NASD Video Server
High-performance storage systems and networks have spawned a number
of new applications in recent years. Among these is the storage and
retrieval of digital video. Digital video puts several new demands on
the storage system and network, including:
- Larger storage capacity requirements (a 1.5Mbps MPEG-1 encoded
video requires approximately 500MB for a 60-minute clip)
- Larger network bandwidth requirements (a VHS-quality video clip
requires 1.5Mbps to 8Mbps)
- Guaranteed access to storage and network resources over a long
period of time
- Low latency for interactive requests
- Tighter service timing, to provide a near-constant-bitrate stream
We built a digital video server with a focus on several research
goals:
- Embedded execution in a NASD drive
- Low startup latency, especially when serving short clips
- Compatibility with the Informedia project's database and search software
Acknowledgements
We thank the members and companies of the PDL Consortium: Amazon, Bloomberg, Datadog, Google, Honda, Intel Corporation, IBM, Jane Street, Meta, Microsoft Research, Oracle Corporation, Pure Storage, Salesforce, Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Two Sigma, and Western Digital for their interest, insights, feedback, and support.