muvee Makes Movie Magic with Red Hat

Industry: Automatic video editing
Geography: Singapore (HQ), USA
Opportunity: Create a scalable, high-performance IT infrastructure supporting a rapidly growing, innovative startup while minimizing system administration resources and hardware costs
Solution: Two Dell servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux and multiple open source software solutions
Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Network
Applications: Samba, MySQL, virtual Windows, various tracking and management software, and Intranet, email, and FTP applications
Hardware: Dell
Benefits: Gained tremendous flexibility in developing an infrastructure that accommodates continuous growth and innovation while optimizing resources and improving performance to virtually zero downtime

Background

The growing number of consumers who are using camcorders, video-capable digital cameras, and camera phones to capture video clips and pictures means that there is a corresponding demand for ways to share these digital experiences. However, video editing tools on the market mostly cater to a minority of video production professionals, and are often too complex, time-consuming, and expensive for everyday use. Singaporebased muvee Technologies addresses the growing need for consumer video creation with its flagship autoProducer PC software, which enables anyone to instantly turn videos and pictures into compelling, professional-quality productions in hundreds of different styles. muvee automatically adds themed visual effects to video highlights in sync with the user’s chosen music to create an emotionallyengaging, finished production that is ready for sharing. Each production is created in seconds–literally thousands of times faster than using conventional video editing tools. With global partners including Hewlett-Packard, Warner Music Group, Sony, Nikon, LG, and Olympus, the company is currently an internationally recognized leader in this new field of ‘Instant Personal Video’.

Opportunity

As a startup and rapidly growing technology leader, muvee needed to create a scalable, high-performance IT infrastructure right from the beginning. But in its early days, the company also faced limited resources that restricted IT investments. We needed to build our IT infrastructure with as little investment as possible, so reusing old equipment was essential, said Lo Sheng, muvee’s VP of Quality, Customization and Support. To best utilize its existing computers, muvee turned to a Linux operating system. Zero licensing fees and free, readily available tools and scripts made Linux an easy choice. However, the support limitations typical of Linux device drivers soon became apparent. In the early days, we had to hunt around for drivers and patch and rebuild the Linux kernel when we added new devices to the system. We needed a stable, easy to use platform, said Lo.

In addition to the inherent benefits of Linux, muvee required a system that would enable it to focus on growing the business while minimizing system administration efforts. As the company expanded, it began using a larger number of enterprise-level servers. With less than half a head count dedicated to system administration, we needed a technology partner that could provide solid support for server-level hardware and software, Lo said.

Solution

To fully optimize its resources and continue on its growth path, muvee chose to implement Red Hat Enterprise Linux. We decided to work with Red Hat because of its easy setup and widespread support. The system is simple to install, and Red Hat’s knowledge base is extensive, both on the Internet and on the company’s website, said Lo. Red Hat’s large user community ensures muvee easily finds answers to its questions and fixes to any issues it may encounter with the system. Red Hat’s partnership with Dell further reassured muvee. Both partners informed the company that it could call on them should any hardware compatibility issues arise.

muvee’s core system currently comprises two Dell ES servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The servers run multiple open source applications including Samba, MySQL, virtual Windows, and various tracking and management software. In addition, the servers host the company’s Intranet, email, and FTP applications. Almost all of our in-house applications are built on open source technologies such as PHP and MySQL. And with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating platform, we now have a complete open source system that provides better value and performance and protects our IT investment as we grow, said Lo.

Even though the company develops Windows applications, using Red Hat and open source technology made complete sense to muvee. We have one Windows 2003 server, but our entire backend runs Linux applications, Lo said. The reason: Linux supports the demanding requirements of the company, especially the ability to host large files. As a multimedia software development company, we have a lot of huge media files for test and development purposes, and our server handles over a terabyte of files with no file size limitation, said Lo.

We also have tens of gigabytes of email on our email server. To keep the operating environment current and efficiently manage the lifecycle of its servers, muvee invested in the Red Hat Network. The easy-to-use systems management platform enables muvee to view the status of its servers at all times and to download important patches, configuration changes, and updates. The Red Hat Network is a very convenient way to stay up-to-date with necessary security fixes and makes it very easy to maintain our servers remotely, said Lo. As the company grows, the platform will make it possible for muvee to increase the number of systems without investing in additional system administration resources.

Benefits

As a result of implementing Red Hat Enterprise Linux, muvee experienced improved performance due to the system’s increased stability. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is rock solid. Since we’ve been using Red Hat, we’ve experienced almost no system downtime. It’s more reliable than our office power supply. If we want to reduce downtime any further, we’ll need to resolve our power issues, said Lo.

With the abundance of open source software and knowledge available on the Internet, muvee gained tremendous flexibility in developing an infrastructure that accommodates continuous growth and innovation. Even as we increase the complexity of our infrastructure to include a number of new devices and software, we find that we now spend less time fiddling with kernel patching and rebuilding, said Lo. Utilizing available open source tools and scripts, muvee has already added storage area networks, disk arrays, and a number of new software suites to its existing system. Red Hat makes it possible for us to stay focused on improving our business, developing the innovative products and services that will maintain our leadership in the market, rather than struggling with our internal infrastructure, said Lo.

muvee views Red Hat as a solution partner that will continue to be part of the company’s future growth plans. We like Red Hat’s commitment to making Enterprise Linux a complete business solution for companies such as ours, Lo said. The company recently rolled out a new muvee Web service using a Red Hat Enterprise Linux server. Key to our success is a great team, great products, and a very creative and innovative working culture–and Red Hat is certainly part of that, said Lo.

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