Intraware bags Oscar-winning tech in new deal

Intraware Australia has announced a new reseller agreement with NAND Flash memory provider Fusion-io for its Fusion ioFX solution.

The agreement will see the distributor provide value-added workstation solutions to Post Production and visual effects (VFX) studios in Australia and New Zealand.

The cornerstone of the new agreement is 'Fusion ioFX'; a PCI-Express card based on the Fusion-io Memory platform that boasts 420GB of QDP MLC NAND flash memory and a data throughput of up to 1.5GB.

Fusion ioFX is specifically designed to speed up processor-intensive aspects of VFX production, including 3D video playback, real-time 5K video editing and GPU acceleration.

The solution was recently used to create the Oscar-winning special effects for the Martin Scorsese film Hugo (pictured). Fusion ioFX will be resold through Intraware’s channel network to local studios, boutiques and independent artists.

"The new Fusion ioFX for workstations enables artists to spend more time creating and less time waiting for applications to load, process and save data, all at a price that allows visual effects experts to create more with less.” said Stephen Baird, Intraware's channel manager.

The Intraware deal marks the local launch of Fusion ioFX since its global debut in April. It will retail from next month.

Baird said the IT component of video post production is in "a significant growth stage" in the ANZ region.

"The transition from analog to digital is almost complete and companies in this space are now dealing with massive amounts of data on a daily basis," Baird told CRN. 

Baird said the company anticipated continued reseller opportunities in the post production space.

"The requirements of this market space for both performance and capacity is ever increasing," Baird said. "Any products that make it quicker for artists to explore more possibilities in terms of visual effects and thus improve the quality of those visual effects shots is much sought after by the industry."

Other companies represented by Intraware include servers and storage provider SGI, The Foundry (visual effects software), Quntam (data management software and tape automation systems), Cofio (data protection, compliance and archive software solutions) and Sonnet (video storage, media readers and computer IO cards).