Visual effects house, The Mill has deployed Avere FXT Series Edge Filers to improve its render flow.
Jonathan Brazier, group systems manager for The Mill explained, “Rather than working on a single project for 12-18 months, we’re producing commercials on a weekly basis. So a render process that is effective is essential to our workflow.” Brazier added, “The complexity of our work is always increasing and The Mill was looking for a cost effective product that would enable us to keep pace with the ever changing needs of our clients.”
The Mill to offers visual effects and creative solutions across studios in London, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The render solution the company chose was an Avere FXT Edge Filer cluster.
Brazier contacted ERA, a London-based IT infrastructure systems integrator and solution specialist in broadcast and post production. The ERA team helped size an Avere Edge filer solution. “Although ERA did not have available Avere filers in their offices,” adds Brazier, “they located Avere products and had them delivered to us by Friday of the same wee. We racked the systems over the weekend, and installed them Monday morning.”
“The installation process was extremely straightforward,” says Brazier, “we had the cluster installed and running within a few hours and with very little disruption to our render farm. It’s proven great value for money compared to the other options that are available.”
Offering a solution to accelerate mission-critical storage dependent workloads without requiring a massive reengineering effort is a key advantage of Avere and a significant benefit for companies like The Mill,” said Ron Bianchini, CEO, Avere Systems.
