrub
through frames faster and more easily. But greater productivity demands
are already foreseeable, so it’s good to know that eventual migration
to Sledgehammer HD!O is part of the product purchase – by design.
In hindsight, I suppose we could have spent more on a different system…
but why? Especially when Max-T could anticipate, and accommodate, the
logical next step in our infrastructure needs.”
Mike Hughes, Max-T’s VP of Business Development, remarked,
“On a performance basis, Sledgehammer was the only system REZN8
evaluated capable of handling the load thrown at it. The Sledgehammer
product line is designed with cost-effective migration in mind, so companies
like REZN8 can complement shared storage with shared access to useful
video capabilities. When upgrading our customers need only augment,
rather than replace, their original purchase.”
Sledgehammer is a networked storage solution, optimized for moving digital
content at unparalleled speeds onto or off an IP-based network. Sledgehammer
HD!O can consolidate all the storage needs of a post-production facility,
including HD material, regardless of the data sets in use. Sledgehammer
HD!O provides, via a web-based interface, real-time SD and HD resolution
video I/O capabilities. And since Sledgehammer HD!O is a true NAS device,
all networked users (Windows, UNIX, Linux, Mac, etc.) can access the
same data at the same time.
About Maximum Throughput
Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com) is a networked storage and media
management tool developer. Max-T’s storage solutions deliver SAN
level performance over TCP/IP. The company’s unique solutions provide
many times the storage bandwidth of other NAS and SAN products, using
smart software that runs on industry standard hardware. The media management
tools are integrated within the storage, delivering enriched functionality
in one versatile solution. Having pioneered the development of a Network
Attached Media Bridge to serve heterogeneous operating environments
over both data and video networks, Maximum Throughput’s products
offer unparalleled performance, capacity management, and capacity availability,
as well as having the lowest total cost-of-ownership in their class.
About REZN8
Based in Hollywood, REZN8 provides design and animation expertise for
major corporations and entertainment industry clients including CBS,
Microsoft, Intel and IMAX. REZN8 services include media packaging for
broadcasts, trailers and titles, visual effects for film and television,
commercial production, corporate branding and design, Internet design
and programming, interactive presentations and hardware and software
integration for complex video and location-based entertainment projects.
For more information about REZN8, visit www.rezn8.com.
For more information, or to book interviews,
please contact:
Giovanni Tagliamonti
Chief Executive Officer
Maximum Throughput
T: (514) 938 7323
E: gt@max-t.com
Maximum Throughput Inc.
1751 Richardson, Suite 5.204
Montreal, Quebec
CANADA H3K 1G6
T: (514) 938 7323
F: (514) 925 3378
W: www.max-t.com
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