Start-up touts better streaming

by Jason Meserve

May 8, 2001 —

A group of former Bell Labs scientists is looking to overcome the problem of Internet congestion degrading the quality of streaming media.

StreamCenter's InCompass Quality is a combination of server software and client-side plug-in that monitors network traffic for signs of congestion. The technology will be unveiled at NetWorld+Interop 2001.

Most congestion occurs in last-mile networks, not edge and backbone networks, says Prat Moghe, CEO of StreamCenter. Using pattern-recognition techniques, the type of congestion is identified and the server adjusts the packet rate to help alleviate the problem.

Moghe claims the Murray Hill, N.J., company can increase the number of bytes delivered by 20%.

"The problems with streaming media quality can be attributed to two things -- codec quality [the algorithm used to encode the stream] and network congestion," says Will Davis, director of Webcasting at P-Wave, a regional streaming media provider in Reading, Pa.

To get more efficiency out of the same network, InCompass Quality fills gaps in the waveforms going across a wire with more data. A 50K-byte client sits on the viewer's machine and interacts with the player to monitor the stream. A server sits in front of an existing RealNetworks, Windows or QuickTime server to help adjust the packet flow. No changes need be made to the content.

"We've used the beta version, and there's a noticeable difference in the quality of the stream," Davis says.

InCompass Quality is scheduled for general availability in August for $50,000 for 10,000 simultaneous streams, plus an annual maintenance fee.

Network World