| Film, animation and television industry creatives should | | | | New technology |
| take notice: new technology is now available that | | | | This is where PCOIP comes in. PC-over-IP is a new |
| allows you to instantly share dailies in full HD, work | | | | technology that allows the desktop computer to, |
| with remote studios or work from home - while | | | | effectively, be moved to a central computer room |
| keeping your movies secure. | | | | so that the user only has a "thin client" on their desk. |
| * Keep large video and animation file sets in the | | | | This is the same concept as with standard thin |
| server room and off the desktop | | | | clients. The difference is that PC-over-IP uses a new |
| * Protect against pre-release piracy | | | | technology which allows for improved streaming |
| * Enable free seating for creative collaboration | | | | multimedia. |
| The technology has been available for a while which | | | | The performance of this technology is impressive. At |
| allows companies to centralise their desktop IT, | | | | a recent demo, the author saw a large monitor |
| removing the computers from under people's desks | | | | attached to a thin client the size of a VHS cassette |
| and replacing them with an energy efficient, small, | | | | (and mounted neatly to the back of the screen), |
| quiet box called a "thin client". A thin client is basically | | | | with 3D animation, CAD imaging and an animated film |
| a screen directly connected to the internet. | | | | streaming in realtime from a server in Canada. The |
| Remote working | | | | one concern is network bandwidth utilisation, and any |
| Many companies are choosing this strategy for their | | | | company considering this technology should make |
| desktop computing because of the advantages of | | | | provisions for a very fast network. |
| centralised management (no more crawling under | | | | This has some massive implications for the |
| desks fixing computers), as well as the ability to | | | | entertainment industry. |
| access a remote desktop from anywhere, allowing | | | | For animators, this means that remote animation |
| for remote and home working. | | | | teams working in different continents can now have |
| Technical limitations of thin clients | | | | centralised desktops located at the company |
| Hardware manufacturers are well aware of the | | | | headquarters, all working on the same servers and |
| current limitations of their technology, especially in | | | | with all data stored centrally - and closer to the |
| terms of displaying streaming multimedia. Although | | | | render farms. |
| standard thin client technology works really well for | | | | You can share dailies in HD without file uploads. |
| 90% of the cases where companies need to | | | | Because the compression used in this technology |
| perform the usual office functions, there are some | | | | doesn't effect the final pixel colour, you can review |
| industries which have had technical issues which | | | | dailies in native playback. |
| prevent them from fully adopting thin client | | | | You can relocate to your home studio. Because the |
| technology. This is especially the case for the | | | | experience of working on this system is just as it |
| entertainment industry, which relies heavily on having | | | | would be in the office, you're no longer tied to your |
| instant access to large files of content rich | | | | desk at work. |
| multimedia. | | | | |