Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/426320
22 cgw n o v e m b e r . d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 4 forefront in the adoption of cloud-based technologies. They're hungry, nimble, and technically savvy, making them more likely to be willing to take the plunge on a fundamentally different computing paradigm. And more importantly, they're more likely to pay attention to the implementation details, details that could make or break the prospects of the entire proposition. Specifically, hopeful adopters need to take the time to assess and carefully engineer the network upon which they expect to create virtually hosted workstations that can match the experience a desktop ma- chine can deliver. Clouds that serve up data today tend to be good at two things: latency-insensitive operations, like video streaming, and latency-tolerant operations, in which a half-second delay, for example, won't ruin the experi- ence. Unfortunately, the jobs at the heart of content creation – interactive, iterative processes like modeling, animation, and visual effects – are not at all la- tency-tolerant. Rather, it's quite the opposite, and interactive, high-resolution 3D graphics demands a network that com- bines high bandwidth and short round-trip response times. Excessive latency doesn't just dampen productivity, it's down- right counterproductive. We've all experienced the frustration of talking over each other on a phone or videoconference, with long lags from speaking to being heard. Now imagine the same delay from when your cursor ro- tates a character model to the time you see it move on screen. It won't just slow up your day, it will thoroughly waste it. The burden of all that pixel bandwidth placed on networks only complicates matters. High-resolution, high-complex- ity CG imagery is a notorious bandwidth hog. Consider that one raw 1080p file with nominal pixel precision (that is, no HDR) can consume roughly 2 gb/sec of network bandwidth. Compress those, you say? For sure, but do so carelessly with just any lossy codec, and you've immediately made the solution a non-starter for all kinds of content creation applications. The bottom line is that a cloud-hosted computing topology like Jellyfish's can't be just thrown together on any old network. Do that, and that promise of the cloud won't lead to shorter schedules and improved productivity, but instead will turn to an exercise in frustration. The good news? Implementations like Jellyfish's are a solid proof of concept, and they show that while low-latency, high-bandwidth networks are not ubiquitous, they can be secured with con- fidence and reliability without breaking the bank. Jellyfish invested in a 100 gb GRAPHICS DESKTOPS HOSTED IN THE CLOUD ENABLE ACCESS ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. Source: Teradici and Jon Peddie Research EXCESSIVE LATENCY DOESN'T JUST DAMPEN PRODUCTIVITY, IT'S DOWNRIGHT COUNTERPRODUCTIVE . JELLYFISH'S CAREFULLY ENGINEERED AND PLENTIFULLY RESOURCED CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE – NOT JUST ANY OLD NETWORK WILL DO. Source: Jellyfish Studios