Reprinted from a VBrick press release:
Real-time digital video when you want it, where you want it, became a reality today at the National Association of Broadcasters Show (booth # SL2461), with the release of VBXcast, the first intelligent MPEG-4 video appliance from VBrick Systems. For the first time, VBXcast allows organizations of any size to simply “plug in” and broadcast video to and from anyone, anywhere, on any network.
“The most powerful means of communication is live sight and sound, whether it’s to educate, inform or monitor,” said Pat Cassella, Sr. Director of Product Management at VBrick Systems. “Portability, reliability and ease-of-use put the VBXcast in a class by itself when it comes to streaming video. It enables individuals to experience the benefits of visual communications right at their desktops within their network and anywhere the Internet reaches.”
Reality Communications for the Masses
By bringing the power of visual communications to anyone with Internet access, VBXcast tears down the “bandwidth barriers” that prevented organizations from taking full advantage of the rich experience of video. Now, with VBXcast, the military can extend its reach between headquarters and field operations for real-time information sharing, training and surveillance. Corporations may conduct product launches and compliance training reaching each employee’s desktop, laptop or PDA wireless device – regardless of location. And for distance learning, one teacher can now reach thousands of students.
“As streaming video technology becomes available to the masses, it is extending and improving communications for businesses, governments, and schools,” said Michael Hoch, Research Director, Infrastructure Group, Aberdeen Research. “Products intelligently using MPEG-4, such as VBXcast, match a growing market need by making video streaming easy to deploy and use by anyone – without any negative effects on the network.”
VBXcast Makes Important Debut
The University of California Davis debuted VBXcast when it brought an important seminar on small pox vaccinations from the UC Davis Medical Center to physicians, nurses and other health care professionals worldwide. Utilizing a single VBXcast unit, UC Davis streamed a seminar intended to show medical personnel the signs and symptoms of smallpox and risks associated with vaccination, to anyone with an Internet connection, dramatically increasing the reach and effectiveness of the seminar.
Extending and Improving Streaming Video for Education
“VBXcast has great potential in distance learning applications and in distributing public television,” says Sherman George, University of California Television (UCTV) Technical Director. “With VBXcast, we can broadcast live events like classes, seminars or theatre productions from the University to other schools over our statewide backbone network, using much less bandwidth while preserving video quality.”
Lynn Burnstan, Director of UCTV states, “VBXcast expands our broadcast reach to students not on our network, so now students in remote locations are not left behind. In short, VBXcast will extend and improve our use of streaming video.”
Under the Hood
VBXcast is a portable network video appliance that connects easily to standard video devices such as a video camera, DVD player or VCR. It compresses the video and audio into an MPEG-4 format and delivers the stream over any network to PCs or set-top-boxes. MPEG-4 uses bandwidth more effectively, allowing it to extend the reach of visual communication to everyone with Internet access. It’s versatile, allowing viewers to watch video through standard players, as well as VBrick’s freely distributed StreamPlayer.
An integral web server allows users to configure video bit rates from 8 Kbps to 2 Mbps and audio bit rates from 8 Kbps to 320 Kbps to work within almost any organization’s network requirements. It works with a wide range of video resolutions and can stream in constant or variable bit rate and frame rate. Management through SNMP, HTTP, Telnet and Serial ports provide maximum flexibility for the administrator.
VBXcast is able to simultaneously deliver Unicast and Multicast streams, so enterprises need only one unit to stream both inside and outside their corporate network. A modular dual interface design allows users to mix and match MPEG-4 encoders with MPEG-2 encoders or decoders for maximum flexibility and minimum equipment space.
VBXcast is Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) compliant, ensuring vendor interoperability with many of the popular software and hardware decoders. In addition, it is compatible with VBrick’s StreamPlayer (viewer software), VBScheduler, and VBSDS (Streaming Distribution System).
VBXcast is immediately available and pricing starts $4995.
