Dell today announced that multi award-winning,[1] London-based animation production company Blue Zoo has implemented a robust Dell infrastructure to support development of the highly successful children’s book Q Pootle 5 into an animated TV series to be broadcast internationally, as well as enable the studio’s expansion into film.

With an animation portfolio including Tree Fu Tom for the BBC and Olive the Ostrich for Nickelodeon, Blue Zoo have experience working with some of Europe’s largest broadcasters. However, upon winning the Q Pootle 5 contract for Snapper Films, Blue Zoo needed to increase its render farm architecture and workstation capacity, and fast.

Blue Zoo turned to Dell to deliver a robust, reliable technology infrastructure with scale and stability, allowing the team to work faster and better, while saving money. The solution included powerful and reliable workstations to be used by animators as well as high performance servers to drive the software.

The Dell Precision T1650 workstations were rolled out across the Blue Zoo design, animation and editing teams, replaced the legacy HP Z series. These Dell workstations ensured that those working on intensive projects had access to quiet yet powerful processors, delivering optimum performance and minimal distraction. Office space was also maximised due to the small form-factor of the machines - essential at a time of team expansion and soaring London office rental costs.

Improved switching with Dell Networking has helped boost data throughout the network and provided high speed access to images for high-definition editing which has led to faster completion of projects, often beating exceptionally tight deadlines. Additionally, Dell PowerEdge C servers double the render-farm power without increasing server footprint or energy consumption. To provide peace of mind and protect against any delays, overall infrastructure performance is maintained by a range of Dell Services, including Dell ProSupport Mission Critical with four-hour on-site support.

The deployment shows how integrated technology solutions are helping creative businesses develop and grow. With the Dell Precision workstations and render farm, Blue Zoo is now on schedule to complete its latest TV series and is planning to expand into film as a result of
its improved animation capabilities.

Quotes:
“ Dell understood the challenges we faced and came back to us with a resolution. As a result, we’re bringing film-quality animation to the TV screen with our Dell-powered render farm and it’s delivering Hollywood-style CGI for much smaller budgets,” said Tom Box, Co-founder
and Director, Blue Zoo. “The fact that we have managed to increase productivity, improve animation quality and expand our business, yet halve energy consumption and cost seamlessly is incredible – and it feels like it’s the start of an exciting journey for us.”

“When you consider that each second of film comprises of over a hundred images and you have to animate hours of film in a matter of months, you get an idea of what studios like us have to deliver and how important it is for us to have stable hardware and a technology infrastructure that we can rely upon,” added Box.

“We are pleased to partner with an award-winning animation studio to provide the technology infrastructure to fuel their growth and expansion in a highly competitive industry,” said Andy Rhodes, executive director, Dell Precision Workstations. “With Dell Precision workstations, which are designed and certified to run top digital content creation software, Blue Zoo artists have the high-performance, reliability and quiet systems they need to deliver award-winning creative and meet tight deadlines without interruption.”