For Converged Networks, It's All In the Delivery

Cache servers pull content dynamically from origin servers, based on end-user requests, and maintain it. This speeds access to content in response to future requests, regardless of content type. When caches are used in conjunction with eCDNs (enterprise content-delivery networks), enterprises can even pre-position content on cache servers close to end users.

By streaming media to user desktops you can deliver high-quality enterprise video content, such as corporate communications and training, thus trimming your travel budget. Hardware-based MPEG encoders or software encoders with streaming servers deliver video, while MPEG servers transmit full-motion video from a meeting to the desktop.

Finally, unified messaging brings the concept of digital convergence to your IP network by combining e-mail, fax and voicemail into a single message store and providing a single point of administration and management. This reduces IT support costs and keeps employees in tune with customers by letting them access their inboxes from multiple devices.Content Delivery Device |

Streaming Media Product | Unififed Messaging Solution

Content Delivery Device

Winner: Volera Excelerator 2.1, now shipping 2.2, Novell, (800) 453-1267. www.novell.comNovell's Volera Excelerator proved to be a better performer with a better price point than its rivals, speeding delivery of frequently requested Web content to end users. This lightens enterprise bandwidth requirements and reduces latency for HTTP and streaming media requests. Although Novell and Blue Coat support RealNetworks and Windows media extensions, Excelerator can stream media from origin servers at less than the encoded bit rate and deliver that media to users from the cache at the encoded bit rate in real time. And it can be configured as a reverse- or forward-proxy cache, or a combination of the two, without modifications to the OS configuration.

Finalists:

• Blue Coat SG800, formerly CacheFlow Security Gateway Appliance, Blue Coat Systems, (866) 30 BCOAT, (408) 220-2200. www.bluecoat.com

• Forum Sentry 1500, Forum Systems, (866) 333-0210, (801) 313-4400. www.forumsystems.com

Streaming Media Product

Winner: MGW 2400, Optibase, (800) 451-5101, (650) 230-2400. www.optibase.comThe MGW 2400 is our favorite streaming media product, thanks in part to its Element Management System (EMS) management console, an SNMP-based application that supports Pentium III with Microsoft Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000 Pro and 128 MB of RAM. It can set a target stream as unicast or multicast. Although unicast is limited to 10 simultaneous users, the MGW 2400 can multicast a stream directly from the appliance and leverage up to four external Windows Media servers to distribute video to an unlimited number of users. The MGW 2400 is also our pick for best digital convergence product of the year.

Finalist:
• Squeeze 3 Compression Suite, Sorenson Media, (888) 767-3676. www.sorenson.com

Unified Messaging Solution

Winner: Communité 2.2, Interactive Intelligence, (317) 872-3000. www.ININ.com

Interactive Intelligence's Communité edged out Cisco's Unity for the most well-connected unified messenger. Although both products support SIP, run on standard Intel-based processors supported by Microsoft Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000, and scale to several hundred ports or sessions per server, Communité's integration with TDM-based andIP-enabled PBXs and its ability to leverage enterprise directories and e-mail servers earned it the top pot. Communité uses LDAP-supported directories as a central repository for user information and attributes such as e-mail addresses, preferences, call-screening rules and message notification. Communité also integrates fax services with the unified messaging server and provides broad support for mail clients. Its client applications support handheld devices running Microsoft Pocket PC, Palm and RIM BlackBerry. And for those with voicemail only, Communité employs XML to utilize a standard file system as a message store.

Finalist:
• Cisco Unity 4.0, Cisco Systems, (800) 553-6387. www.cisco.com

Sean Doherty is a technology editor and lawyer based at our Syracuse University Real-World Labs®. A former project manager and IT engineer at Syracuse University, Doherty helped develop centrally supported applications and storage systems. Write to him at [email protected].

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MGW 2400, Optibase, (800) 451-5101, (650) 230-2400. www.optibase.com

Our digital convergence winner streams live, on-demand video over IP for corporate communications and training applications. It uses Microsoft Windows Media Technology (WMT) and leverages Windows Media servers without added configuration. With external disk storage and two 10/100-Mbps NICs--one for streaming services, one for management--the appliance supports as many as six encoding modules for input from analog audio sources, S-video and composite (NTSC/PAL) video sources, and SDI (Serial Digital Input). With the maximum number of modules installed, the MGW 2400 encodes and streams as many as six live WMT channels for delivery over UDP and HTTP in unicast or multicast. The management console, the SNMP-based Element Management System (EMS), commands encoding modules and sets up streams using a default 44.1-KHz sample rate for audio signaling and a maximum 2-Mbps encoding rate while supporting screen resolutions from 160x112 to 384x288. The MGW 2400 can deliver low-bandwidth streams over slow WAN links or DVD-quality video over the enterprise LAN. And you can adjust the bit rate dynamically to reduce bandwidth requirements as more users access a unicast stream or join a multicast broadcast. Convergence Links at NWC.com...• 2003 Survivor's Guide to Digital Convergence

• Convergence white papers, www.nwc.com/go/dig-papers.html

• Convergence books

• Convergence stories on nwc.com

• Discuss winners and losers... And Around the Internet

• International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium

• MPEG.org

• RFC 2212 on Guaranteed QoS

• Web Caching Resource