Starlight Networks Announces StarWare 2.0, a Price/Performance Breakthrough for Multimedia Servers; StarWare 2.0 Supports Up To 100 Users of Broadcast-Quality Video on PC-Class Multimedia Servers.LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 1995--Starlight Networks is establishing a new benchmark for price/performance in multimedia networking with the next generation of its StarWare multimedia networking software  This article is written like a personal reflection or and may require .Please [ improve this article] by rewriting this article in an . , which turns a Novell NetWare (operating system, networking) Novell NetWare - Novell, Inc.'s proprietary networking operating system for the IBM PC. NetWare uses the IPX/SPX, NetBEUI or TCP/IP network protocols. It supports MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, Macintosh and Unix clients. PC into a high performance multimedia server supporting up to 100 users with broadcast-quality MPEG-1 video. Previously, only much more expensive platforms have been able to support this many users with high bandwidth multimedia data. With StarWare 2.0 on powerful, off-the-shelf PC-class servers, Starlight continues its leadership in delivering the best price/performance multimedia networking solutions on the market. StarWare 2.0 supports up to 150 megabits/sec (Mbps) of streaming data Data that is structured and processed in a continuous flow, such as digital audio and video. See streaming audio and streaming video. , giving networked users high speed access to true multimedia applications that allows users to mix and match high-bandwidth graphics, images, video and text, all from an off-the-shelf PC server. The new price point established by StarWare 2.0 software makes it affordable and feasible for companies and workgroups to take advantage of new client/server multimedia applications that turn single-use CD-ROMs into multi-use, centrally-administered digital libraries. Other emerging applications allow corporate professionals to: index video libraries for quick browsing; navigate video databases for marketing communications Marketing communications (or marcom) are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales ; create on-demand product videos; search corporate broadcasts by key words; create videoconferencing audit trails; and more. Installed as a Novell NetWare loadable module (NLM Software that runs in a NetWare server. Although NetWare servers store DOS and Windows applications, they do not execute them. All programs that run in a NetWare server must be compiled into the NLM format. They are typically written in C and use Novell's libraries. ), Starlight's new StarWare 2.0 software provides an affordable, easy-to-install and administer software solution that allows a company to add multimedia to its existing network, without the often major and expensive effort of network upgrades. For better monitoring and management of the video network StarWare 2.0 provides sophisticated controls to network administrators. StarWare 2.0 can also be added to existing NetWare servers, bringing quality multimedia services to the large Novell installed base. "Companies are more likely to take advantage of distributed multimedia applications when they realize they can afford to deliver multimedia to users at their desktops from their familiar NetWare servers," said Jim Long, president of Starlight Networks. "Combining the strengths of NetWare with Starlight's multimedia networking technology results in a price/performance breakthrough that delivers the industry's best quality and reliability for full performance video delivery on corporate networks." Starlight has established a leadership position supporting training-on-demand to the desktop, and expects that StarWare 2.0's ease-of-installation and affordability will give it even greater advantages in this market, especially for educational institutions, long-distance learning, corporate and independent training centers, and workgroup training. Starlight is currently working with several independent software vendors (ISVs), such as J3 Learning Corporation and Reality Interactive, to enable network-based training centers. Because StarWare 2.0 operates as an NLM on a NetWare server, companies do not need to add a separate video server to their network and may choose to run video with other network services on a single server. StarWare 2.0 co-exists with other network functions on the server, such as directory, file and print services. Or, the server can be dedicated in order to support a maximum amount of multimedia traffic. StarWare 2.0 supports up to 150 Mbps of high bandwidth streaming data in real-time. The number of users supported depends on the video format used and any additional networking services supported by the NetWare server. For example, StarWare 2.0 will deliver MPEG-1 video at 1.5 Mbps to up to 100 simultaneous users when the NetWare server is dedicated to multimedia. It also supports all of the other popular video formats on PCs, including MPEG-2, Video for Windows The name of Microsoft's first video playback implementation in Windows. Supporting the AVI movie format, Video for Windows (VfW) was installed separately in Windows 3.x, but was later built into Windows 95 and subsequent versions. , Indeo, PLV PLV Plaatsvervangend PLV Publicité sur le Lieu de Vente (POS advertising, promotions) PLV Production Level Video PLV Payload Launch Vehicle PLV Posterior Left Ventricle PLV Pulsed Light Velocimetry PLV Platoon Leader Vehicle , Motion JPEG See MPEG and JPEG 2000. Motion JPEG - Moving JPEG and Quicktime. StarWare 2.0 features enhanced management tools for controlling and tuning video delivery performance. A network administrator is able to control the capacity of the server, the number of video streams, and the maximum bandwidth reserved for multimedia on each network segment, as well as the status of logged-on clients, server parameters and CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. status. StarWare 2.0's management tools allow the network to be partitioned in order to manage audio, video and data separately or together, depending upon the environment and application needs of the user. StarWare 2.0 features Starlight's patented streaming middleware technologies, which provide client connectivity and streaming services. Starlight's middleware optimizes network delivery with traffic shaping Using methods to keep traffic flowing smoothly in a network. Although the term is often used synonymously with "traffic engineering," traffic shaping deals with managing the network moment to moment, whereas traffic engineering refers to the overall strategies employed in a network. , rate control and reservation subsystems, such that existing networks are used more efficiently for streaming video A one-way video transmission over a data network. It is widely used on the Web as well as company networks to play video clips and video broadcasts. Computers in home networks stream video to digital media hubs connected to a home theater. , without intruding on traditional LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. traffic. Any Starlight client (PC or Macintosh) application can access any Starlight server product line, including StarWare 2.0 or StarWorks products. Users can start with StarWare 2.0 on a NetWare server and easily scale to StarWorks on UNIX systems to accommodate growing application needs across the enterprise. StarWare 2.0 is machine-independent and takes advantage of performance improvements made to system hardware, such as to the bus, video and LAN cards, etc., making system upgrades easy. It supports PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). (Peripheral Component Interconnect See PCI. (hardware) Peripheral Component Interconnect - (PCI) A standard for connecting peripherals to a personal computer, designed by Intel and released around Autumn 1993. PCI is supported by most major manufacturers including Apple Computer. ) systems and Pentium PCs, as well as Intel 80486 PCs on the server side. On the client side StarWare 2.0 supports DOS and Windows PCs and Macintosh clients on a variety of networks, including 10BaseT, 100BaseT, 100VG AnyLAN, FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) Often pronounced "fiddy," it was a LAN and MAN access method that had its heyday in the mid-1990s. FDDI was an ANSI standard token passing network that transmitted 100 Mbps over optical fiber up to 10 kilometers. , ATM and Token-Ring. StarWare 2.0 supports any NetWare-compatible mass storage, including third-party RAID 0-5 disk arrays. Pricing and Availability StarWare 2.0 software will be available mid-December, 1995. A media server pre-configured with StarWare 2.0 on HP's NetServer supporting 50 concurrent users (or 75 Mbps), and storing 20 hours of MPEG-1 video will be approximately $28,000. Pricing for StarWare 2.0 software only is as follows: 10 users at $4,995; 25 users at $9,995; 50 users at $17,995; 100 users at $34,995. About Starlight Networks Starlight Networks is the leader in providing multimedia services over enterprise networks with its StarWorks and StarWare multimedia networking server software products. StarWorks and StarWare provide multimedia storage management and network delivery management functions to ensure reliable delivery of video and audio to the desktop over today's networks, including 10BaseT, 100VG, Fast Ethernet An earlier name for 100Mbps Ethernet. See 100Base-T. (networking) Fast Ethernet - A version of Ethernet developed in the 1990s(?) which can carry 100 Mbps compared with standard Ethernet's 10 Mbps. It requires upgraded network cards and hubs. , Token-Ring, FDDI and ATM. StarWorks' open systems approach supports all of the popular video formats and network operating systems on PCs, Macintosh and UNIX systems. StarWare is a Novell NetWare-based video networking software solution. Starlight Networks is located at 205 Ravendale Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043; phone 415/967-2774. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: StarWare, StarWorks, Starlight and Starlight Networks are registered trademarks of Starlight Networks, Inc.. All other products are trademarks of their respective owners. CONTACT: Starlight Networks, Inc. Stephen Mitchell
or Lindsay PR Mary Lindsay, 408/984-7242 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion