STARGATE DIGITAL
ALACRITECH CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Major Motion Picture and Television Visual Effects Leader Implements Alacritech Accelerators to Improve 2D and 3D Digital Content Creation Efficiency

• Industry/Market:
  » Visual Effects / Digital Content Creation
  
• Challenge:
  » Effectively offload CPUs to eliminate server bottlenecks caused by TCP/IP processing requirements
  » Significantly speed video file transfer between servers, render farms, and artist workstations.
  » Maximize scalability to handle simultaneous graphics creation for multiple TV shows
  » Ensure greater redundancy; eliminate risk of single drive failure to prevent loss of critical data
  
• Solution:
  » Alacritech Gigabit Accelerators (fiber and copper)
  
• Benefits:
  » TCP/IP processing effectively offloaded from CPUs, server bottlenecks eliminated
  » Network latency significantly reduced, large video files move quickly and easily across the network
  » Server and network performance significantly increased to accommodate graphics development of multiple TV shows simultaneously
  » Overall productivity of graphic artists significantly increased, artists no longer complain of slow servers and network

“Stargate Digital produces the stunning visual effects for such leading TV shows as CSI:, CSI: Miami, ER, Third Watch and Crossing Jordan, as well as television movies such as Helen of Troy and feature films such as 40 Days and 40 Nights. Our 2D and 3D digital content creators work on up to 15 visual effects projects simultaneously. We needed to significantly increase the performance of our servers without modifying our existing storage hardware. Alacritech’s TCP/IP offload technology proved to be exactly what we needed—the Gigabit Accelerator efficiently moves data, so our graphic artists have the processing power they need, and the network servers aren’t bogged down by the transfer of large video files.”
   Joseph Meier, Ph.D., MCSE, IT Director
   Stargate Digital

Business Overview:
Stargate Digital, founded in 1988 by Sam Nicholson, is a leader in 2D and 3D visual effects for feature films, broadcast television, and music videos. Stargate creates cutting-edge visual effects by utilizing its proprietary workflow model, and a revolutionary, new “digital intermediate” process of finishing motion pictures and TV shows. Stargate’s techniques enable feature film and television producers to rapidly and cost-effectively depict any image sequence imaginable: from a radioactive iodine atom decaying, to the actual damage caused by a bullet entering a body, the creation of virtual armies consisting of “digital extras,” or even the depiction of DNA evidence.

Stargate Digital has completed major projects for television networks such as USA, HBO, TNT, and ABC. For its film finishing projects, the latest high-definition video, digital color correction, computer graphics and laser film printing technologies are used. Stargate’s digital intermediate process eliminates the need for traditional negative cutting, lab color timing and optical printing, while offering the latest digital imaging technologies. Based in South Pasadena, California and Vancouver, Canada, Stargate employs some of the industry’s most talented 2D and 3D graphic artists.

Business Challenge:
Stargate’s advanced graphics team is responsible for creating the visual effects that will eventually be seen in movies and TV productions. To work efficiently, they require top performance from every component of the company’s entire network. The typical workflow is to take high definition digital tape (derived from the original 35mm film negative) and convert the information into computer files using a DVS digital disk recorder (DDR). Next, the files are moved off the DDR and onto the primary network storage system used for input footage. (Stargate’s current storage pool is over 12 Terabytes.) Powerful workstations are used by both the 3D department (which creates objects and animates them) and the 2D department which uses After Effects® compositing software to combine the 3D objects and up to hundreds of layers to produce the final image. Once a shot is finalized, it’s placed in the render queue, where the 26 rendering machines automatically render the shot at high resolution (typically a 6 MB file per frame) and send the completed frames to another network server. The input/output loop is completed after the final effects are edited on the company’s Avid DS/HD workstation, and then laid off either to high-resolution digital tape (which is sent back to the client) or a Telestream device to send the clips electronically. To meet critical deadlines, artists must have rapid access to video files, and large image files must move quickly between the workgroups and from servers to storage subsystems.

“We generate a significant amount of network activity as the 26 rendering machines access the servers at the same time as nearly 30 graphic artists do. Because we work on so many projects simultaneously we need to attach a large amount of storage to the servers,” said Joseph Meier, IT Manager, Stargate Digital. “Producing visual effects for the television industry, the artists and staff members work on extremely tight deadlines and were constantly complaining about slow network speeds. From the IT side, we were seeing serious processor bottlenecks at the CPU level on all of our servers. We realized our CPUs were spending an inordinate amount of time processing TCP/IP requests instead of serving up images. We were rapidly reaching saturation, and needed to move the TCP/IP load off the CPUs and onto network interface cards (NICs) so we could free the CPUs from acting like processing traffic cops.”

Alacritech Solution and Benefits:
Working with network architect and Lead Compositor Adam Ealovega, Dr. Meier began to search for a solution that could eliminate server networking bottlenecks generated by large video files, as well as provide the failover required in his mission-critical network. Dr. Meier contacted Alacritech after reading several articles, including a technology review in Network Computing Magazine, about the highly acclaimed Alacritech Server and Storage Accelerator. Alacritech server and storage accelerators offload TCP/IP network protocol processing from the host CPU using a custom ASIC for protocol processing. Alacritech accelerators, based on the company’s patented SLIC Technology® architecture, improve host processor efficiency, increase data throughput and reduce network latency. He then tested his new Alacritech accelerators against his existing Intel and 3COM Gigabit NICs.

After initial testing was completed, Dr. Meier was so pleased with the performance results of the Gigabit Accelerators that he began replacing all standard NICs in the company’s servers. In addition to the original fiber-based TOES in Server-01, Dr. Meier has installed copper accelerators in the company’s new input footage server, the critical server that holds the footage that Hollywood directors send to Stargate. With additional storage capacity and the Alacritech accelerators, Stargate’s artists can now quickly access digitized footage, and the footage can remain up and always available, rather than having to be pulled in from their Exabyte tape archives.

“Alacritech’s TCP/IP offload technology proved to be exactly what we needed in our graphics-intensive environment,” said Meier. “Alacritech’s Gigabit Accelerator moves data away from the processor and onto the board, so our graphic artists have the processing power they need and the network isn’t slowed to a near halt with the large video files. Working on productions for the entertainment industry, we need to use cutting-edge technology that enables us to meet incredibly tight deadlines and budgets—Alacritech accelerates our servers and network, and enables us to work efficiently so we can focus on producing the leading-edge visual effects we’re known for. We’re confident that we have a solid network that will scale to meet any future demands we’ll have,” added Meier.

System Configuration: