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Sledgehammer
Bridges the Video–Data Divide
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MONTREAL, March 30, 2004 – Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com), a developer and provider of high-performance, networked storage and media management solutions, announced today that Digital Domain, Inc. (www.d2.com) has purchased a Sledgehammer HD!O system to streamline production through their digital pipeline. The Academy Award®-winning visual effects company, renowned for its work in feature films, commercials and music videos, recently upgraded their inferno systems to be 4:4:4-capable and take full advantage of Sledgehammer's standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) capabilities. Historically, Digital Domain has been at the vanguard of new approaches. The advent of direct-to-disk recording dispenses with the film lab and the delays associated with it, and suggests a paradigm shift in the post-production process. However, in order to fully capitalize on the opportunity the time saved represents, facility-wide access to a centralized digital repository is required. In need of an efficient means to distribute the workload and expedite the workflow internally, Digital Domain considered only one system – Sledgehammer HD!O. “It streamlined the process,” said Michael Taylor, Digital Domain's VP of Digital Production & Technology. “What was previously accomplished with a combination of solutions is now consolidated with Sledgehammer HD!O. It met two important criteria cost-effectively – adding disk capacity online in conjunction with real-time SD and HD I/O (input & output) – so it killed two birds with one stone. Typically, this combination of features would require two distinct products. So, we didn't perform in-house comparisons because, quite frankly, there is no comparison.” Experience from collaboration with motion picture directors has assisted Digital Domain in the development of an effective pipeline for digitally shooting film, and installing Sledgehammer HD!O has helped them refine it. First a digital camera records HD resolution logarithmic data to a disk-based recording device. The captured data is then transported from the set to the facility on removable disk packs and transferred via a 4:4:4 dual link to Sledgehammer HD!O, which saves the material in .dpx file format. At this point, all material is available to everyone on the facility-based Gigabit-Ethernet (GigE) Local Area Network (LAN). “A problem familiar to any facility with both GigE and SD/HD networks, regardless of the variety of work in which they specialize, is efficient access to content from these two realms,” commented Mike Hughes, Max-T's VP of Business Development. “Sledgehammer HD!O complements centralized storage with a video–data bridge that functions as a versatile, high-performance conduit, and its ability to carry metadata makes it ideal for work at any resolution. By facilitating the flow of disk-based film captures from field to facility without having to divert other, less well-suited resources, Sledgehammer HD!O can push more content through Digital Domain's digital production pipeline faster, and therefore at a lower cost.” “Sledgehammer HD!O is unique,” concluded Taylor. “What originally impressed me was that it's forward-thinking by design – it accommodated two very different needs within our facility immediately – demonstrating that it's a suitable component for our future infrastructure requirements as well. Sledgehammer HD!O has proven very reliable, tangibly improving productivity and liberating more expensive equipment, so I foresee an ongoing relationship with Maximum Throughput.” 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 also provides real-time SD and HD resolution video I/O capabilities, via a web-based interface. New Sledgehammer SD!O delivers the benefits of HD!O but is tailored to SD work and SD budgets, offering an affordable migration path to HD. And, since Sledgehammer HD!O and SD!O are true NAS devices, 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 Digital Domain With its cutting-edge production pipeline, Digital Domain has established a world-class reputation for innovation and artistry, having received two Academy Awards® for What Dreams May Come and Titanic (the highest-grossing film in motion picture history), as well as two Technical Achievement Academy Awards® for proprietary software, including an award for NUKE. Over the last 11 years, the company's feature film division has produced visual effects for films that have generated over $4 billion dollars in worldwide box office receipts. In addition, the company's commercial division is widely considered the premier visual effects studio in the advertising industry and has been awarded fourteen CLIO Awards, BAFTA Awards, numerous Gold Lions and a Grand Prix award from the Cannes International Advertising Festival, MTV Music Video Awards and a Grammy for Best Music Video.
For more information, or to book interviews, please contact: Giovanni Tagliamonti Maximum Throughput Inc.
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