InformationWeek

September 29, 1997

Streaming Speeds Up

VDOnet upgrade streams at higher rates and adds video server management

DOnet Corp. last week shipped an upgraded version of its VDOLive streaming video software that streams at higher rates than the previous version and automatically adjusts stream rates to available bandwidth. The software also comes with an application for managing the video server-the first in a series of VDOnet products aimed at allowing telecommunications companies to offer new kinds of services.

The management application, VDOMaster, lets administrators view the rate at which video streams over individual user connections. It also shows how many clips a user ha s downloaded and viewed at any time. Administrators can grant certain users access to content and deny access to others. They can also specify the rates at which specific IP addresses receive video.

Versions of VDOMaster in the works will interface with billing systems, letting administrators track pay-per-view fees. The product will also integrate with network management systems, support the LDAP directory access protocol, and manage clustered video servers.

VDOnet says VDOMaster will be particularly useful to service providers that want to track which users downloaded which content at which rate-and bill them accordingly. The Cambridge, Mass., company recently licensed the product along with VDOLive 3.0 to MediaOne, a Boston broadband services provider that will use VDOMaster to manage customer accounts. Companies in other indus- tries could use it to bill individual departments for network usage.

The new version of VDOLive increases the product's maximum streaming rate from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps -making it fast enough, in theory-to stream over ISDN lines. In addition, the video server senses the amount of bandwidth available to each client and adjusts the streaming rate accordingly. This so-called "dynamic scalability" is supposed to prevent developers from having to compress video clips in multiple file formats.

Though dynamic scalability is a step in the right direction, the technology has not been perfected, says Sujata Ram- narayan, an analyst at Dataquest Inc. in San Jose, Calif. Proof of its immaturity is the fact that Microsoft recently acquired streaming video ven- dor VXtreme Inc., and cited VXtreme's adaptive bandwidth technology as a key reason for the purchase. "Microsoft already had an investment in VDOnet," Ramnarayan says. "If VDOnet's technology already did [dynamic bandwidth scaling], Microsoft wouldn't have had to invest in VXtreme."

VDOLive 3.0's pricing ranges from $500 for 25 streams to $9,000 for 50 streams.

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