LOS ANGELES — Thinkbox Software’s (www.thinkboxsoftware.com) high-volume compute management solution Deadline is now available in the Azure Marketplace. Deadline is scalable and cross-platform, and can control compute resources on physical and virtual machines. Having supported Azure since the introduction of Virtual Machine Extension (VMX) capabilities in 2013, Deadline’s integration with Azure Marketplace provides Microsoft users one-click access to the software, automatically setting up the Deadline infrastructure on Azure with no download required.
In addition to providing a template for instant access to the current Deadline Version 7.2, which ships with a trial of NextLimit's Maxwell Render, Thinkbox will launch Azure Marketplace templates that support Deadline 8 later this summer. Deadline 8 includes proxy support, allowing users to connect to Deadline over public Internet using SSL with improved security, eliminating the need to setup a virtual private network (VPN). Conversely, the proxy server can also be used to connect local Deadline farms to Deadline slaves in Azure.
“Our goal is to make the evaluation and adoption of cloud resources simple and straightforward,” says Thinkbox founder, Chris Bond. “With Deadline in Azure Marketplace, we’ve widened users’ access to a security-enhanced, high-performance cloud computing solution on their platform of choice so that they can enjoy the synergy of a complete Microsoft workflow.”
“Cloud computing is becoming increasing important in production ecosystems, and Deadline plays a vital role in managing compute resources,” adds Nicole Herskowitz, senior director of product marketing at Microsoft Azure. “Adding Deadline to the Azure Marketplace is exciting for Microsoft customers as they can now more easily explore what our platform has to offer.”