Netflix teases desktops-as-a-service offering
- Reference: 1595230145
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/20/netflix_netfx_desktop_as_a_service/
- Source link:
It’s not, repeat not, a sign that Netflix has any ambitions to challenge Microsoft, Citrix, Teradici, Virtuozzo or VMware as a mainstream provider of virtual desktops.
The Register offers that analysis because Netflix’s [1]announcement of the service names it “NetFX” and describes it as “a cloud-based platform that will make it easier for vendors, artists and creators to connect and collaborate on visual effects (VFX) for our titles.”
So totally not a mainstream DaaS even if the building blocks are identical. Netflix says the service offers “virtual workstations, integrated storage and full access to secure rendering in a connected environment” and is intended to “provide collaborators frictionless access to infrastructure to meet Netflix’s demand for VFX services around the world as our library of original content continues to grow.”
“Vendors will be able to contribute artist resources to optimize capacity and individuals can participate on-demand,” Netflix’s post says, adding “And this work can take place safely in a virtual environment, which is ever more important during the global pandemic.”
A friend of The Register who works in TV production suggested the mention of safe virtual is a nod to the fact that the VFX industry relies on high-end workstations that animators may not currently be able to access due to COVID-19 movement lockdowns. While it is possible to remotely access such machines, the experience of doing so is seldom sufficient for animators.
By spinning up cloud workstations, Netflix thinks it can offer a better experience that helps its suppliers and helps its production pipeline (and maybe makes a few workstation vendors nervous).
AMD pushes 64-core 4.2GHz Ryzen Threadripper Pro workstation processors [2]READ MORE
Netflix can conceivably deliver a satisfactory experience for animators because it is known to be a colossal customer of AWS, which offers a desktop-as-a-service product called “WorkSpaces”. One WorkSpaces instance type is called “GraphicsPro” and packs 16 vCPUs, 122 GB of RAM, a GPU and 8GB of video memory. That’s a decent spec for many graphics applications.
It’s also possible to create a custom WorkSpaces image, so it is not hard to imagine Netflix has created a WorkSpace full of its preferred software for creating and sharing VFX.
Netflix’s post says the service is currently offered to some of its Canadian suppliers and in 2021 will reach India.
“As the platform develops, we hope to offer NetFX in regions where infrastructure can be deployed,” the post adds. ®
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[1] https://netflixtechblog.com/empowering-the-visual-effects-community-with-the-netfx-platform-35fdf604909c
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/15/amd_ryzen_threadripper_pro_64_core_workstations/
[3] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
FX-workstation-as-a-service would be more fitting I guess
> While it is possible to remotely access such machines, the experience of doing so is seldom sufficient for animators.
It's a "weakest link" problem, and in this case there are three links: The real workstation on which the work resides, the network connection, and the local computer in front of which the user sits.
Now the only part the Netflix system might be able to really improve upon is the network connection, and then only parts of it (it doesn't control the network all the way to the user's local computer). That's really not much, definitely not worth wasting money for.
Which means that this offer's sole interest is in its collaboration features, where anybody anywhere can just log in and work with you without some overworked sysadmin having to set up temporary accounts, firewall rules and all that, and also the possibility to set up new workstations more or less instantly when hiring temps. Nothing to do with Covid-19 and remote working (except for the happy few who have fiber to the premises).
There was an interesting Reg article a while back about the storage and network systems used by one of the many VFX houses that worked on Game of Thrones. If someone could dig out the link, it might make an interesting to juxtapose it against Netflick's Virtual Desktop service.
My main takeaway from the older Reg article was that many productions use several VFX houses spread around the globe - either because of the scale of production or because different VFX houses have different strengths - and a lot of data needs to be shared between them.