SAN RAFAEL, Calif., April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Autodesk(R), Inc. (Nasdaq: ADSK) today announced that early adopters of its Autodesk Stone(R) Shared storage area network (SAN) include leading post-production facilities Optimus (Chicago), LaserPacific Media Corporation (Hollywood) and Century Communication (India). Launched in September 2004, Stone Shared is a high-bandwidth, fully scalable, real-time SAN for high-quality, non-compressed film and television post-production.

Stone Shared scales to provide multi-user collaboration with simultaneous access to multiple uncompressed 4K, 2K, high-definition and standard-definition projects from a single storage location within the facility.

Stone Shared: High-Bandwidth Storage Area Network for Multi-User Collaboration

Knox McCormac, director of operations at Optimus, said, "We've standardized on Autodesk Media and Entertainment's solutions so that we never have to ask, 'Can we do that?'. Stone Shared has taken the headache out of our collaborative workflow by providing all users with easy access to centralized data throughout the creative process. Adopting Stone Shared is a strategic move for us. As post-production in film, broadcast and television gets more complex and data-centric, we need this future-proofed, scalable shared storage environment." Optimus recently completed television spots for Circuit City, Gatorade, Wrigley's and Kellogg's.

LaserPacific Media Corporation is the digital intermediate and post-production arm of the Eastman Kodak Company. The facility has worked on numerous feature film and television projects for Paramount, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox. Leon Silverman, president of LaserPacific Media, said, "Today's data-centric world changes everything. The creative post-production toolkit is becoming far more powerful, and as a result, increasingly complex. The movement of data in the digital post-production process is much more complicated than moving a roll of film. Our goal is to make the new digital post process as easy as working with film, with all of the power of this new creative palette. Stone Shared's real-time, centralized data hub eases the process by allowing multiple artists simultaneous access to high-resolutions image files."

With more than 250 employees, Pixion, a Century Communication Ltd. venture, is one of the fastest growing entertainment services companies in India. Pixion adopted Stone Shared in order to have access to any data at anytime. All data is scanned and then shared through Stone Shared, providing a tape-less workflow that ensures faster turnaround and eliminates generation loss in transferring and processing. Pixion offers design, production, post-production and technology services for both film and television.

For more information on Stone Shared, visit www.discreet.com/stoneshared.

About Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc. is wholly focused on ensuring that great ideas are turned into reality. With six million users, Autodesk is the world's leading software and services company for the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, media, entertainment and wireless data services fields. Autodesk's solutions help customers create, manage, and share their data and digital assets more effectively. As a result, customers turn ideas into competitive advantage by becoming more productive, streamlining project efficiency, and maximizing profits.

Founded in 1982, Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California. For additional information about Autodesk, please visit www.autodesk.com.

NOTE: Autodesk and Stone are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Contact: Roohi Saeed, 514-961-7296

Email: roohi.saeed@autodesk.com

SOURCE Autodesk, Inc.
04/07/2005
CONTACT: Roohi Saeed of Autodesk, Inc., +1-514-961-7296, or roohi.saeed@autodesk.com
Web site: http://www.autodesk.com