[Fwd: 80 processor Linux box coming soon...]

[Bruce Smith <bruce@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> January 8, 1999
> 
> eMediaweekly via NewsEdge Corporation : The competition for
> the graphics workstation operating system warmed up at Los
> Angeles' Digital Content Creation conference and exposition in
> December, with vendors and industry veterans in the digital
> effects and 3D animation market arguing over OS architectures.
> 
> Keynote speaker John Hughes, president of Rhythm & Hues
> Studios in Los Angeles, said most top effects houses rely on
> Unix-based Silicon Graphics workstations running custom
> software.
> 
> "Windows NT at this time is the antithesis of what we need,"
> Hughes said, adding that Microsoft has focused Windows NT on
> the needs of enterprise computing instead of the
> high-performance requirements of digital video creation. "I
> would install Linux, not Windows NT, for an alternate OS. "
> 
> While the high-end houses continue to rely on in-house
> software, vendors and attendees said the increasing capabilities
> of NT-based software and its hardware platforms were drawing
> smaller producers. The expo floor featured mostly NT products.
> 
> "Windows NT has its problems, but the hardware and software
> is so much cheaper," said Bob Cazzell, system administrator at
> Rez-n8 Productions, a Hollywood, Calif., effects house. He said
> the company had shifted from Unix and Mac OS to 90 percent
> NT workstations -- but not without growing pains.
> 
> "Sometimes I want to throw it out the window, but in the end I
> just deal with it," Cazzell said.
> 
> Linux also made an appearance at the show. Boxx Technologies
> Inc. (www.boxxcomputers.com) of Austin, Texas, uses Linux for
> its multiprocessor RenderBOXX rendering tower; it also offers a
> two-processor Windows NT model. Boxx said a new
> 80-processor Linux model will arrive in the first quarter of 1999
> at a price of about $94,500.
> 
> Boxx President and CEO Todd Bryant said the price and
> performance of Windows and Linux hardware and software
> products were giving "mom-and-pops" a place in the market.
> "The small shops are taking special effects business away from
> the big houses," he said.