Hudson Scenic Studio - Virtualization

Hudson Scenic Studio Reduces Costs and Increases Storage with Hyper-V Virtualization by Synergy

From pre-production planning and budgeting to installation and maintenance, Hudson Scenic Studio provides a full range of services to bring any stage project to life.

OVERVIEW:

Since 1980, Hudson Scenic Studio began as a small shop with just five employees in upstate New York. Today, the company makes its home in a 72,000 square foot facility in Yonkers, NY that enables it to build and set-up the large structures and intricate installations designed by many of the leading set designers, lighting designers, architects, and artists of our time. Hudson is 'where Broadway shows start'. From pre-production planning and budgeting to installation and maintenance, Hudson Scenic Studio provides a full range of services to bring any stage project to life.

Goals / Challenges:

Hudson Scenic Studio—a renowned scenic production company serving Broadway and major theatrical productions—was running core production systems on aging, end-of-life hardware. With limited budget and growing demands, they needed a cost-effective way to modernize their infrastructure without disrupting business operations.

Their existing environment was not only limited in storage capacity but also costly to maintain due to the power, cooling, and footprint requirements of multiple physical servers. Moreover, to support business continuity, Hudson needed a more resilient infrastructure with simplified backup and recovery procedures in case of hardware failure.

Key goals included:

• Replacing aging server hardware with minimal disruption or downtime

• Increasing available storage capacity to support future growth

• Reducing power, cooling, and maintenance costs

• Simplifying disaster recovery and backup processes

Solution/Approach:

After a thorough review of Hudson’s technical requirements and budget constraints, Synergy designed a virtualization strategy using Microsoft Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2. The approach focused on consolidating multiple physical servers into a single high-capacity virtualized server, reducing overhead while increasing scalability.

The project included:

• Procuring and configuring a new high-capacity server

• Deploying Microsoft Windows Hyper-V Server to host virtual machines

• Performing physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversions outside normal business hours to avoid disruption

• Leveraging Microsoft Windows Backup to replace expensive third-party backup solutions and simplify recovery

This low-cost, high-impact solution allowed Hudson to retain full functionality while laying the foundation for a more flexible and maintainable IT environment.

“Hudson's growth required an IT infrastructure capable of scaling efficiently, and we were pleased to provide a solution that not only met their immediate needs but also positioned them for future success.”

— Thomas Rizzetta, Senior Engineer, Synergy

The Results:

Synergy’s virtualization solution delivered immediate and long-lasting value for Hudson Scenic Studio.

Key outcomes included:

• 10x increase in available storage, ensuring capacity for future growth

• Zero end-user disruption during migration, with P2V conversions conducted after hours

• Server consolidation from five to one, significantly reducing power, cooling, and noise

• A simplified, hardware-independent backup and recovery strategy using low-cost removable hard drives

• Elimination of costly third-party backup software and tape media

With its new virtualized infrastructure, Hudson now operates more efficiently and is better equipped to support future business demands—while keeping costs under control.

INDUSTRY	GEOGRAPHY	CONSULTING	software
Theatrical Services	USA	Project Services	Windows Server Hyper-V

Ready to Upgrade Your Infrastructure Without Breaking the Budget?

At Synergy, we help organizations like Hudson Scenic Studio modernize their IT environments with scalable, cost-effective solutions. Whether you're replacing aging servers or planning a virtualization strategy, we’ll design a system that fits your needs and positions you for growth.

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