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Martin Weaver, Head of Infrastructure Delivery at MPC, says that blockbuster success takes both inspiration and infrastructure. "To support the technology requirements of high-end VFX, we've architected a performance-optimised IT infrastructure that's deployed in MPC's London, Montreal, and Bangalore facilities and that will streamline set-up of new global offices. This standardised infrastructure gives us agility and scale to support business growth and a broad range of technical requirements.

To keep pace with data demands, we use Avere's FXT Edge filers to augment the performance of MPC core storage systems. A foundational technology in our IT infrastructure, Avere's solution provides cost-effective performance acceleration for rendering and other heavy-I/O workloads."

BIGGER FILMS MEAN BIGGER CHALLENGES
Weaver says growth presents constant challenges for infrastructure design. He cites multiple dimensions that pressure IT systems and storage. "Moving higher up the echelons of VFX quality dramatically increases the amount of data that goes into rendering an image. That means we're working with larger and larger data sets to deliver the client's desired visual results, whether for photo-realistic images, full-frame characters, or convincing fluid-based simulations. At the same time, we're running more concurrent projects, working on larger and bigger-budget films, and providing infrastructure resources to more creative seats."

Weaver's team must ensure sufficient IT infrastructure - including storage capacity and performance - to meet the demands of this growth. Budget and space constraints add to the challenge: "In the UK, for example, all of our creative seats and core NAS storage are located in MPC's central-London facility. Because it was impractical to expand in that location - you'll know from Monopoly that the centre of London is the most expensive part of the board - we opted to house the render farm off-site at our data centre in Pinewood. But without a solution to manage down the traffic between sites, we faced prohibitive telecommunications costs."

BOOSTING STORAGE PERFORMANCE
Weaver explains that London's limited-real-estate challenge was the catalyst for one of MPC's first Avere deployments. "Deploying an Avere Edge filer at the render-farm end of the communications link, we were able to accelerate NFS performance to the farm and simultaneously reduce network traffic between the Pinewood data centre and our London facility."

Today, Avere Edge Filers boost storage performance and efficiency at MPC global facilities, including the studio's London, Montreal, and Bangalore sites. At each site, Avere clusters offload EMC Isilon core storage to accelerate rendering processes and deliver maximum interactivity to artist workstations. Across MPC facilities, Avere Edge Filers deliver scalable performance to various sizes of render farms running an application mix that typically includes Autodesk Maya, The Foundry NUKE, and Pixar RenderMan software.

SATISFYING THE THIRST FOR NEW EFFECTS
"In the VFX industry where last year's best becomes this year's norm, the amount of data that goes into image rendering grows at an even faster rate than Moore's law predicts on the compute side," notes Weaver. "Moving from 2K to 2K-stereo or 2K to 4K resolution, for example, means more data-and more IOPS and throughput. There's also a continual thirst for the new effect, the showstopper that's not been done before.

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