Method Studios Vancouver Adds Avere FXT Edge Filers to Infrastructure

Avere Systems, Inc. announced the a-maze-ing storage performance results Method Studios Vancouver has achieved since adding Avere FXT Edge filers to the company’s infrastructure.

Method Studios, a Deluxe Entertainment Services Group company, is known for its visual effects work and expansive blockbuster portfolio including The Maze Runner, Thor: The Dark World, Divergent, Maleficent, The Giver, Transformers: Age of Extinction.

While working on the film The Maze Runner, a project that saw the creation of 150 character shots and 380 environment shots, Method Studios saw its existing NAS infrastructure pushed to its limit. The network experienced timeouts that would lock users’ workstations for as long as 30s at a time. IT was tasked with fixing these backend issues without adding budget lines.

“Avere often sees media and entertainment companies run into the same struggles Method Studios faced. Traditional data centers can’t keep up with production demands and IT is expected to find the magic solution. This is where Avere comes in and provides the ultimate answer,” said Ron Bianchini, president and CEO, Avere. “We’re able to deliver not just a cost efficient solution, but allow artists to have the time and technology to empower their creative processes.“

With Avere, Method Studios was able to avoid buying more expensive storage media for the company’s traditional infrastructure, while solving the performance bottleneck and remaining within budget. The architecture has also given  the capability to support the company’s changing business strategies.

“Deploying Avere more than tripled our IO/s for about one-fourth the cost of achieving equivalent performance on our core filers,” said Scott Parker, head of technical operations, Method Studios Vancouver. “But Avere delivers value beyond raw price/performance. Avere’s global namespace enables a consolidated view across all of our NAS arrays and provides advanced analytics that up-level troubleshooting. Avere’s analytics give us new opportunities to simplify, improve processes, and deploy assets most effectively across our WAN for better performance and to support our studio’s evolving business requirements.”

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