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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

3-D May Spell Jobs for N.M.

By Michael Hartranft
Journal Staff Writer
      New Mexico stands to gain nearly 100 new high-technology jobs under two commercial partnerships with the state's supercomputer program, including a pioneering venture with film studio giant, DreamWorks Animation.
       Backdropped by Encanto, the state's supercomputer at Intel in Rio Rancho and the heart of the New Mexico Computer Application Center, Gov. Bill Richardson announced that the Cerelink Digital Media Group of New Mexico is teaming up with DreamWorks to explore “cloud computing” or remote rendering for film production. The project would create about 30 jobs in its early phase.
       The governor also introduced the Insigniam Innovation Discovery Center, a health-care consulting business that recently moved to Albuquerque from San Francisco. It plans to use the supercomputer to develop solutions for improving health-care quality and value, Richardson said.
       Insigniam plans to hire 60 to 65 people this year and could expand to 300 over the next four years, managing partner Lee Akay said.
       Former Intel employee and Cerelink managing partner Richard Draper said the trend in computer-generated films is moving toward 3-D. As such productions require millions of computing hours, there is a need for cost-effective computing capacity. “The answer is New Mexico,” he said.
       Cerelink and DreamWorks — whose films include “Shrek” and “Kung Fu Panda” — will jointly explore developing technology and infrastructure for the studio to be able to render computer-generated 3D films in New Mexico.
       The NMCAC worked with UNM, the state Department of Information Technology, National LambdaRail and Cerelink to test an ultra-high-speed link between New Mexico and Hollywood.
       “As far as we know, no motion picture has been rendered remotely, so this is truly an R and D effort,” Draper said. The initial phase will take a few months.
       “At that point, when DreamWorks and Cerelink are satisfied that part works for remote cloud-computing, then that's when we start looking at the next phase, which is to hire folks to start doing animation here as well as the rendering that would be done from the studios in Los Angeles,” he told the Journal.
       He said about 30 jobs would be created during that time.
       Draper said Cerelink will not use the supercomputer in the first phase, but that it holds potential for animation companies down the road.
       

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