BlueArc Powers SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, Enabling Digital Workflow for Visual Effects Showcase

World's Fastest Network Storage for Visual Effects Serves as Foundation for This Year's Animation Festival at SIGGRAPH 2006 Conference and Exposition

SIGGRAPH -- BlueArc® Corporation, the world leader in network storage innovation, today announced that the company's Titan 2000 storage system served as a key component of the technology infrastructure for the SIGGRAPH 2006 Electronic Theater, to help create a fully digital workflow at the exhibition's Computer Animation Festival. Titan, a mainstay in leading visual effects studios around the world, was selected by the exhibition's producers due to the system's well-documented leadership in entertainment, offering unparalleled performance and capacity.

The Computer Animation Festival at SIGGRAPH is one of the premier venues for showcasing the artistic and technical talents in the world of visual effects. This year saw an increase in submissions by more than 25% from the previous year with over 700 submissions from 37 countries. From these entries, industry judges receive, review, and compile the pieces into the Animation Theater and The Electronic Theater, which are shown at SIGGRAPH. The judges narrowed down the entries to the top 34 submissions for the Electronic Theater, highlighting the best of the best this year.

To achieve a fully digital workflow for judging and review, a high-performance centralized storage solution was needed. BlueArc was asked to meet this challenge and the company stepped up, providing its record breaking Titan storage system. Titan was used to store all the submissions, allowing simultaneous access for review and editing by the judges and creative staff. 2006 marked the first year where the entire process workflow was digital. In fact, judges did not have to handle a single tape during their review and consolidation efforts. Submissions were stored centrally, on the Titan, and all judges were able to review them online. The move to a digital workflow allowed for a smooth and streamlined process that will be carried over into future years' Animation Festival reviews.

"2006 was a watershed year for the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater, one that sets the benchmark by which future years will be measured," said Terrence Masson, Computer Animation Festival Chair for SIGGRAPH 2006. "The SIGGRAPH community thanks BlueArc for their participation in this event and their assistance in achieving a purely digital workflow."

BlueArc's Titan storage system is considered a key component in the digital workflow in many major studios as they strive to reduce the bottlenecks to creativity. Titan's hardware architecture removes the bottlenecks usually found in centralized storage due to its ability to handle high throughput, high transactional rates and high capacity required for studio storage. Studios' customers have found that Titan is able to help reduce artists' wait times enabling crucial focus on creativity and also help increase the throughput of render farms, which are often limited by read and write access to data.

"It was BlueArc's pleasure to provide storage for the creation of this year's Computer Animation Festival, highlighting the ultimate in graphics and animation," said Steve Daheb, vice president of marketing and business development for BlueArc. "With BlueArc playing a key role at major studios around the globe providing cutting-edge special effects, Titan was right at home as part of the Computer Animation Festival."

About BlueArc

BlueArc is the world leader in network storage innovation. BlueArc's Titan storage system family delivers unparalleled performance, scalability and simplicity, enabling customers to accelerate their digital world. Utilizing a unique patented architecture, Titan customers can achieve tasks impossible with alternative systems, implementing tomorrow's solutions today. The company's headquarters are in San Jose, California with European operations based in Bracknell, England. More information on BlueArc is available on the Internet at www.bluearc.com.