FilmLight Wins Four Academy Awards(R) Using Supermicro Technology
February 22 2010 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Super Micro
Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI), a leader in application-optimized,
high-performance server and storage solutions, today announced that
its hardware engineering helped FilmLight, a leading UK motion
picture entertainment company, earn four Academy Achievement Awards
today from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in
Beverly Hills. The awards, given out Saturday evening at the
Academy's Scientific and Technical Awards at The Beverly Wilshire
in Beverly Hills, recognized FilmLight's achievements in digital
film technology. The awards included: -- A Technical Achievement
Award to Mark Wolforth and Tony Sedivy for their contributions to
the development of the Truelight real-time 3-D look-up table
hardware system -- A Scientific and Engineering Award to Dr.
Richard Kirk for the overall design and development of the
Truelight real-time 3D look-up table hardware device and color
management software. -- A Scientific and Engineering Award to
Wolfgang Lempp, Theo Brown, Tony Sedivy and Dr. John Quartel for
the development of the Northlight film scanner. -- A Scientific and
Engineering Award to Steve Chapman, Martin Tlaskal, Darrin Smart
and Dr. James Logie for their contributions to the development of
the Baselight color correction system. FilmLight has quickly
developed from a start-up to become the widely recognized and
respected brand leader in digital film technology, a fact clearly
represented by this recognition. Supermicro hardware engineering is
at the heart of the system running FilmLight's Baselight System.
All Baselight systems run on Supermicro quad-socket and dual-socket
designs. Baselight FOUR and EIGHT are high-bandwidth,
high-performance creative workstations designed specifically to
accelerate the operation of Baselight to provide real-time
operation at up to 4K resolution. Using an innovative approach,
speed increases are achieved in direct proportion to the number of
processors, with no bottlenecks. "By harnessing the superb design
and function of the Supermicro product, we have been able to create
a solution which is an open and yet highly flexible and scalable
architecture," said Steve Chapman, FilmLight co-founder. "The key
benefit of using Supermicro is the ability to adapt to the latest
complimentary technologies such as hard disc, graphics and
processor products with the added bonus that generic hardware
brings a new economy." "The advancements in film technology that
FilmLight has delivered are incredible," said Charles Liang,
president and CEO of Supermicro. "We are honored that they have
chosen our server technology and that their work has been
recognized with such prestigious awards." "These awards represent
the culmination of many years of commitment and hard work by
FilmLight staff to develop these tools to support filmmaking in the
21st century," said FilmLight co-founder Wolfgang Lempp. "We feel
honored and humbled and wish to express our sincere gratitude to
the Academy and its members. These awards will serve as inspiration
and commitment in our ongoing effort to provide filmmakers with new
tools to create incredible imagery." In contrast to other digital
film production technologies, the multi-node Baselight architecture
provides true parallel operation of all hardware components,
substantially improving performance. Each node processes a strip of
the digital input frame and a proprietary video engine then
combines the processed strips to form a single frame. This method
of parallel processing removes the latency inherent with other
approaches and allows the full power of each node, including its
graphics processor, to be used all of the time. The result is
better product, faster production time, and better control over
creative content. FilmLight products are used by most leading post
production facilities and broadcasters worldwide, and have been
used in the production and re-mastering of hundreds of front-line
feature films, including Casino Royale, The Godfather Trilogy,
Minority Report, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pirates of
the Caribbean: At World's End and each of the films in the Harry
Potter series, as well as countless television shows and
commercials. FilmLight is a two-time recipient of the Queen's
Awards for Enterprise, the UK's most prestigious award for business
performance. Additionally, FilmLight founders Wolfgang Lempp and
Steve Chapman were awarded a Technical and Scientific Achievement
Award in 2005 by the British Kinematograph Sound & Television
Society (BKTS). About FilmLight FilmLight is a manufacturer of film
scanning, color grading and color management systems that are
helping to transform film and video post production and setting new
standards for quality, reliability and performance. The company's
products are in use every day by leading post production facilities
around the globe as essential components in their digital
intermediate, commercials and video production pipelines. Fuelled
by some of the industry's brightest minds, FilmLight is committed
to delivering innovative tools that allow creative professionals to
work at the forefront of the digital media revolution. Founded in
2002, FilmLight is headquartered in London, where its research,
design and manufacturing operations are centered. Sales and support
are conducted through regional service centers located in London,
Los Angeles, Chicago, Sydney, Auckland and Singapore, and through
qualified partners worldwide. About Super Micro Computer, Inc.
(NASDAQ:SMCI) Supermicro, the leader in server technology
innovation and green computing, provides customers around the world
with application-optimized server, workstation, blade, storage and
GPU systems. Based on its advanced Server Building Block Solutions,
Supermicro offers the most optimized selection for IT, datacenter
and HPC deployments. The company's system architecture innovations
include the Twin server, double-sided storage and SuperBlade®
product families. Offering the most comprehensive product lines in
the industry, Supermicro provides businesses of all sizes with
energy-efficient, earth-friendly solutions that deliver unmatched
performance and value. Founded in 1993, Supermicro is headquartered
in Silicon Valley with worldwide operations and manufacturing
centers in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit
www.supermicro.com. SMCI-F Supermicro, SuperBlade and Server
Building Block Solutions are registered trademarks of Super Micro
Computer, Inc. Oscar®, Academy Award® and A.M.P.A.S.® are
registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. DATASOURCE: Super Micro Computer, Inc. CONTACT: Michael
Kalodrich of Super Micro Computer, Inc., Web Site:
http://www.supermicro.com/
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