Japan's Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has announced a PC cluster-based, video stream product, named the i-Visto eXmedia server, which can simultaneously handle up to ten 1.5-Gbps of uncompressed high definition video streams in real-time using an IP network. The i-Visto eXmedia server is intended for professional use in the broadcasting industry. The product's high performance will enable broadcast professionals to simplify and improve the sharing of video over IP networks.
NTT Network Innovation Laboratories developed a new PC clustering process that integrates multiple general purpose PCs into a video stream server that can handle more than one gigabit of video streams using a commercially available, low-delay interconnection network.
Based on NTT's PC clustering approach, the i-Visto eXmedia server can simultaneously handle up to ten, uncompressed HD video streams using IP, for a combined throughput of 15 Gbps. This processing capability will support up to ten users who can simultaneously retrieve or store uncompressed HD video materials or can concurrently process 100 high-definition, digital VTR-quality materials.
When combined with the i-Visto gateway XG, another NTT product that serves the broadcasting industry, it functions as a complete system that integrates transmission, storage, and delivery of uncompressed HD video streams over an IP network. The handling of uncompressed video materials eliminates the need for additional hardware to compress and decompress video data. It also eliminates video quality degradation caused by repeated compression and decompression operations.
The i-Visto eXmedia server enables broadcasting professionals to share video materials among remote studios or transmit video materials from the field to an editing studio using IP. An extensive video processing network system can be easily configured to support remote video sharing.
Traditional Fibre Channel-based file sharing systems have posed two challenges. To begin with, it is difficult to extend the Fibre Channel, which connects the disk and client, such as a non-linear editing system, beyond 10 kilometers. Secondarily, these systems require the use of two separate networks: an IP network to control and the Fibre Channel for transferring the data. On the other hand, the i-Visto eXmedia server only needs an IP network and does not have any distance limitations. Many kinds of common IP/PC-based systems such as the World Wide Web, database systems, and PC or workstation-based, non-linear editing systems can be included in the network.
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