[January 11, 2001]

Starbak's Torrent Streaming Media Appliance Enables Unparalleled Speed And Ease In Delivery Of Audio And Video

Streaming media is one of those concepts that sounds good in theory: deliver audio and video directly to the desktops of Internet-enabled PC users. While Gartner Dataquest is predicting that nearly half of all businesses in the U.S. will be using streaming media applications by the end of 2001, getting there has been anything but smooth, both from the actual deliverable and the work that goes into setting it up. StarBak Communications has stepped up to the challenge of making streaming media a true business tool. The company has introduced the Torrent 100 for Internet applications and Torrent 1000 for intranets, streaming network appliances that allow organizations to stream content in Windows Media Player, QuickTime, and MPEG1 file formats from a single interface.

The Torrent models combine GUI-based software, dedicated hardware, and an operating system into a single unit with a single purpose - delivery of multiple streams of audio and audio/video content at a rate of 1,000 simultaneous streams for Torrent 100, and 3,000 streams for Torrent 1000. 

"Many of the problems encountered in delivering streaming media are the result of the complexity of set-up and maintenance," says Ray Harris, president of StarBak Communications. "It can take a network administrator many hours, or even days, to set up a standard software/server system and load files. By creating a single-purpose network appliance, we've removed those complexities, to the point where the only thing the network administrator needs to do is assign the IP address. After that, any junior-level IT professional can operate it." 

Rather than using the Darwin code common to other streaming media servers, StarBak developed its own Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) for the Torrent network appliance. The new code allows the Torrent 100 to provide 80 Mbps of content and Torrent 1000 to provide 350 Mbps, making it the fastest streaming media delivery system in the industry. Yet it provides this outstanding performance in a 1U profile, as opposed to the full racks required for other high-end streaming media systems. This makes it even more attractive to space-starved corporations, educational institutions, and content providers who want to leverage streaming media in their organizations.

With Frost & Sullivan estimating a combined market for video servers and distance learning at $2.8 billion by the end of 2003, the timing couldn't be better for Torrent. 

"Streaming media is becoming recognized as an invaluable communication tool in many environments from business to education," says StarBak's Harris. "As the infrastructure of the Internet matures and broadband connections become more prevalent, streaming media stands poised to make a marked impact in B2B and B2C communications."

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