Case Study: The Jim Henson Company achieves real-time collaborative editing and cuts data transfers from 8 hours to 30 minutes with Extreme Networks

Demonstrating the Audacity of Innovation at The Jim Henson Company

The Jim Henson Company, renowned for the Muppets and digital puppetry at its Henson Digital Puppetry Studio, was constrained by traditional storage networks: terabytes of daily footage, up to eight-hour downloads from camera discs, and a need for at least 10 Gbps and low-latency performance so multiple editors could work without blocking. To address this, the company turned to Extreme Networks, deploying Extreme VDX 6740 switches and Extreme VCS Fabric technology as part of a high-throughput IP storage redesign.

Extreme Networks’ solution tied network-attached flash storage directly to Extreme VDX switches (delivering up to 40 Gbps and RDMA-enabled low latency), enabling real-time collaboration and concurrent editing. The deployment cut data download times from eight hours to less than 30 minutes, allowed multiple editors to work simultaneously with uninterrupted playback, raised visual and editorial quality, and set the studio up to produce more than 40 half-hour CG episodes per year — all with simple deployment and clear scalability from Extreme Networks.

Jim Henson Company

Jorg Mohnen

Systems Engineer