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Computer peripherals industry

ROSS Technology's HyperSPARC Microprocessors Used in Historic "Toy Story" Animation

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures' revolutionary computer-animated film "Toy Story" relied on a massive rendering farm of 117 workstations, powered by ROSS Technology's 100 MHz and 125 MHz hyperSPARC microprocessors. This collaboration marked a significant milestone in the adoption of multiprocessing technology in the film and video production industries.

Key Takeaways:

  • The RenderFarm consisted of 87 dual-processor and 30 quad-processor SPARCstation 20 systems, utilizing ROSS Technology's hyperSPARC microprocessors.
  • Pixar chose the SPARCstation hardware platform from Sun Microsystems over competing systems from Silicon Graphics due to its cost-efficiencies and performance advantage on computationally-intensive rendering applications.
  • ROSS Technology has supplied microprocessors for Sun's multiprocessor workstations since the introduction of the SPARCserver 600 series in 1991.
  • The MBus standard, developed by Sun and ROSS, enabled multiprocessing and field-upgradeability of workstations, reducing the cost of running computationally-intensive applications.
  • The SPARC architecture and Solaris operating system have facilitated the migration of multiprocessing to servers and workstations, making it a significant segment of the server market.
  • Users of MBus-based systems can upgrade their machines by installing daughtercards containing higher-performing microprocessors, a process that takes 30 minutes or less.

Statistics:

  • 87 dual-processor and 30 quad-processor SPARCstation 20 systems were used in the RenderFarm.
  • Each SPARCstation system was powered by ROSS Technology's 100 MHz or 125 MHz hyperSPARC microprocessors.
  • The RenderFarm delivered two-to-four times the processing power of a single-processor-based system, at a price significantly less than the cost of an equal number of single-processor systems.
  • ROSS Supplying microprocessors for Sun's multiprocessor workstations since 1991.
  • The MBus standard has enabled multiprocessing and field-upgradeability of workstations.

Sources:

  • ROSS Technology official press release, Dec. 6, 1995.
  • Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios' partnership on "Toy Story".
  • Sun Microsystems and ROSS Technology's collaboration on the SPARC architecture and Solaris operating system.
  • SPARC International trademark information.
  • Nasdaq National Market System reference: RTEC.

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