Boston, Massachusetts-based streaming video technology provider SightPath Inc is getting ready to open its European office, 15 months after beginning trading in the US. The firm provides an IP-based video delivery system designed to improve the quality of streaming video by bypassing network bottlenecks.
SightPath’s system comprises a central administration device, Studio 2000, and up to several hundred Appliance 200 devices distributed around a corporate intranet or extranet. Video files created on the Studio are published intelligently between Appliances, each replicating from the nearest device, to save bandwidth, until each Applicance contains the latest video files.
The Appliances essentially work as buffers between low-bandwith internet connections and high-bandwidth LANs, so the quality of the user experience is very near that of watching television. It’s like giving each company the ability to run its own internal cable TV station, SightPath marketing director Jim Melvin said. Each Appliance holds between 30 and 150 hours of video on its 15Gb hard drive, and can serve up to 100 desktops.
Melvin admitted that the system is not suitable for live broadcasts or interactive service such as video conferencing. Marketing and advertising firms use the system to pitch ideas at existing customers – it is not suitable for cold-calling, as each LAN needs an appliance installed on it. No specialist client-side software is required, except whichever media player the company uses (SightPath supports them all). When a user selects a hypertext link to a video file on the corporate web site, the Studio software is configured in such a way as to play the file from the nearest Appliance transparently to the user. The Studio box contains the media publishing tools from Microsoft Corp and Real Networks Inc.
SightPath has been around for 18 months, founded by a former VP of media firm Avid Technology Inc and two MIT computer science professors. Its customers include 3Com Inc and workstation builder Intergraph Corp. Its European office will open in London in the fourth quarter, with an as-yet-unnamed MD. The Studio 2000 product costs $60,000-$100,000, with additional Appliance 200 boxes costing $5,000 each.
