Sun MediaCenter Servers, Media File System

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Article #12651

#12651

From: Hugh LaMaster
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 16:53

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Sun just announced a line of "MediaCenter" servers.  These are
not UltraSPARC machines - they use SuperSPARC processors and
seem to be based entirely on existing platforms, and use
Solaris 2.4.  So, what makes them "MediaServers"?  The blurb
says that the systems feature "a specially-designed Media File 
System (supports RAID 4 parity disk and file striping)" and 
"optimized network and disk device drivers".  Superficially, 
this sounds like technology at least five years old, so it isn't
clear (to me) if there is anything new about the system H/W or
S/W.  It sounds like an application-specific system package,
not new technology.  Is there anything special about the
Media File System?  What optimization choices were made?

Of possibly more interest is that the Media File System sports
a new API intended to support "the modular development of advanced
applications that require video-on-demand and near video-on-demand 
or scheduled broadcast."  Sounds interesting.

Comments?



-- 
  Hugh LaMaster, M/S 233-18,    Email:       Please send ASCII documents to:
  NASA Ames Research Center     Internet:    lamaster@ames.arc.nasa.gov
  Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000  Or:          lamaster@george.arc.nasa.gov 
  Phone:  415/604-1056          Disclaimer:  Unofficial, personal *opinion*.

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!george.arc.nasa.gov!lamaster
From: lamaster@george.arc.nasa.gov (Hugh LaMaster)
Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.multimedia,comp.periphs.scsi,comp.sys.sun.misc
Subject: Sun MediaCenter Servers, Media File System
Date: 12 Oct 1995 16:53:11 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center
Distribution: world
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