AMPD Announces Launch of New AMPD 'Flexible Edge' Product with Customer Versatile Media
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 19, 2021 / AMPD Ventures Inc. ("AMPD" or the "Company")(CSE:AMPD)(FRA:2Q0) is pleased to announce the launch of the new AMPD ‘Flexible Edge' system with its first customer being Versatile Media ("Versatile"), who will be using the system to help pioneer new technologies in Virtual Production for the media and entertainment industries.
Image: Versatile Media is a pioneer in the field of virtual production for film and television. They employ the very latest technology to enable production teams to create cutting-edge digital content. Versatile Media is in the final stages of opening its end-to-end Virtual Production facility in Vancouver, BC. The studio includes two real time Virtual Production stages complimented by a highly experienced creative team.
The AMPD Flexible Edge product has been carefully designed to expand AMPD's High Performance Computing at the Edge strategy to include customer premises as well as AMPD data centres. Even with the latest in high-speed connectivity, AMPD realized that there are certain use cases where in-studio infrastructure deployment is still the optimal solution. AMPD Flexible Edge has been created to allow the Company to deploy components of its cloud environment onto customer premises, while the equipment remains connected to the hosted cloud environment in its data centres. Flexible Edge provides customers with the ultimate combination of high-performance compute, while maintaining the convenience of a centrally managed environment and the attractiveness of an op-ex business model.
The first customer to deploy the AMPD Flexible Edge solution is Versatile Media, a creative virtual production studio with a brand new 12,000 sq ft purpose-built facility in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Versatile specializes in cutting-edge, real-time, virtual production techniques that represent a true paradigm shift in how digital content is being created. In virtual production, video game engine technology, such as Epic Games' Unreal Engine, is used to display digital environments, complete with many visual effects already in place, on large LED walls. The creative team can make adjustments to elements such as the time of day, lighting, and place assets such as digital characters and scenery in real time while they shoot actors performing in front of the screens. The process enables the creative team to ensure their vision is being realized in real time, and significantly reduces the amount of time and effort required in post-production whilst giving creative freedom to directors.
"Virtual production requires a more advanced level of digital infrastructure compared with traditional production, and the latency sensitivity of the workloads makes the nature of that infrastructure extremely important," explains Steven Read, Head of Studio for Versatile Media Vancouver. "AMPD is exceptionally capable of provisioning this type of infrastructure for us and the advent of their Flexible Edge product gives us the best of all worlds. It allows for a remotely managed cloud environment that actually resides right in the studio, truly bringing cloud to the ultimate edge."
AMPD's technological expertise across animation, visual effects, and video game development means that it is ideally positioned to help studios like Versatile Media with their virtual production infrastructure due to the unique combination of visual effects and video game technologies required to make these studios work.
"The real-time nature of virtual production meant that we had to find new, innovative ways of bringing our cloud platform right into the studio to be able to power components such as the giant LED walls that require huge amounts of high-powered GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) to operate," said Anthony Brown, CEO of AMPD. "These systems are so latency sensitive that the only way to meet the compute requirements at the current time is to deploy a platform right in the studio. For customers like Versatile, Flexible Edge is a way to deploy a high-performance cloud platform right in their studio. Studios have the option to return some or all of that platform back to the data centre as needs evolve, and even ship it to utilize on location as necessary while paying the same monthly fee."
Working with tech giants such as Nvidia Corporation (NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) and Intel Corporation (INTC) has allowed AMPD to design state-of-the-art systems specifically capable of handling this tremendous computing workload. Virtual production is just one example of how these technologies are being used to create the next generation of digital content. The Flexible Edge system not only provides compelling solutions to technology requirements, but as a service billed on a monthly basis, also allows studios to take advantage of an OpEx business model and reduce capital expenditures.
About Versatile Media
Versatile Media Vancouver is a creative production studio that is in the final stages of opening a brand new 12,000 sq. ft purpose-built virtual production facility in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Versatile is the North American arm of Versatile Media Asia, a company with over 30 years of experience in full digital movie production, and a pioneer in virtual production techniques. www.versatile.media
About AMPD Ventures Inc.
AMPD specializes in providing high-performance cloud and computing solutions for low-latency applications, including video games and eSports, digital animation and visual effects, and big data collection, analysis and visualization.
For further information please contact AMPD Investor Relations:
Tel: 604-332-3329 ext. 3
ir@ampd.tech
https://www.ampd.tech
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
/s/ "Anthony Brown"
Anthony Brown
CEO & Director
Tel: 604-332-3329
AMPD Ventures Inc.