News release

Compaq Technology Powers ICE AGE
Twentieth Century Fox's New Animated Film

AlphaServer and StorageWorks Products Provide Animation Realism

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today announced that Compaq's high performance AlphaServer systems and StorageWorks products were the technologies used to power the animation process for ICE AGE, the high-tech, full-length animated film just released by Twentieth Century Fox.

From Blue Sky Studios and Oscar-winning director Chris Wedge, ICE AGE is a heart-warming, computer animated feature film involving prehistoric family characters set amidst a time when glaciers covered the earth. Developed entirely using computer generated images (CGI), Blue Sky Studios utilized a sophisticated rendering technology which was crucial to convey the unsurpassed realism of the landscape and prehistoric characters shown in the film.

Blue Sky Studio's proprietary rendering technology, known as CGI Studio, requires high levels of computing performance and massive power. For example, the time to render a single frame ranged from eight to as much as 30 hours, and every minute of film required rendering 1,440 frames of animation.

To meet the technological demands of the animation process, a total of 512 Compaq AlphaServer DS10L systems were configured into 13 RenderWalls, running Compaq's Tru64 UNIX operating system. In addition, Compaq's TruCluster Server clustering system was used with multiple AlphaServer ES40 systems providing more than three Terabytes of clustered storage for production. The system was based on Compaq's StorageWorks scalable architecture, which allowed additional disks, controllers and cache to be added incrementally when required.

In the movie, the advanced animation technology paid off with realistic effects for the prehistoric characters and their environment, replicating the matrix of colors, textures, and shadows experienced in the real world. Attention to detail is extremely evident throughout the film, and this contributes significantly to the film's unique look.

Blue Sky Studios Executives Laud Compaq

John Donkin, associate producer at Blue Sky Studios, said, "Using Compaq technology on our first all-computer generated feature film, ICE AGE, has enabled us to do something which wouldn't be possible otherwise. We are using some of the most sophisticated rendering technology in existence, and we are able to meet our rendering demands for both full-on high resolutions final renders as well as allowing us to have a better and shorter design cycle—all of which results in higher quality on the screen."

Carl Ludwig, vice president of Research and Development at Blue Sky Studios, said, "Compaq's technology gives us computational strength on a reasonable number of processors at a cost that makes economic sense. Coupled with Compaq's Tru64 UNIX, which allows us to network all these processors together effectively, this tremendous increase in power will place the studio firmly in the forefront of digital content creation and innovation."

Blue Sky Studios has been working with Compaq technology since 1998 and this has included the earlier creation of the Oscar-winning short film feature, BUNNY, directed by Chris Wedge. Wedge also directed ICE AGE, which is Twentieth Century Fox's first venture in high-tech animation cinema.

Bill Blake, Compaq's vice president of High Performance Technical Computing, said, "Compaq technology has provided superior performance and the computing power for a number of well-known Hollywood films in the past few years, and we're pleased that Blue Sky Studios and Twentieth Century Fox have allowed us the opportunity to be part of ICE AGE."

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a leading global provider of information technology products, services and solutions for enterprise customers. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets information technology equipment, software, services and solutions, including industry-leading enterprise storage and computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, communication products, personal desktop and notebook computers, and personal entertainment and Internet access devices that are sold in more than 200 countries directly and through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com.