Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the architectures and principles that govern Media Server (MS) design. Until recently, the three main ingredients for building a cost effective server have not all co-existed. The three are; (1) interconnect networks with a wide bandwidth (155 Mb/s SONET), (2) video compression algorithms and hardware (MPEG1/2) and (3) large storage arrays (100’s of GBs) with high read rates (>5MB/s per disc). During the last several years all three of these technologies became available at affordable prices. This paper will outline the basics of server design. There are only three different architectures in use today and these are governed by seven basic design principles.

© 1996 Optical Society of America