High-performance computing plays a crucial role in the making of DreamWorks Animations unforgettable franchises. Hundreds of artists and engineers work for years to create billions of digital files that also require millions of compute hours. Imagine the magnitude of computation loading and processing.

This year, the film company picked Lenovo when it decided to update its legacy data center. Today, DreamWorks data center is equipped with the Lenovo Neptune liquid cooling technology that supports the animation leader’s passion for producing bigger, bolder films.

DreamWorks Animation’s contractors altered the plumbing and integrate the cooling systems so the system could quickly go live and start adding value. With the Lenovo Neptune liquid cooling system, water from existing sources is harnessed to cut power consumption by a third, all while allowing more computing power to be packed into the walls of the legacy data center.

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The logistics team leveraged Lenovo’s global supply chain reach to pre-order components with long lead times, staged them in Europe until they could be shipped, and worked with suppliers world-wide to provide the systems and synchronize their arrival.

For Lenovo, partnering with DreamWorks Animation offers a stage to showcase what high-performance computing can achieve for industries outside scientific research.

Lenovo Neptune

“It has to do with our confidence that not only can they understand our technology environment and help us with our infrastructural roadmap and strategy, but that they have the people that can appreciate our business and our culture,” said Kate Swanborg, SVP Technology Communications and Strategic Alliances, of the decision to partner with Lenovo.

With Lenovo’s Neptune liquid cooling system, water from existing sources is harnessed to cut power consumption by a third.

“The data center really is the heart of our environment,” said Jeff Wike, CTO, DreamWorks Animation. “As it beats and as it grows, it has to support all these different creative and operational ambitions.”

With people sheltered at home due to the pandemic, the demand for new animated content has skyrocketed, but the number of artists working on any given film stays the same, as do time constraints.  Meeting this demand calls for more efficiency and for powerful technological innovation.

“We’re currently at capacity in our data center, running at a 98% utilization rate. Any advancements we can add that optimize the efficiency of our on-premise resources will have a material impact on achieving our creative and business ambitions,” said Wike.

Lenovo pairs the technology with white-glove customer support, allowing DreamWorks Animation to navigate the IT complexity.