A consortium of Vancouver-based production, technology and media companies has joined forces to launch RenderCloud, a super-computer processing hub that could position Vancouver studios to land some of the film industry’s biggest film projects.
A partnership between the Vancouver Studio Group, Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC), Scalar Decisions and BC Film and Media, RenderCloud will dramatically increase local studios’ server space and allow them to render in the cloud and use high-speed network interconnectivity to share work on large projects.
“The opening of RenderCloud makes us competitive with such cities as London and New Zealand and puts Vancouver into consideration for the next generation of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings productions,” said Catherine Winder, president and executive producer of Rainmaker Entertainment Inc. (TSX: RNK) and spokeswoman for Vancouver Studio Group – one of the partners behind the project.
“RenderCloud will help all of us to keep Vancouver firmly positioned as the epicentre for production whether that’s feature films’ special effects, animation or gaming,” she said.
Scalar Decisions, working closely with GNWC and the Vancouver Studio Group, crafted the business model and secured the space, power, bandwidth and financing for the venture.
Located at GNWC, RenderCloud is initially slated to house over 600 servers. Scalar expects to expand it to 1,500 servers by this summer and, long term, 5,000 servers.
Jenny Wagler
@JennyWagler_BIV