DELUXE ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES GROUP

Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. is a global provider of digital services and technology solutions for content creation and delivery. Under the name http://www.bydeluxe.com/, delivering localised service in over 50 languages for theatrical, home entertainment, broadcast television and OTT. Deluxe has a team of 4,500 people working in locations around the world to meet client needs and always protect the integrity of the production. Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. is looking for a reliable partner to design and supply a best-in-class IT infrastructure to upscale their performance, especially in post-production.

Challenges

The key concern was to find a high-performance computing solution that supported the high-level computing to be carried out at Deluxe. As well as delivering best-in-class infrastructure, Deluxe wanted to look to the future and install compute nodes to perform high-volume render tasks with less footprint in the data centre, the solution should be able to be scalable at a competitive price, and with minimal or no disruption. Finally, given the fast pace of the media world and demanding deadlines, Deluxe required a solution that delivered not only fast performance but also supported by Deluxe and comprehensive technical support.

How We Helped

After several discussions and changes to the solution, the DiGiCOR team decided to provide 6x 7U DiGiCOR enclosure chassis to cater to high density, power efficiency and future expansion-ready enclosures. In addition, a total of 60 nodes each house 4 x high core CPUs, high capacity memories, SSD drives to cater high load I/O of rendering tasks and 10G Ethernet switches with 10G uplinks.

Furthermore, SuperBlade computes nodes reduced the server footprint in the Deluxe data centre. Power, cooling and networking devices are aggregated in the rear of the chassis which optimises the required amount of space. Up to 10 TwinBlade (20 nodes) were installed in a 7U chassis. In comparison with the 20U of rack space that twenty 1U servers would normally require as individual servers, the SuperBlade provides more than 50% density savings with 120 nodes and 24 switches in a 42U Rack.

Finally, as our commitment to protect Deluxe’s investment, each blade module was fully upgradable for future CPUs. The common system architecture ensures each blade is fully interchangeable as well. One of the biggest benefits of moving to a blade environment is the relocation of power supplies and fans into a single chassis versus an individual set in each server. This greatly helped to reduce power requirements on a per-server basis.

Results

This resulted in a solution that met Deluxe’s needs with support technicians who understood the complex and often competing demands of the media industry. High computing at a competitive price was a key priority for Deluxe to be productive and competitive in a highly competitive industry. They required a solution that offered high computing with minimum disruption to match the demands of post-production. Their selection of the DiGiCOR Blade solution certainly reflected this priority.