Aoi Studio Purchases Sledgehammer Systems for File-Based Workflow Pipeline

Facility Infrastructure Upgraded for Higher Resolution Work

Montreal, CANADA, May 1, 2007 — Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com), developers of ultra high performance software-based solutions for networked storage infrastructure and media management, announced today that Aoi Studio, a Tokyo-based post production facility, has purchased two Sledgehammer systems to facilitate their move to a tapeless workflow.

Aoi Studio knew that their infrastructure would have to expand and change to address their evolving project base of constantly increasing image resolutions, including high definition (HD) video and film. In response to these growing needs, they elected to purchase two Sledgehammer systems: the first is a Sledgehammer HD!O system with embedded video I/O capabilities and 6TB of capacity, and the second a Sledgehammer NAS file server with 16TB of capacity. The systems are interconnected by a high-speed Infiniband-based link for fast data migration.

Hiroyuki Matsushima, Director of the Planning & Development Division at Aoi Studio, commented on the purchase as follows. “The general workflow in post production has been steadily migrating from video-based to file-based. We understood from the outset that the performance of servers and networks could become a huge bottleneck for the kind of workflow we wanted, so we chose Sledgehammer systems for their speed. The systems can provide high speed data sharing throughout facility, and can be utilized as an archiving solution for Autodesk systems concurrently. In addition, we decided to video enable one of the systems so that it can deal with HD video and provides additional value like real-time upconversion and downconversion, with consideration of accelerating our migration to digital intermediates (DI).”

“The software applications that come with Sledgehammer offer us huge productivity benefits,” commented Tomoaki Yamakawa, computer system manager of the Studio Division, Aoi Studio. “With MAXmedia, all video standards are supported and we can digitize and share material immediately. MAXmedia also offloads all format conversion operations from our expensive online suites. With Xstoner, we recoup huge amounts of billable time in our Autodesk Inferno suite as all input and output is now done in the background.”

Izumi Shinohara of Mitomo Co. Ltd., who handled the system integration, added, “Demands from the field for storage and networking infrastructure have been growing daily. Aoi Studio started going all digital at its facilities early on, and in doing so, have set considerably high standards in these regards. The fact that Aoi Studio chose to purchase Sledgehammer systems is product validation of a very high order.”

John Miller, Max-T’s Vice President of Worldwide Sales had the following comment on the purchase, “More and more facilities are moving to fully digital and tapeless workflows, and we’re very happy to be able to help power this move at Aoi Studio.”

About Aoi Studio Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1955, Aoi Studio Co., Ltd. is a well-established and comprehensive sound studio in Japan. The company provides a variety of services, from recording for CM/TV/film/music, video editing, CG creation, MA post production, creation of sound negative films, planning and creating of events (concert, theater, lecture), planning/designing/installing audio/video/lighting equipment, planning and producing software for the production environment (sound/image), to planning and producing various image processing software for broadcast/promotion/education.

About Mitomo Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1953, Mitomo Co., Ltd. (www.mitomo.co.jp) finds, develops and sells video equipment, and develops imagery-related software as the core of their business. The company also provides planning, production and post production services for a variety of projects. With an extremely solid track record, Mitomo has developed a diverse customer base including broadcasters, post production facilities, government, and educational institutions.

About Maximum Throughput
Maximum Throughput Inc. (www.max-t.com) is a media management tool developer and networked storage provider. Max-T’s media aware storage solutions deliver extremely high performance over commodity networks, using smart software that runs on industry standard hardware. Software-based, media management tools are tightly integrated within the product line, delivering enriched functionality in a single, versatile solution. Having pioneered the development of shared storage solutions that can be simultaneously accessed over both data and video networks, Max-T offers products with unparalleled performance, capacity management, and capacity availability, as well as having the lowest total cost-of-ownership in their class.

For more information please contact:

John Miller
Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing,
Maximum Throughput

Phone: (978) 946-9408
Email: jmiller@max-t.com

Maximum Throughput Inc.
1751 Richardson
Suite 5.204
Montréal, Québec
CANADA H3K 1G6

Phone: (514) 925 3350
Fax: (514) 925 3378
Web: www.max-t.com

©2007 Maximum Throughput Inc., all rights reserved. Maximum Throughput and the Maximum Throughput logo are registered trademarks and Sledgehammer NAS, Sledgehammer SD!O, Sledgehammer HD!O, Sledgehammer SOS, Xstoner, MAXmedia, MAXmin, MAXcluster and Chisel are trademarks of Maximum Throughput Inc. in the U.S., Canada, and other countries. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.