Streaming Media East 2007: Emphasis on the Enterprise

Media Publisher
For years, Media Publisher has been virtually the only provider of a complete, robust, end-to-end enterprise-class software solution for video communications, Pattison says. With the partnership with ViewCast—as well as partnerships with VBrick and Envivio announced previously—Media Publisher is looking to emphasize its compatibility with a variety of capture and encoding devices; the company is also emphasizing its compatibility with Cisco and Blue Coat technologies and a variety of CDNs. Soon, in fact, Media Publisher will allow for multiple, simultaneous CDN distribution, so that a single event can be distributed to a number of CDNs at the same time, Pattison says.

"We integrate with any number of different products, from encoders to CDNs to storage integration frameworks," Pattison says. "A lot of customers don’t have just one technology, and so they need a single software solution that will work with all of them." As such, the latest version of Media Publisher emphasizes the Video Control Center, which is designed to both connect all components of the video infrastructure as well as provide better access to and searchability of an enterprise’s video assets, not to mention keep them secure to prevent them from leaking outside the enterprise, a problem that’s becoming increasingly evident as video is distributed to handheld devices, Pattison says.

As more and more video is used in the enterprise, and as more and more of that is used specifically as a means to comply with regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, Pattison says video represents the "ultimate compliance type, because it is 100% attributable to the author."

"With documents, a person can say, ‘I didn’t write that’," Pattison says. "With video, that’s very tough. So if an organization wants to guarantee compliance, using video for financials and performance messaging is the best solution."

Mirror Image Announces Silverlight Support
When Microsoft announced the cross-browser, cross-platform Silverlight plugin in April, it already had a number of partners on board. That number is sure to grow, and Mirror Image Internet is the latest CDN to announce that it will support Silverlight for delivering video and rich interactive applications over the web. Mirror Image has long been a Certified Microsoft Windows Media Hosting Provider, and so the announcement comes as no real surprise. Still, the more partners Silverlight can get on board, the better chance Microsoft has to achieve the kind of online video ubiquity the company is so obviously after.

ViewCast Introduces Niagara Pro and Osprey-240
In addition to its partnership with Media Publisher, last week ViewCast also announced the addition of the Pro version to its line of Niagara line of capture and encoding appliances. The Pro offers the ability to encode into multiple formats, resolutions, and bit rates, and also features more video and audio input options. But the big addition is the new EZStream buttons that are part of the Niagara Pro’s web interface; they allow users to create custom encoding profile presets and then execute them with a single button on the front panel of the appliance itself.

The Osprey-240, announced today, uses a computer’s PCI Express (PCIe) bus to combines faster data rates with a greater number of video formats and a scalable architecture. ViewCast is emphasizing the Osprey-240's ability to connect with analog tape decks via component video to maximize video quality.

The card also includes the new Osprey Aviator encoder management software, which features an advanced audio processor and video pre-processing tools such as an audio dynamic range compressor, graphic equalizer, vector scope, and waveform monitor, as well as advanced video de-interlacing. The card is also compatible with Niagara SCX software for remote management.