Revolutionizing On-Premise Computing for Live Concerts

Video content, real-time graphics, and high-resolution animation have become indispensable to every major concert and live event, reshaping audience expectations. Yet, for years, the infrastructure to support these advanced workflows lagged significantly behind. That’s where Skorppio steps onto the stage. But before Skorppio, there was Frankenbox—a pioneering precursor that laid the groundwork for our transformative on-premise computing solutions. This is a story rooted in 25 years of live entertainment design, filled with challenges, breakthroughs, and a vision to transform how on-location production could be done.

From Frustration to Innovation

As a designer and technologist, I’ve spent 25 years working on some of the biggest stages in live entertainment. From iconic music festivals to international world tours, I’ve worked alongside exceptional artists, visionary producers, and talented production teams. But throughout my career, I kept encountering the same frustrating issues: infrastructure was never designed to support the way live event artists and producers work. The rise of video content and real-time graphics only made these challenges more pronounced.

In 2014, I founded Frankenbox, a small company that built, designed, and deployed high-end workstation computers and networking systems to assist with on-premise content creation for live concerts.

Video of a performing artist on a screen next to a control console at a concert powered by Skorppios performance workstation media servers.

Our systems were used across some of the most iconic live events, including:

• The Electric Zoo Music Festival in NYC, with 150,000 attendees.
• Mariah Carey’s famous Vegas Christmas residency.
• Bruno Mars' “Versace on the Floor” music video.
• Panic! At the Disco’s World Tour.

Live concert productions present unparalleled challenges and opportunities. While many content creation studios have on-premise data centers in their offices, the live event world requires everything to be portable, reliable, and capable of handling massive workloads during production rehearsals.

Rehearsals for major concert tours often span 10 to 30 days, a critical window for perfecting every element of the performance.

These rehearsals are crucial for finalizing the show, and changes to visuals and graphics are inevitable. Imagine being in a rehearsal with a major pop star who requests revisions to the massive visuals behind them. These rendered visuals are often enormous in size—I’ve worked on projects with 10k and even 20k pixel-wide projector arrays.

Rendering a 60-second clip at an astounding 20k resolution is an extraordinary challenge, demanding immense computational power.

To further complicate things, these files often need to be transcoded into non-standard codecs for playback. In the past, studios would handle this work remotely, transmitting the files back to the production rehearsal facility. But these facilities are rarely located near the studios—and sometimes not even in the same country. Internet access in these locations is often unreliable, and file transfers for 100GB+ files frequently fail or become corrupted.

This entire process—rendering, transcoding, transferring, and verifying files—could add 12 to 48 hours of delay. During that time, performers and producers are left waiting, frustrated by the lack of progress. With rehearsal days costing tens of thousands of dollars, these delays weren’t just frustrating—they were unsustainable.

Frankenbox: A Game-Changing Solution

In response to these challenges, we developed Frankenbox. The concept was simple: bring high-performance computing directly to the production site. We equipped artists with:

• Mil-spec transportable render nodes to handle massive rendering workloads.
• Fiber networking for seamless and fast data transfers.
• Extreme workstations preloaded with preferred software stacks and plugins.

By creating on-location suites for GFX artists, we transformed the way production rehearsals were conducted.

Revisions could be designed, rendered, and deployed in real-time, cutting delays by 75% and significantly boosting productivity. For the first time, artists and producers had the tools they needed to be truly creative during rehearsals. Important revisions that were previously skipped due to time constraints could now be completed, enhancing both the artist’s vision and the fan experience.

Enter Skorppio

The success of Frankenbox made one thing clear: the need for scalable, reliable on-premise solutions extended far beyond live entertainment. The same challenges we solved for concerts were present in other industries, from VFX production to AI training.

That’s why I founded Skorppio. Building on the lessons learned from Frankenbox, Skorppio provides on-premise computing solutions tailored to the unique needs of industries that demand high performance, low latency, and reliability. We’re bringing the same level of innovation and dedication to every vertical we serve, ensuring that creators, businesses, and innovators have the tools they need to succeed.

The Future of On-Premise Computing

At Skorppio, we’re committed to revolutionizing on-premise computing for every industry. Whether you’re designing visuals for a world tour, training complex AI models, or creating stunning VFX for the next blockbuster, our solutions are built to meet your needs.

Join us as we push the boundaries of innovation and redefine the future of on-premise computing solutions. At Skorppio, we don’t just solve problems—we create opportunities for creativity, innovation, and success.