Reno Studios

Background

Reno Studios is a premier visual effects (VFX) production company based in Taiwan. With a portfolio that includes award-winning films such as Detention, My Missing Valentine, and Dead Talents Society, the studio has earned accolades from the Golden Horse Awards, Asian Film Awards, and Taipei Film Festival for Best Visual Effects. Reno combines artistic vision, technical innovation, and cutting-edge production techniques—including virtual studios and extended reality—to deliver full-spectrum services from pre-visualization to final compositing. As the studio grows, so does its commitment to pushing the boundaries of storytelling through technology.

Challenges

With offices in both Taipei and Tainan, Reno had long relied on NAS systems for storing project files and managing team collaboration. However, as 4K video production became the industry norm and VFX files ballooned in size, their existing 12-bay NAS solution began to show its limits:

Exploding storage demands: Every frame of 4K footage represents hundreds of megabytes, and with thousands of raw shots, composite files, and VFX assets in play, capacity was quickly exhausted.
Performance bottlenecks: Simultaneous access by multiple workstations led to I/O slowdowns, latency, and unstable performance—especially during high-load periods.
Scalability constraints: As Reno’s team surpassed 100 staff, their legacy infrastructure struggled to support real-time collaboration and high-speed file access at scale.

“We needed higher-performance systems and a smarter, more flexible architecture to keep up with the growing complexity and concurrency of our creative workflows,” said VFX Supervisor Tomi Kuo.

Solution

To power its next phase of growth, Reno Studios deployed a future-ready QNAP infrastructure comprising one all-flash NAS (TS-h3077AFU), four hybrid storage NAS (TS-h3087XU-RP), and a 25GbE managed switch (QSW-M5216-1T). This comprehensive upgrade rearchitected Reno’s production backbone to clearly separate high-speed access and large-scale storage, boosting efficiency across the board.

Hybrid NAS for high-capacity workflows
The TS-h3087XU-RP units—each supporting up to twenty-four SATA HDDs and six SATA SSDs—were deployed as primary storage for ingest, VFX assets, and work-in-progress data. The high bay count addressed capacity constraints while significantly enhancing I/O performance by enabling more efficient RAID configurations. With SSD caching in place, frequently used files load faster than ever, and multi-user access is now smooth and reliable.

All-flash NAS for high-load collaboration
To support compute-intensive tasks such as 3D rendering, compositing, and animation, Reno added the all-flash TS-h3077AFU configured with thirty SATA SSDs. This powerhouse NAS delivers ultra-low latency and exceptional throughput—maxing out 10GbE performance even during peak production. “The all-flash setup lets us fully saturate 10GbE speeds. Accessing and transferring high-res assets is lightning fast, helping us accelerate key stages like compositing and effects rendering,” said Kuo.

Upgraded 25GbE core network
Reno installed the QSW-M5216-1T switch to eliminate bandwidth bottlenecks between NAS units and workstations. The 25GbE upgrade boosts backbone capacity, enabling seamless collaboration across the entire team. Existing NAS units (such as the TS-1283XU-RP) were repurposed for output and archival storage.

Enhanced management & remote collaboration
Reno’s IT team streamlined system administration by integrating QNAP NAS devices into their existing Windows AD domain, simplifying user and access management. For secure cross-location access, QVPN connects Taipei, Tainan, and external partners into a unified virtual workspace—ensuring the team can collaborate from anywhere. To protect business continuity, QNAP’s Hybrid Backup Sync (HBS) automates remote backups and cloud sync tasks—safeguarding every asset against data loss and disruption.

Results

“This was more than just a hardware upgrade—it was a transformation of our creative pipeline,” Kuo concluded.

With QNAP's high-performance NAS and 25GbE networking solution in place, Reno Studios has eliminated the lag, delays, and inconsistencies that once plagued its 4K VFX production. From rendering and animation to compositing and delivery, every stage of the workflow is now faster, more stable, and more scalable. Team members collaborate in real time without compromise, and creative output has reached new heights.

The TS-h3087XU-RP’s use of hot-swappable SATA SSDs also solved a major pain point: no more downtime for SSD replacements, unlike traditional M.2-based NAS. Reno’s IT admins can also monitor systems remotely via web or SSH, diagnose issues instantly, and reduce operational overhead.

Thanks to QNAP, Reno Studios has built a future-proof, high-performance post-production data center that empowers its expanding creative ambitions, while ensuring it stays ahead in the fast-paced world of media and entertainment.