HP Blade Serves; Behind the magic of Avatar

March, 2010

The HP ProLiant BL2×220c BladeServers used to render Avatar provide industry-leading power efficiency and performance at an affordable cost. Customers have praised the product for creating a "stable and scalable environment," and noted that it "makes virtualization work fantastic." In addition, customers have said it enables them to reduce their energy usage and associated carbon footprint while not compromising performance.

The HP team worked extensively with Weta Digital to run the system at optimum power efficiency, resulting in dramatic power and cooling savings.

Through water-cooled radiators, closed rack space, and passive rooftop heat exchangers, the data center stayed cool while running full time and often at full capacity, with no air conditioning. The cooling cost was equivalent to that of turning on a few electric water pumps.

Raves for Avatar

To date, in addition to breaking records at the box office, Avatar has been nominated for nine Critics Choice Movie Awards and four Golden Globe awards, including Best Picture.

Critics have also given the film high marks and praise:

"For years to come, it will define what movies can achieve."
Time Magazine

"An ambitious, fully immersive cinematic experience."
Washington Post

"Avatar's shock and awe demand to be seen. You've never experienced anything like it, and neither has anyone else."
Los Angeles Times

"What spectacle! Avatar is dizzying, enveloping, vertiginous ... I ran out of adjectives an hour into its 161 minutes."
New York Magazine

"Combining beyond-state-of-the-art moviemaking with a tried-and-true storyline- and a gamer-geek sensibility... the movie quite simply rocks."
Philadelphia Inquirer