Linux / Open Source

Founded in 2002 by John Williams of Vanguard Films - the producer behind the CGI animation blockbusters Shrek and Shrek 2 - Vanguard Animation is creating Valiant, the first full-length animated film to be produced entirely in the U.K. To produce the film efficiently and cost-effectively, Vanguard needed to equip its animators with the right tools for the job, without having to worry about the underpinning technology - all while reducing rendering times and making rendering capacity available as necessary. Vanguard turned to IBM and its Business Partner ERA (European RAID Arrays) to implement an IBM Digital Content Creation solution. tech news

The University at Albany, State University of New York is a nationally recognized public research university with ambitious goals. As scientific research escalated and computations pushed standard technology limits, individual departments couldn't afford high-performance computing (HPC) systems. UAlbanys disparate computing infrastructure and distributed support became costly. By building a shared HPC infrastructure based on grid computing technology to process trillions of calculations in a mere second, the university is synergizing physical and intellectual resources. The new infrastructure is based on an IBM eServer pSeries 655 server, featuring 64 IBM POWER4+ processors as eight servers that run independently or in parallel on a 64-bit SUSE Linux operating platform. tech news

Managers at Electro-Matic needed to find the most cost-effective way to expand the company's operations and ensure high availability of its ERP system to meet customer demand for its automation control products and services. Companies need to integrate their business processes into a flexible operation so they can reduce risk and do business at a higher level of productivity, cost control, capital efficiency and financial predictability. Electro-Matic replaced its non-IBM server with a Linux-based IBM eServer xSeries 255 to keep its operations up and running. It also upgraded its software to QAD's MFG/PRO eB2 to take advantage of greater function and ease-of-use. tech news

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, (the Institute, www.met.no) is responsible for short- and- longrange weather and ocean forecasting for Norway, and also provides daily predictions of pollution levels. They needed to deliver more accurate weather, ocean and pollution forecasts, more frequently and develop weather forecasts and climate models for national and international customers. The Institute chose a cluster of 40 IBM eServer Model 325 servers, each with dual AMD Opteron processors running Red Hat Linux. The cluster is linked using Myrinet low-latency highspeed networking technology, and managed with Scali Manage, from IBM Business Partner Scali. tech news

As one of the world's largest fishing tackle companies, Pure Fishing has reeled in millions of loyal customers around the globe. Each acquisition expanded the network of customers that help place Pure Fishing products into the hands of consumers. The company feared that as this network expanded, its ability to remain responsive could be diminished. In order to deliver the multifaceted solution Pure Fishing needed, eOneGroup was brought onto the scene. They are delivering an extranet that will empower Pure Fishing's customer service and field sales with wide-ranging, self-service capabilities, including order entry and inquiry, shipment tracking, and account inquiry. The extranet will automate once manual business processes. tech news