Hibbert Ralph Animation Taps EMC/Isilon

Isilon , a division of EMC, announced that UK animation studio Hibbert Ralph Animation (HRA) has deployed Isilon scale-out storage to power its entire animation and media production workflow. Using Isilon’s X-Series, powered by the OneFS operating system, HRA has consolidated its animation, visual effects and television production onto a single, shared storage resource, simplifying content management to accelerate productivity. With Isilon scale-out storage, HRA can now complete more projects in less time, expanding the studio’s bandwidth for new business.

HRA produces television and movie commercials, as well as long-format, animated television shows through their long-form arm HRTv. Prior to deploying Isilon, HRA’s growing content library and time-sensitive workflow were beginning to overwhelm its previous storage system, complicating management and potentially impacting productivity.

"As demand for our unique animation and TV production services continues to increase, we need to guarantee more project deadlines and program air dates than ever before," said Neil Marsden, Head of Technology at HRA and HRTv. "With our previous configuration, system management was messy and it was difficult to scale up for large projects. With Isilon we’ve consolidated all our data and applications, making us much more efficient and eliminating the worries of storage management, so we can focus on our work."

Working with Isilon channel partner Root 6 Ltd, HRA deployed the Isilon X-Series and Performance Accelerator, featuring 10 Gigabit Ethernet front-end connectivity, to consolidate all of its production operations on a single file system and point of management, simplifying its IT environment and streamlining its production pipeline. With Isilon, HRA can now provide its artists concurrent content access to increase collaboration and improve productivity, driving increased operating efficiency for the UK animation studio.

"In today’s data-intensive media production environments, application consolidation holds the key to increased productivity and time-to-delivery," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon. "HRA and HRTv have been at the leading-edge of animation and media production in the UK for more than 20 years and today, they’re extending that lead by using Isilon to simplify their workflow and accelerate production."