INTERCONNECTS

LOS ANGELES, CA -- DataDirect Networks, a leading provider of the world's highest performance storage networking appliances, announced that CineGroupe, a leading entertainment company based in Montreal has installed DataDirect's Silicon Storage Appliance to serve as the intelligent backbone of a new 3D production studio. CineGroupe will be using the facility for production of the 3D feature length film Pinocchio 3001, an 80 minute animated feature co-produced by CineGroupe, AnimaKids (France) and Castelao Productions SNA(Spain), along with work on other series that CineGroupe is producing. The Silicon Storage Appliance was chosen based on its unbeatable application acceleration, scalability, and management capabilities. Serving as the heart of the CineGroupe 3D studio's storage network environment, the Silicon Storage Appliance links a SGI Origin 3200 server, 67 HP NetServer LP 1000R dual processor render servers, 55 creative workstations, 6 Terabytes (TB) of storage, and a Sony PetaSite automated tape library with 17TB of storage through an ATM network to serve the 3D special effects, live action and animation production needs of the group. "The Silicon Storage Appliance's application acceleration allows us to increase productivity by processing the complex data models associated with 3D rendering exponentially faster, far surpassing speeds that were achievable in the past," Michel Poisson, director of CineGroupe's 3D Studio, said. "Configuration and management are extremely simple and straightforward, and having the Silicon Storage Appliance in our production studio provides us with avenues to quickly and easily adapt to new projects and demands in production without increasing our IT staff." "DataDirect's Silicon Storage Appliance brings us the ability for easy expansion, with the appliance offering massive headroom in all directions," Martin Talbot, technical director, CineGroupe's 3D studio, said. "It rocks!The combination of scalability, performance and easy management brought about by the Silicon Storage Appliance allows creativity with minimal compromise." "The Silicon Storage Appliance provides the intelligent platform to build out scalable, high performance storage networks especially well suited for digital content creation operations," Yvan Ouellet, co-founder, LOR-TECH International, said. "By using Silicon Storage Appliances as the core of their storage networks, production companies are able to significantly increase their productivity, benefiting company and customers in the short and long term." For additional information visit www.datadirectnet.com