Sohonet, the global experts in connected cloud services for the media and entertainment industry, announced that leading industry figures from Electric Theatre Collective (ETC), Milk Visual Effects, Amazon Web Services, Pixit Media and Teradici will be joining Sohonet’s Virtual Workstations panel during FMX, Europe’s premier conference for the digital visual arts.

The panel, which will be held April 25 from 16:00–17:00 CEST, will focus on how and why VFX companies such as Milk and ETC are looking to host their workstations in the cloud, with a focus on block and file-based storage they require. Details will be shared on how it can be achieved securely and cost effectively, whilst providing a seamless and enhanced experience for the visual effects artist.

Both Milk and ETC were quick to identify how access to “unlimited compute power” could drive the creative process to reach new heights, and both companies utilize Sohonet FastLane to securely leverage public cloud platforms, enabling them to deliver award-winning work, on schedule and in budget.

Ben Roder, CTO of Sohonet said, “We’re extremely excited to welcome both ETC and Milk to our panel at FMX. We see that the industry is now truly embracing the power of cloud computing with speed and enthusiasm, considering how radical it seemed not so long ago. At FMX 2016 and 2017 our focus was largely on rendering in the cloud. Hosted VFX workstations in the cloud is a logical next step.”

Sohonet will also be joined by leading storage-solutions provider Pixit Media, who will offer invaluable insight into how VFX companies can scale operations, multiply workloads, reduce latency in cloud use cases, and improve performance issues. Teradici will also be on hand to explain how their end-to-end cloud-ready solution is enabling companies to access a high-powered VFX workstation from anywhere and what this means for their businesses.

Head of Systems at Milk Visual Effects Dave Goodbourn said, “Having the ability to expand our resources at the drop of a hat is essential. Working with Sohonet and Pixit to build a pipeline not just for our render needs but workstations too has helped us in working on projects that would previously have been beyond the scope of a facility of our size.”

Chris Bond, founder of Thinkbox, an Amazon Company, agrees, “The Sohonet Media Network and their FastLane service, paired with Amazon EC2 Spot Instances, helps deliver more value for our customers. We want to help creative teams around the world create compelling content by providing them with the power of Amazon Web Services and Thinkbox Deadline. The addition of technology from Pixit and Teradici creates a compelling combination of performance and value.”

ETC’s Head of Engineering Samuel Reid said, “We’re delighted to be joining Sohonet at FMX this year. Our joint work with them, AWS, Pixit and Teradici have allowed us to utilize the cloud and cloud-based tools to meet tight deadlines, access global talent and match our OPEX with our clients’ proposals. We are looking forward to sharing the results with the FMX audience in Stuttgart.”

For more details on the panel and FMX 2018, click here.