Source: TheStandard.com
RealNetworks, maker of the well-known RealPlayer system for Internet media has introduced a new system, dubbed RealSystem iQ, hot on the heels of the Windows Media Bonus Pack. As reported on The Standard, RealSystems iQ turns a regular server-to-server network into a Web of peer-to-peer servers with robust new communications protocols.
What's new in RealSystem iQ is the introduction of robust communication protocols between servers, which will reshape the network architecture from the current origin-server-to-edge-servers linear distribution into a Web of interconnected peer-to-peer servers. Streaming audio or video files will be shunted around the network in much the same way that data packets are switched around the Internet. The result will be a network with no origin and no edge. That means a more reliable and efficient system '“ one with the capacity for self-healing if any one server goes down. This redundancy will allow broadcasters, for example, to reconfigure their servers without stopping their broadcast. The ability to distribute intelligently from any node in the network also means that network capacity can be optimized: If servers in one time zone are relatively quiet, they can be pressed into service to carry part of the load from another region. |
