ENTERTAINMENT

San Jose, CA - BlueArc Corporation, developer of the SiliconServer Architecture and the world's only network attached storage (NAS) server designed to scale from 1Gbps to tomorrow's 10Gbps networks, today announced that Charlex, a digital design, effects and production house for the advertising, broadcast and entertainment industries, selected BlueArc's Si7500 SiliconServer to accelerate the company's 3D design and rendering processes. BlueArc's high performance and ease of management has enabled Charlex to increase the overall performance of the corporate network by more than 100 percent, avoiding traditional performance bottlenecks. Charlex's 3D department uses the Si7500 SiliconServer to store and share all of its data, from project information to texture files and scenes from graphically innovative pieces the company puts together for customers in a wide variety of industries, from entertainment to consumer goods and technology. BlueArc's unique SiliconServerTM Architecture provides Charlex with the throughput, scalability and ease of management necessary to thrive and grow in the fast-paced world of digital media. "What we like about BlueArc is that it's not just a traditional NAS system, but it's specifically designed to push data to and from the disk system," said Harry Skopas, vice president of engineering for Charlex. "The SiliconServer has one goal in life - to get data to and from disk as fast as possible. We like that. We have always been innovators as users of cutting-edge technology in our industry, and BlueArc's Si7500 has definitely made a big change in our lives here." As the number of artists and size of files grew at the company, Charlex found its direct attached storage (DAS) solution a serious bottleneck, impacting the artists' ability to complete tasks at optimal speed. The company chose BlueArc's high-performance NAS solution over competitive storage area network (SAN) offerings as the Si7500 SiliconServer delivered improved performance and scalability at a much lower total cost of ownership and with simpler storage management. "BlueArc is a particularly good fit for digital post-production companies such as Charlex, where back-end storage reliability and efficiency are vital to meeting tight deadlines with the highest resolution product possible," said Charles Joseph, senior vice president of worldwide field operations for BlueArc. "The productivity gains and technical innovations our solution enables drive advancements for the industry as a whole and help companies such as Charlex push the envelope of what's possible." BlueArc centralizes storage for Charlex's multiple-vendor, multiple-platform environment. Charlex runs a number of systems and several sophisticated applications across Apple Macintosh, Microsoft Windows and SGI Irix platforms, requiring that file permissions and security be recognized across the mixed-mode environment. The Si7500 SiliconServer enables Charlex artists to utilize storage in new ways, including accessing storage over the network rather than on local machines, providing multiple clients access to the same file from disparate locations using different platforms without conflict, and reading and writing large graphic files without encountering version-control problems. Looking ahead, Charlex expects to further enhance its information technology infrastructure with BlueArc at its core. As Charlex's storage needs evolve, the BlueArc storage solution will continue to offer benefits, with the potential to scale to hundreds of terabytes behind a single system, accommodating thousands of concurrent users.