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James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment Selects Aspera's File
Transfer Solution
(Wireless News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Aspera, a software developer of bulk data transport technology,
announced at the Siggraph 2007 Show in San Diego, that James Cameron's
Lightstorm Entertainment, selected Aspera's high performance file
transfer software for moving the massive visual effects data in the
production of "Avatar" between their Los Angeles studio and a partner
studio in New Zealand.
"Aspera has made all the difference in the world for us," says Steven
Madonna, the productions' System Engineer. "We're able to have a
single, reliable piece of software to support while vendors connect
reliably and securely. With other methods we end up supporting many
different pieces of client software or hoping the hard drives/tapes we
ship don't get mishandled or shipped to the wrong place. The software
allows us to deliver full resolution digital assets in much less time
than it would take via normal means. From a setup and administration
point of view, the software is easier to set up and more secure than
FTP. It's also very easy to trouble shoot, and the support has been top
notch."
The "Avatar" production generates tens of gigabytes of data sets of
various formats daily that must be moved to the visual effects team at
the partner studio, including small metadata and instructional files,
still frames for review, database or Avid bin metadata, Maya files, and
large media files from Avid systems. In addition to the daily
transfers, the two companies exchange very large files (about 100 or
more) twice a month. The entire process needs to be managed and tracked
in a secure environment.
Like most facilities, Lightstorm has previously delivered the data via
FTP or, "sneaker net", where data is loaded onto hard drives and
hand-delivered. Delivering the large high-resolution video via
conventional FTP at intercontinental distances was impractically slow
and insecure. Lightstorm turned to "sneaker net", although still
time-consuming and error prone, and at times, experienced all the usual
problems associated with physically transporting critical data, such as
lengthy shipping time, damaged drives, and content that had to be
dubbed from a master only to be re-ingested on the receiving end.
Lightstorm needed a high-performance and secure file transfer solution
that would transfer the data electronically in a practical time period,
with consistency and security. Upon the recommendation of a major
studio partner, Lightstorm deployed Aspera Enterprise Server, built on
Aspera's fasp2.0 transport technology, to transfer files to the New
Zealand studio.
"The Aspera software has eliminated the transfer bottlenecks of the
past, cutting the total turnaround time for content by about one half,
with complete security. We consistently transfer to New Zealand at 45
Mbps over a 45 Mbps link, a 15-30X improvement over standard FTP. Our
operators can track the transfer throughout the process and manage the
bandwidth used as needed. Additionally, we own the software, so there
are no ongoing fees or penalties as we deliver more data. For us,
Aspera has been a huge step forward in efficiency and cost-savings,"
says Geoff Burdick, Lightstorm Vice President Production Services &
Technology.
Aspera President and Co-Founder, Michelle Munson states, "In addition
to Aspera's underlying fasp transport efficiency, our software now also
includes a unique file streamlining technique that enables the transfer
of a large directory of small files as efficiently as sending a single
large file without pre-tarring the files, saving hours in some cases.
This capability proved essential in earlier productions moving large
sets of individual frame files, which should be valuable to any
application that transfers data sets of primarily small files and we
are excited that Lightstorm has improved the efficiency of their
end-to-end workflow using Aspera software."
"With terabytes of sensitive data constantly being transferred we need
a solution that will let us sleep at night," said Jon Landau, producer
of the Oscar winning epic movie "Titanic" and now "Avatar". "Aspera is
a proven high-performance transport solution recommended by our
partners that enables us to contain our costs, and maintain a very
aggressive production schedule."
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))
Copyright 2007 Wireless News
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