EMC Isilon Enables LAIKA to Transform Big Data Into Movie Magic

SEATTLE, April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, today announced that LAIKA, the studio behind the Academy Award®-nominated Coraline, has deployed more than a petabyte of EMC Isilon® scale-out NAS as the primary storage platform for its end-to-end animation and computer graphics (CG) workflow, simplifying big data management to increase artist collaboration and accelerate project completion. Using Isilon's SmartPools™ software application, LAIKA has unified three performance tiers into a single file system, consolidating its compositing, computer graphics and stop motion workflows onto a single, shared storage resource, streamlining production operations and improving IT efficiency.

"We need our artists focused on the creative process, not waiting for render jobs to finish or content to migrate, so a single, shared storage resource that can accommodate a range of access patterns and performance requirements is a game-changer for us," said Jonathan Rozes, director of IT, LAIKA. "Before Isilon, we had to manage our workflows separately, which made management a hassle and limited our productivity. By moving to Isilon, we've consolidated our entire production operation on one, simple solution, which not only minimized management, but helped expand our bandwidth for new projects."

LAIKA features two divisions: LAIKA's Entertainment division, which produces animated feature films and shorts, including Coraline, and LAIKA/house, the commercial division behind animated campaigns for Frito Lay, M&M'S and Planters. Prior to Isilon, LAIKA's traditional NAS system segregated its range of workflows across disparate file systems, complicating management, slowing application performance and limiting artist collaboration.

Working with Isilon channel partner IMT, LAIKA deployed three tiers of Isilon scale-out NAS -- the high-performance 5400S for its IOPS-intensive compositing workflow, the 10000X-SSD for metadata-intensive computer graphics applications, and the 12000X for highly concurrent stop motion effects. Using SmartPools, LAIKA has unified these three performance tiers into a single file system, simplifying management to less than one full-time equivalent (FTE) and unifying all of its production operations on a single, shared pool of storage. Additionally, using Isilon's cost-efficient NL-Series in combination with Isilon's asynchronous replication application SyncIQ®, LAIKA can backup its projects to a secure, highly reliable off-site cluster, ensuring maximum data availability and business continuity in the event of data loss or disaster.  

"Coraline is a landmark work of art in the history of animation," said Mike Braico, executive vice president, IMT.  "Animation is a passion for us at IMT and Isilon's scale-out architecture is an ideal solution for the data-intensive demands of animation and CG workflows. With Isilon, leading-edge studios can scale performance and capacity in-line with changing project demands, accelerating productivity, while minimizing costs."

"Efficient artist collaboration is key to great production in today's media industry and with the influx of big data -- created by advanced CG techniques, new media formats and more -- leading media companies now have unprecedented opportunities for collaboration and creativity," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon. "By using Isilon scale-out NAS to consolidate its entire production workflow and scale its storage resources in-line with artists' needs, LAIKA is seizing the big data opportunity and leading the way in a new era of media and entertainment."

About LAIKA

LAIKA, an independent animation studio, specializes in feature films, commercials, music videos, broadcast series and short films. Owned by Nike Co-founder and Chairman Philip H. Knight, LAIKA draws on a 30-year history of award-winning filmmakers, designers and animators.

About Integrated Media Technologies, Inc. (IMT)

Integrated Media Technologies Inc. is a leading systems integrator for digital media, and information technology. The company delivers products and services that enable clients to achieve their strategic business goals. Through an active engagement with the client, IMT collects project requirements to design the best solution to address the customer's needs. IMT's award-winning staff designs, procures, installs, trains, and supports a project from beginning to end. In addition, IMT offers ongoing support through its Remote Managed Services, lowering project risk, cost and assuring maximum uptime.

About Isilon

Isilon, a division of EMC, is the global leader in scale-out NAS. We deliver powerful yet simple solutions for enterprises that want to manage their data, not their storage. Isilon's products are simple to install, manage and scale, at any size. And, unlike traditional enterprise storage, Isilon stays simple no matter how much storage is added, how much performance is required or how business needs change in the future. We're challenging enterprises to think differently about their storage, because when they do, they'll recognize there's a better, simpler way. Learn what we mean at http://www.isilon.com.

About EMC

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

The names of companies mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE EMC Corporation