September 3, 2008


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

XDT introduces catapult bridge™, Ultra-fast access to catapult™ via NFS and CIFS

Melbourne, Australia – September 3, 2008 - XDT Pty. Ltd., a developer of advanced software-based solutions for digital film, today introduced catapult bridge™. This new addition to the catapult™ family of products provides NFS and CIFS client access to frame sequences stored on any catapult™ system.

catapult's frame sequence scheduling and prioritizing is maintained while catapult bridge™ is accessing files, allowing high-throughput streaming frame access to operate concurrently with high-IOPS random access. A low latency (less than 50 microsecond), non-volatile cache with extremely high IOPS (over 120,000 random read/write), provides concurrent access operations for NFS and CIFS clients at the level of a high-end SAN.

Pipeline Diagram
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By employing aggressive frame level read-ahead, render node CPU's are kept from stalling while waiting on network storage I/O. Small block read/write operations from software renderers are kept away from centralized storage until file access has ceased. Intelligent frame level write-back ensures that sequences are written back to catapult™ in optimal order for streaming. There is no need to re-order sequences.

“catapult bridge™ represents yet another milestone in our growing portfolio of solutions for customers working with high resolution uncompressed frame based data”, says Erik Otto, Managing Director at XDT Pty Ltd. “catapult bridge™ enables customers to get the maximum performance from their render farms whilst maintaining the unique and powerful features of catapult™ systems. Customers are now able to review incoming uncompressed rendered frames in real-time without further copy to a dedicated system.” For more information on catapult bridge™, please visit www.xdt.com.au or contact info@xdt.com.au.

About XDT Pty Ltd:

XDT Pty. Ltd. is a developer of advanced software-based solutions for digital film. Its unique portfolio of products and services redefine acquisition, digital intermediate and post-production workflows. XDT’s products deliver unprecedented performance for point-to-point media transfers and high resolution uncompressed frame review over standard networking infrastructure. Its catapult™ familiy of products has quickly gained global recognition throughout the industry.

XDT has developed a comprehensive suite of custom applications and tools to support the set up of entire production pipelines and enhance existing infrastructure. Helping customers to achieve their creative objectives through innovative, custom developed solutions is XDT's primary focus.