Streaming Media West 2003 Wrap-Up
Vitalstream was on hand announcing its own distance learning and conferencing services. Vitalstream has long been a hosting and content delivery company. Now in partnership
with Accordent, it's launched a complete distance learning and training service. They'll handle the registrations and payment processing as well as provide you the tools to create, manage and deliver eLearning content to your customers.
Also showing its turnkey hardware was Webcast In A Box. CEO Erik Herz demonstrated the ease of setting up a webcast, "Plug it in, turn it on, browse to the IP address that displays on the front panel, and click Start." With your camera and microphone, you can be up and running, multicast or unicast, live webcast or on-demand, in minutes. Equally at home on the corporate intranet or the Internet, this is a box that can comfortably travel in your carry-on. For those who want to get "under the hood", Herz notes that the entire system is based on open-source technologies. "The system is built with Linux, the Helix DNA Server, Perl, Apache. Solid and secure, no need for continual upgrades or patches, and all source code is provided." Herz sees it as a perfect conference room solution, at home right next to the Polycom or the Tandberg units. Webcast In A Box features two separate video inputs so that webcasts can include a desktop capture or videoconference feed, alongside the presenter's camera.
If you're looking for a complete webcast service, soup-to-nuts, then Video4Networks was the booth to visit. V4N's Patrick Burns: "We're the only house that does production, streaming live, and distribution from the customer's site." Covering primarily the west coast, V4N will show up at your door with cameras, a crew, and its V4Net production rack. Partnering with CDN XO Communications and presentation authoring software from Accordent, they can provide full webcast services, large-scale or small, at a remarkably low price (starting under $1200).
thePlatform showed the new eCommerce functionality in its streaming media 
management system. Vice President of Business Development Rahul Sonnad explains the new tools, "Companies have a need to manage streams and video feeds and content across multiple sources and distribution paths." thePlatform now helps companies with content and workflow management, syndication, and even retail sales. "A customer can set up a 'store', branded and with content, in less than a day."
At the Key Information Systems booth, a systems integration company providing corporate infrastructure architecture and e-Business solutions, discussion revolved around their storage and data management services. Key integrates corporations business strategies with infrastructure engineering to deliver affordable and scaleable solutions for a suite of e-commerce applications. Executives were also detailing their relationship with IBM as a Premier Business Partner and announced during the show a special webinar series on Unix Server Consolidation:How to Save Money, Time and Effort.The web-based seminar is to explore the benefits of consolidating Unix servers using IBM's pSeries servers.