UNM and State IT Collaboration Creates High-Speed Technology Jobs in New Mexico

DreamWorks Animation and Cerelink DMG are partnering to render its cg 3D films in New Mexico, while the University of New Mexico and the State have made this possible with state-of-the-art technology infrastructure.

As part of this supercomputing project, UNM’s ITS Department worked with the New Mexico Computer Application Center (NMCAC), the New Mexico Department of Information Technology (DoIT), National LambdaRail (NLR), the Albuquerque Gigapop (ABQ-G) and Cerelink DMG to successfully establish, test and demonstrate an ultra high-speed link that connects New Mexico to Hollywood.

The link demo took place Tuesday, Feb. 17 at Intel, with Gov. Bill Richardson, UNM Chief Information Officer Gil Gonzales and several other state and UNM officials in the audience. The NMCAC supercomputing project is expected to initially create 65 new jobs in fields such as digital media production and health care, among others.

The link testing and demo was rapidly coordinated over a two-day period using the connectivity provided by the ABQ-G and NLR, the efforts of Louella Phillips, ITS Technical Supervisor, and the participation of other ITS and UNM staff.