Dell Helps Double Negative Power Hollywood Visual Effects

• Dell PowerEdge Blade Servers Drive Ultra-Efficient Cooling and Exceptional Performance-per-Watt Ratio

• Dell’s Open, Standards-based Solution the Perfect Choice for Mixed Hardware Environment

Double Negative, Europe's largest provider of visual effects for film, today announced it has selected Dell to provide an x86 standards-based blade server solution to drive the computing power behind render farm operations at its London headquarters.

As the provider of special effects for major motion pictures, including Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia and Sherlock Holmes, Double Negative relies heavily on server clustering to render computer-generated imagery (CGI). As rendering involves the computer-generated construction of a three-dimensional digital image from a model and contains geometry, viewpoint, texture, lighting, and shading information, Double-Negative requires its IT infrastructure to have the capacity and power to meet project demand.

To support its business objectives, Double Negative deployed an architecture consisting of more than 300 Dell™ PowerEdge™ M610 blade servers and 19 Dell™ PowerEdge™ M1000e blade enclosures. As Double Negative has a mixed hardware environment, the Dell solution was the perfect fit as it is developed on standards-based technology, allowing the business to quickly integrate the solution into its IT investments without disrupting existing render farm operations.

The Dell PowerEdge M610 is designed with exceptional memory capacity, making it the perfect selection to run Double Negative’s I/O intensive applications. Additionally, the Dell PowerEdge M1000e enclosure takes advantage of thermal design efficiencies, such as ultra-efficient power supplies, dynamic power efficient fans and optimised airflow design that can efficiently cool the chassis to deliver optimum performance in a lower power envelope. The blades’ advanced energy capabilities were especially important to Double Negative, as the company was required to make the best use of power supplies, being based in major cities such as London and Singapore.

Quotes
“Working on a variety of high-profile film projects means we must have the capacity and computing resources available within our render farm to meet the demands of our clients. Power is in short supply across all our sites, so it is vital that we run our key applications on servers that have the right mix of performance and energy efficiency. With the Dell PowerEdge M610 and M1000e, we have a solid, reliable solution that fits well with our existing IT infrastructure and provides us with the computing power necessary to undertake complex rendering projects both now and in the future.” – Steve Lynn, Senior Systems Engineer, Double Negative

“Customers continue to tell Dell that they prefer standards-based IT solutions that keep costs low and provide flexibility across their businesses. Vendor domination across customer infrastructure is a thing of the past, and fast-paced businesses like Double Negative are turning to Dell to deliver open and interoperable systems through a variety of partnerships and services which encourage business growth and move away from restrictive legacy approaches.” - Patrick Dwyer, Director and General Manager, Dell, Large Enterprise, UK

Additional Information:
Dell Unveils Open Solutions for the Virtual Era
Dell PowerEdge Blades
Dell PowerEdge Servers 

About Dell
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to its customers and uses that insight to make technology simpler and create innovative solutions that deliver reliable, long-term value. Learn more at www.dell.com.

About Double Negative
Double Negative is Europe's largest provider of visual effects for film and has used its expertise on Hollywood motion pictures including Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia and Sherlock Holmes. Based in London, Double Negative was established in 1998 with a team of 30 staff. Since then the company has grown to 750+ staff and has now opened an office in Singapore to meet the global demand.

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