Broadbus Brings Carrier-Class Reliability and Performance to Video On-Demand; Broadbus B-1 Video Server and Stream Commander 3.0 Extend Technology Advantage with New Fault-Tolerance Features and Reporting Functionality.

BOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Broadbus Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of next-generation video on-demand (VOD) server technology, today announced version 3.0 of the Broadbus B-1 Video Server with Stream Commander. The release equips service providers with new features that further enhance VOD reliability, performance, and scalability while lowering the total cost of ownership and providing a foundation for tomorrow's Television On-Demand (TOD) applications.

Building on more than 50 revenue-generating, commercial deployments, version 3.0 includes enhancements in the areas of fault tolerance, application resiliency and reporting functions, with a significant number of manageability enhancements based on customer feedback. The B-1 Video Server is built on a chassis-based, carrier-class architecture, ideal for use in all communications service provider networks.

"Broadbus designed the B-1 Video Server from the ground up to provide the carrier-class reliability normally expected of high-end communications networks. The new fault-tolerance features extend our advantage over PC component-based and disk-based systems, meeting the high reliability standards put forth by service providers. Rigorous independent testing and analysis has shown that the Broadbus B-1 exceeds 99.999 percent uptime, demonstrating our system's ability to provide the same level of reliability for video that customers have come to expect from voice and data," said Tom Kennedy, senior director of marketing for Broadbus. "In addition to reliability enhancements, based on feedback from customers we architected version 3.0 of the B-1 and Stream Commander to provide more robust information for capacity planning and management through enhanced reporting and alarms."

At the heart of the Broadbus B-1 Video Server is the patented, DRAM-based streaming server technology that scales to 80 Gbps of output, the highest density in the industry. Producing nearly 20,000 streams per chassis and offering virtually unlimited ingest capabilities, the B-1 can ingest hundreds of live and pre-recorded programs simultaneously, enabling advanced TOD and network PVR (nPVR) applications.

The B-1 server features the Broadbus Stream Commander(TM) management application, designed to configure, coordinate and monitor up to 256 networked B-1 video servers via a web-based graphical user interface. The software manages all ingest, storage and streaming activities and maintains an active database of configuration profiles and status, alarm, stream and content statistics. It also manages the propagation of content to and from near-term storage libraries virtually eliminating content replication.

By separating its DRAM video streaming and RAID content storage structures, the B-1 permits independent configuration and low-cost upgradeability for additional streams and storage. The decoupled design means that stream counts and storage modules can scale to meet the exact needs of service providers and that modules can be hot-swapped, minimizing downtime for expansion or maintenance.

The B-1's solid-state architecture, with significantly fewer moving parts, is designed to be more reliable than legacy disk-based systems. Total cost of ownership is lowered as a result of configuration flexibility, scalability, and lower power and space requirements. A chassis-and-blade solution, the B-1 can be easily upgraded to support more streams by adding new modules without disrupting existing services.

"As video on-demand usage continues to grow and becomes a critical service differentiator, service providers need to provide their customers with a combination of performance and reliability," said Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst with In-Stat. "At the same time, providers need solutions that are cost-effective in both the near- and long-term, and can support the advanced video services that will continue to keep subscribers satisfied. Through a combination of DRAM streaming technology, advanced switching fabric and intelligent content management, the Broadbus B-1 Video Server is uniquely positioned to address the on-demand needs of today and beyond."

New enhancements included in version 3.0 of the B-1 and Stream Commander include hot-swappable blades with full failover capability, hot-swappable, redundant Fibre Channel controllers, improved diagnostics, application and process-level resiliency, and the ability to stream live television within five seconds of ingest.

The new features of version 3.0 build upon the existing intelligent content management and advanced switching fabric that are key to utilizing massive amounts of DRAM. Broadbus is the only system specifically designed to meet the ingest demands of tomorrow's advanced Television On-Demand applications.

Additional benefits of the Broadbus B-1 Video Server include:

--Solid-State Performance: Produces nearly 20,000 streams per chassis with virtually unlimited ingest.

--Massive Scalability: Ability to scale streaming independently of storage.

--Lowest Total Cost of Ownership: Smaller footprint conserves limited head-end space; lower power consumption.

--Support for Future Television On-Demand Applications: Engineered with the ingest capabilities to support future applications on a large scale.

About Broadbus

Broadbus develops fully scalable, next-generation video on-demand server systems designed to solve streaming scale, space, power consumption and live ingest issues for communications service providers deploying advanced video services such as VOD, Subscription VOD, and ultimately, full-scale Television On-Demand (TOD). Broadbus offers a migration path to the emerging TOD environment, while fully exploiting existing upgraded broadband networks. The company's revolutionary server architecture, based on the intelligent configuration and management of massive amounts of random-access memory, enables service providers to offer their subscribers unparalleled convenience, choice, and control over their home entertainment.

Broadbus was recently selected by Red Herring for inclusion into its annual List of Top 100 Private Companies, named to CED Magazine's Top 50 companies leading the broadband revolution and listed as a finalist for Best Innovation in two categories for the first annual On-Demandies(TM) awards hosted by Digital Hollywood. For more information, please visit www.broadbus.com.

Broadbus(R), TOD(R) and B-1(TM) are trademarks of Broadbus Technologies, Inc.