| We just announced the Press Release on 28 May 1996, so I doubt that we
killed it that soon. I thought we also announced some Video-on-demand
products but couldn't find anything. There is NO Sales Update on this
product so I can't find any pricing or part # to verify that is still
available.
Regards,
CORP/96/309
Digital Brings Networked New Media to the Enterprise
Fundamental Change In the Way We Work
Unleashes a New Range of Networked New Media Applications
MAYNARD, Mass., May 28, 1996 -- Digital Equipment Corporation today
made it easy and affordable to bring video, audio and animation to
the static world of text and graphics on the network. The new
Mediaplex Network Server, available immediately, is the industry's
first complete solution that provides intuitive, out-of-the-box
compatibility with the most popular desktop applications. It
supports all major authoring and application tools that comply with
Microsoft's Media Control Interface (MCI), and familiar World Wide
Web interfaces.
Organizations now can deliver and share full-motion, full-
screen video and other media applications across the enterprise.
Desktop PCs can access server-based new media directly, in realtime,
over corporate intranets and LANs. Digital's solution unleashes a
new range of networked new media applications for the workplace,
such as computer-based training-on-demand, video-enabled workflow
and collaboration, realtime access to video resources on the
intranet, and video archiving.
"Companies can immediately improve productivity," says Peter
Ryus, Digital's director of marketing for New Media Solutions,
"saving time and money by integrating the Mediaplex Network Server
into their current training and corporate communications programs.
Digital's breakthrough is the out-of-the-box user-friendliness of
the standard interfaces and applications. The Mediaplex solution
represents a fundamental change in the availability and use of
multimedia, and how employees across the enterprise work,
communicate and share information."
Digital also announced alliances with several leading authoring
tool companies to train and support application developers migrating
multimedia applications to Mediaplex-enabled networks. Initial
participants in this program include: Aimtech Corporation
(IconAuthor); Asymetrix Corporation (ToolBook); and Macromedia
(Director and Authorware). In addition, Digital is also working
closely with its major software partners to integrate their video
capabilities into its solutions. The first of such alliances was
recently announced between Digital and Oracle Corporation. Digital
and Oracle are combining their expertise and strengths to deliver
Oracle's Video Option on the Alpha platform.
The Mediaplex Network Server is built on the industry's fastest
server architecture -- Digital's market-leading 64-bit Alpha systems
with Digital's 64-bit, UNIX-based Mediaplex Network Server Software.
With simple drag-and-drop features, for example, users can create
compound documents using Microsoft's Office applications that
integrate video and audio components and then share the documents
over the network.
Product Details and Pricing
Digital offers the Mediaplex Network Server in three base
configurations -- the Mediaplex workgroup server and two department
servers. The workgroup server, based on the AlphaServer 400,
supports 40 video streams at 1.5 Mbps and can provide up to 90 hours
of MPEG-1 video. Two department servers, based on the AlphaStation
600 -- available in pedestal and rackmount configurations -- support
80 streams at 1.5 Mbps. The rackmount offering can store up to 180
hours of MPEG-1 video. In addition, all systems can deliver fewer
streams at higher data rates. The servers provide multimedia access
over dedicated LANs or intranets, using FDDI and switched Ethernet.
All offerings are preconfigured with RAID storage, PCI-based
FDDI network adapters and high-performance Ethernet interfaces. The
Mediaplex server software is installed on Digital's UNIX operating
system. The Mediaplex Network Server is competitively priced,
starting at $45,995 for the AlphaServer 400 with 21.5 GB of storage.
Mediaplex Systems Up and Running
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at
Syracuse University and Carnegie Mellon University are already using
the Mediaplex Network Server. Stuart Thorson, director of Syracuse
University's Global Affairs Institute and professor of international
relations and political science is using the Mediaplex platform to
enhance his curriculum with creative new media. Syracuse is
employing its high-speed data network to distribute full-motion
video to classrooms and desktops.
"We are finding that the ability to digitally encode and
distribute video to the classroom via Digital's Mediaplex Server
gives our instructional efforts an exciting immediacy which helps
students learn," said Thorson. "We anticipate using the Mediaplex
Server both to enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of our
instruction and to support our research activities in areas
involving images and public policy."
The Informedia project at Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh is currently developing a system which will allow full
content search and retrieval of new media by integrating current
research in speech recognition, image analysis, and natural language
processing technologies. CMU is developing a way to access relevant
video and audio segments from a growing body of archived news
programs and documentaries stored on the Mediaplex Network Server.
This content will be accessible through portions of Carnegie
Mellon's distributed data network.
The Mediaplex Network Server is immediately available through
Digital and its resellers. Digital offers technical support and
specially priced systems for independent software developers wanting
to integrate their CD-ROM-based applications with the Mediaplex
platform through its Association of Software and Application
Partners program.
Timed with this announcement, one of Digital's authoring tool
partners, Asymetrix, is offering special introductory pricing on its
new ToolBook II software for Mediaplex customers. ToolBook is one
of the most popular authoring systems available today, with powerful
multimedia engines to handle video, audio and animation delivered by
the Mediaplex Network Server.
Digital Equipment Corporation is the world's leader in open
client/server solutions from personal computers to integrated
worldwide information systems. Digital's Intel and Alpha platforms,
storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-
focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete
and win in today's global marketplace.
####
Note to Editors: AlphaServer, AlphaStation and Mediaplex are
trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.
Asymetrix and Aimtech have issued related
releases. IconAuthor is a trademark of Aimtech
Corporation. ToolBook is a trademark of Asymetrix
Corporation. Director and Authorware are
trademarks of Macromedia. Oracle is a registered
trademark of Oracle Corporation. UNIX is a
registered trademark in the United States and
other countries, licensed exclusively through
X/Open Company, Ltd.
CORP/96/309
Roger Horine
(508) 841-2609
e-mail: [email protected]
|
| | Of course, Digital's video-on-demand solution, Mediaplex, has now been
| cancelled. Does that diminish the urgency of your request?
Mediaplex has not been cancelled. There has been some debate about how we
are going to position our offering vis-a-vis the Orcale offering. We may
not continue to persue new customer opportunities with Mediaplex, as a
product, in those areas of conflict with our Oracle partnership. But we are
certainly going to continue to deliver new releases to existing customers,
all of which are *big* customers. At this point the internal party-line is
that we are going to bid Oracle/Alpha based solutions to new customers for
some specific variants of VOD technology. Read: we want to sell Alpha boxes
and we don't really care what applications that run on it.
As far as I know areas such as Ad insertion and NVOD will continue to be
growth areas, as in creating new customer opportunities, based on our own
Mediaplex stuff. You could also see Mediaplex components built into larger
offerings from Telco:s. That is, you don't buy Mediaplex but, perhaps,
something like Cornerstone from NORTEL. From where I sit, the exact details
of the agreement of how we are not to pitch Mediaplex against Oracle is
still under debate by senior management. In the meantime we are concentrating
the Mediaplex development effort on areas not in conflict.
Does this mean that Digital is abandoning the video-on-demand market? Not
at all. There is a just a shift in what vaneer of software we will use to
leverage Alpha boxes and know-how, in *some* aspects of our offering. And I am
pretty sure that this is not the end of changes in this area. In the meantime,
Mediaplex is not dead until it is officially dead nor is Mediaplex the only
piece of our VOD offering. Happy selling.
Cheers,
Per Hamnqvist,
New Media Solutions (a.k.a. Mediaplex Engineering)
|