Pure Storage announced that PhantomFX, an India-based, TPN-certified visual effects (VFX) studio that has worked on world-renowned projects such as Marvel’s Avengers, has successfully upgraded its data storage and management infrastructure to the Pure Storage platform to improve production times, business resilience and energy consumption, all of which provide a solid foundation for business growth.
PhantomFX faced three critical challenges with its previous storage infrastructure: disparate storage systems, the looming threat of ransomware attacks, and the imperative to reduce its carbon footprint.
Initially, each department operated its own separate storage system, leading to inefficiencies as the creative team struggled to move data across various systems, hampering overall productivity. At the same time, the film industry was grappling with a rising tide of ransomware threats, prompting the PhantomFX team to prioritise enhancing business resilience by bolstering data protection measures. Additionally, the company recognised the pressing need to curtail energy consumption as part of its commitment to reducing its overall carbon footprint.
To overcome these challenges, Pure Storage and its channel partner, Techfruits Solutions, the Chennai-based trailblazer in delivering advanced IT solutions, worked closely with PhantomFX to consolidate data from its fragmented storage systems onto the Pure Storage platform. The benefits to PhantomFX included:
- Improved Productivity and Faster Time to Market: With one consolidated data platform, PhantomFX’s VFX artists now save up to 30% of their time, enabling them to complete projects faster. The Pure Storage FlashBlade//S™ file and object platform also helped the company reduce the number of storage latency issues to almost zero, even for the most data-intensive projects.
- Business Resilience Against Threats: The VFX industry is a major target for cyberattacks, particularly from ransomware, and any lost data can dramatically delay production. PhantomVFX achieved the coveted ‘Trusted Partner Network’ certification in 2018 and prides itself on being a ‘data-secure ecosystem’. FlashBlade//S has strengthened its security posture even further through its SafeMode feature. In addition, FlashBlade’s ability to restore data quickly means PhantomFX will be able to resume business operations in hours rather than days or weeks.
- Reduction in Carbon Footprint: By consolidating all its data to the Pure Storage platform, PhantomFX has already reduced energy consumption in its data centre by turning off energy hungry legacy storage systems and reducing rack space by 58%. The company estimates it will reduce energy consumption by around 35,000 kWh over a year, helping it meet its goal to reduce its carbon footprint.
- Future-Proof Technology Built for Scale: The efficiency of Pure Storage DirectFlash® technology and data compression has enabled PhantomFX to consolidate all its data with space for future growth. Pure Storage’s ability to non-disruptively upgrade its storage systems also means PhantomFX can increase storage capacity easily in the future without having to take down its storage infrastructure.
“The timelines for movies are very tight, and we need to be fast and accurate in what we do. If artists lose time in copying data to and from the storage system, it leads to a waste of production time and money. FlashBlade’s real-time storage helps us meet deadlines without any hassles and has saved us around 30% of man-hours and machine-hours every day. Pure Storage has also given us peace of mind; we know that even if there is a ransomware attack, our original data will be secure. FlashBlade//S is truly remarkable; it is the only storage we intend to use in future,” says Boopathy Thangamuthu, IT Manager, PhantomFX.
“Data is the lifeblood for the companies in the visual effects industry like PhantomVFX. Any misstep could result in damaging financial losses. Pure Storage is proud to be able to support these companies with business impactful technology solutions that provide them with a strong foundation for growth,” says Ramanujam Komanduri, Country Manager, India, Pure Storage.
“TechFruits’ in-depth understanding of PhantomFX’s data storage challenges led us to recommend Pure Storage FlashBlade//S. This powerful solution’s ability to handle large and complex VFX datasets was instrumental in overcoming their storage bottlenecks. Pure Storage FlashBlade//S has delivered truly transformative results for PhantomFX. By eliminating bottlenecks and network latency, the solution has optimised workflows and significantly reduced data transfer times. This translates to a 30% boost in productivity for PhantomFX’s VFX artists, allowing them to focus on their core expertise: creating stunning visual effects,” says Lenin Christopher, Director TechFruits.
