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Mar. 25, 2010
Late yesterday afternoon, Intel and HP said they are planning to work together to boost performance
on small and medium-size workstations and to improve overall computing workflows.
Furthermore, DreamWorks Animation also announced that it is leading a business transformation based on
the scalable multicore innovations provided by HP and Intel to help the next generation of filmmakers.
By placing performance tools that are dramatically faster in the hands of artists, DreamWorks Animation
hopes to inspire a new generation of filmmaking.
Jim Zafarana, v.p. and GM for the workstations division at HP says "the multiplier effects of multicore
processing in HP workstations will be transformational, turning hours into seconds, days into minutes and years
into quarters. The spec wars are over. Multicore parallel processing is steamrolling all previous processes
and changing the way we utilize computer processing resources for the next decade."
The proprietary software used by DreamWorks Animation artists in the process of content creation and
animation touches everything from character creation and cinematography to lighting, special effects,
environments and stereoscopic 3-D.
"We will release an unprecedented three films this year, each of them with the aspiration to push the state
of the art in computer generated filmmaking. Redesigning our software to fully utilize the sheer power of
multicore CPUs will ensure our artists have the very best technology to practice their craft," said Ed Leonard,
chief technology officer, DreamWorks Animation.
"Our rearchitecture effort is the largest technology initiative we've ever taken on and one that has the most
promise to transform our core business," added Leonard.
Danish computer-aided design and manufacturing company HSM Works SA expressed excitement over the new technology.
Most software today is designed to run on just one core at a time, limiting the user's ability to improve
workflow. DreamWorks Animation's ambition is to rewrite its software to take advantage of the power of Intel's
multicore technology using industry-leading HP Z-Series Workstations.
The ability to scale solutions to efficiently utilize many cores is creating a new class of high-performance
workstation applications, and DreamWorks Animation and HP are leading the way.
By rewriting its suite of software to run parallel processing projects using HP Z Workstations with up to
12 cores, DreamWorks is turning upside down the economics of its filmmaking machine.
"It's exciting to realize just how quickly DreamWorks Animation is benefiting from rearchitecting and
optimizing their software flow using Intel Software Development Products and engineering talent," said Anthony
Graves, general manager, Workstations, Intel.
"Through this collaboration and the efficiency gain on Intel multicore processor-based platforms from HP,
we're moving animators closer to their goal of seeing the results of their creative efforts in real time," said
Leonard.
Bill Hensler, chief technologist at Adobe says "providing our customers with tools to dramatically
increase productivity and create engaging experiences is a top priority for us. Adobe Creative Suite
software takes full advantage of multicore systems, allowing users to benefit from HP's and Intel's new
advances in computing power and save valuable time."
Tom Mortensen, founder and chief executive officer at HSM Works SA says "we are already seeing major
performance increases with the new HP Z workstations and advances in multicore from Intel. HSM Works was
designed from the ground up to fully utilize multiple cores, so without us having to change a single line
of code, we expect customers who upgrade to the new HP Z workstations supporting six-core processors will
immediately see a great reduction in processing times."
Source: Intel Corp.
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