The VFX industry will soon have another cloud-computing option tailored to its needs, as GPL Technologies prepares a new offering expanding its VFXnow unit’s hardware rentals to include rendering, storage and other resources via a private network. Felix Fissel, formerly global head of IT at VFX house at Pixomondo, will be overseeing the launch of cloud services as VP of global operations at VFXnow.
VFXnow calls its business “hardware-as-a-service,” referring to the pairing of rental hardware including rendering solutions, storage nodes and workstations with consultation and IT support. The company’s cloud-based services will include rendering capacity, workstations and similar technology for VFX firms looking to scale up without devoting additional real estate to physical computing devices.
“We’re expanding the concept of hardware-as-a-service,” Fissel said in a prepared statement. “Companies often need to add capacity quickly but lack physical space to store extra rendering nodes and storage systems. Our clients will be able to access as many render nodes as they need, instantly, without worrying about things like space, power and cooling.”
