OmniCorp (pseudonym) is a leading company in media and entertainment, known for turning visionary ideas into reality through creative collaborations and cutting-edge engineering. OmniCorp’s clients include internationally renowned artists, cultural institutions, scientific organizations, and iconic global events.
Background
OmniCorp’s Design Team, spanning offices in the US and Europe, specializes in precision engineering solutions using AutoCAD. They faced challenges with outdated hardware for streaming services and scalability issues with their on-premises VDI solution.
Challenges
The OmniCorp design team had been relying on a VMware Horizon-based VDI solution that was not scalable and incurred significant capital expenditures for purchasing graphic-intensive host machines, resulting in higher CapEx. It was evident that a modern solution was needed to address these challenges and propel the company forward.
Solution
The High Plains Computing (HPC) team was engaged to provide an AWS-based solution capable of scaling and performing effectively on a global scale for precision engineering design work.
HPC promptly established a pilot project using AWS WorkSpaces (a secure desktop-as-service solution), AWS FSx (managed MS Windows file server), and AWS Directory Service (managed AD service). Leveraging these technologies, the OmniCorp IT team could deploy AWS G4DN instances on-demand, featuring 16 CPUs, a GPU, and 64 GB of memory. The AutoCAD application exhibited exceptional performance as additional users joined the team and more WorkSpaces were launched.
The High Plains Computing team successfully migrated project data files to a high-performance FSx for Windows file share. This enabled all AutoCAD teams to collaborate seamlessly on extensive design projects.
Transition from High-End desktops to AWS WorkSpaces
Alongside VMware hosts, OmniCorp’s IT team had established a fleet of high-powered engineering workstations utilized by end-users through screen streaming services. However, remote users from Europe and the MENA regions consistently encountered suboptimal experiences with these streaming services, exacerbated by the aging hardware. AWS Workspaces effectively supplanted this fleet, addressing both the capital expenditures (CapEx) and operational expenditures (OpEx) concerns.
Further Opportunities
The implementation of Amazon WorkSpaces provided unparalleled flexibility and scalability compared to other existing on-prem VDI solutions. This encouraged other departments to explore AWS WorkSpaces, including the graphics rendering teams that require high-performance GPU-enabled computing resources on demand. The HPC team is collaborating with these teams to implement AWS WorkSpaces-based VDI solutions further.
(Note: OmniCorp is a fictitious name.)
Testimonials
“We were very pleased with the performance of AWS workspaces-based desktops and our AutoCAD design files open fast, design rendering and rotation are super fast and everything worked”
“Workspaces provided very simple and intuitive management interface for our IT engineers as they can quickly create application images and select appropriate compute and storage resources and provision an AWS workspace for anyone within OmniCorp”
