VBrick EtherneTV. EtherneTV Copyright VBrick Systems, Inc.

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1 VBrick Introduction is a cost effective package that provides live television to an unlimited number of PC's in a corporate network. includes a VBrick video network appliance, StreamPlayerII software, VBAdmin software, instructions and accessories. Many companies have a need to provide real time information to their employees (e.g brokerage firms that want their employees to have access to financial news broadcasts). Before, this required the installation of costly "TV Tuner Cards" and the stringing of coaxial cable, or use of expensive internet access bandwidth that provides relatively poor video

2 quality even when viewed at postage-stamp size. With and a low cost TV Tuner or VCR, companies can multicast high quality full motion video signals over their existing corporate network at a much lower cost than is possible with other technologies. Corporate Networks While bandwidth in a corporate Local Area Network (LAN) may be free and plentiful, most networks suffer with a Wide Area Network (WAN) choke point. 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, and now Gigabit speeds are common in modern LANs, but WANs have not kept up. Corporate networks commonly use Frame Relay, T1, or even DSL that provides only a small fraction of the bandwidth found in the LAN. The non-real time nature of traditional web viewing and traffic allows servers and network access equipment to queue traffic so that eventually everything "makes it" over the WAN, even if it is "slow". But streaming services use precious WAN bandwidth on a full-time basis reducing the possibility of statistical gain in the network. Clearly, corporate networking professionals and end users alike long for the day that when there is little difference between the LAN and the WAN, and can afford to make it so. That day may be on the horizon as carriers roll out new broadband services, but in the mean time there is ample motivation to conserve

3 WAN bandwidth and video streaming is a growing concern. Kill The Streams! Increasingly, corporate network users are prevented from viewing video streams that are available from the Internet. Companies are configuring their network firewalls to filter these streams for two main reasons: Bandwidth Bottleneck -- each viewer consumes some of the limited WAN bandwidth for each stream viewed and for that stream's duration. For example, if 10 users viewed video from the CNN web site at only 80 Kbps, it would consume more Internet Corp. Network 1.5 Mbps Access Web Site with Streaming Video 20K to 700K per stream Sum % of Access of Streams Bandwidth 50K 3% 100K 7% 250K 16% 500K 33% 700K 46% 1000K 65% 1536K 100% than half the company's T1 access line! Worse, internet broadband video sites now coming online offer streams in excess of 700 Kbps and the

4 typical user (knowing he or she has 100 Mbps Ethernet to the desktop) feels free to view it. Objectionable Content -- companies want their employees to have access to relevant content, but are concerned that costly network bandwidth is consumed merely for entertainment. Alternative Live video, such as "CNN", "CNBC", "The Weather Channel", regional cable news, or other channels can be easily and inexpensively brought to a building though conventional cable TV 1. Terminating that Analog Video Feed from TV Tuner or Camera IP Multicasting in corporate LAN 1.5 Mbps Access Corp. Network Internet No bandwidth used for video cable connection into an inexpensive (US $75) VCR or cable box provides a live video feed which is connected directly to a VBrick. The VBrick delivers

5 30 fps high quality MPEG television to any number of desktops via IP multicast, and consumes no WAN bandwidth at all. Furthermore, the VBrick is simple, compact, and requires little setup. Employees now have instant access to the live television that the company decides is important. For example, Wall Street firms can provide live television to their traders and analysts, insurance companies can learn about disasters, and schools can deliver live educational channels to students. Table 1 illustrates the approximate cost difference between deploying to deliver television to desktops vs. adding an additional T1 line in an VBrick Alternative $6,000 N/A Annual Cost $1,200 cable TV $12,000 T1 VCR or cable box $ 100 N/A Installation N/A $ 2,000 T1 Total $7,300 $14,000 Table 1 attempt to increase network capacity and provide access to internet video sites. The chart assumes a cost of only $1,000/month for T1 access, and $100/month for cable TV access. These figures vary considerably depending on your carrier and location, but they illustrate an approximate order of magnitude of 10 to 1 or more annually and demonstrates the rapid payback. Of course, if a network manager 1 Contact your local cable TV operator. Some operators may charge a distribution premium in addition to the normal per-cable drop fee.

6 chooses to increase network WAN capacity to enable streaming, only a limited number of viewers have been empowered due to the fixed capacity of the WAN, whereas has no WAN dependency at all. Further, increasing the WAN capacity for this purpose tends to only put off the inevitable saturation of this link. Beyond Live While gives viewers live video everywhere on the network, VBrick's StreamPump delivers stored content to those same viewers, effectively providing the continuous delivery of training, updates, news and information, without stressing the corporate network and at very low cost. Quality and Choice Internet-class video has made great progress, but does not deliver true television quality or requires more bandwidth than many corporate WAN's can reasonably deliver. VBrick's MPEG delivers what anyone would consider to be normal "television", making viewing a pleasure. Because VBricks may be placed anywhere, in addition to commercial broadcasts desktops can have access to video tapes, cameras monitoring parking lots and manufacturing processes, or just about anything a human might be interested in viewing at any time.

7 Conclusion provides much higher quality than one would expect from internet-class video, eliminates the bandwidth bottleneck of the WAN, and supports any video source. is a more cost effective solution for the delivery of television to desktops than increasing the capacity of corporate WAN access otherwise needed to support broadband internet video streaming.