Given the increasingly distributed end user bases found across many enterprises today, company leaders are facing common challenges in delivering consistent corporate communications across their organizations. IP-based streaming media technologies have matured considerably and can help enterprises address many issues around inadequate corporate contact with remote staff resources. Enterprises with multiple sites and remote users should understand the opportunities and challenges associated with media streaming.
Streaming Media and the Distributed Enterprise
Virtual Enterprise Series
This research note is the second in a McLean Report series examining emerging communications technologies for the virtual enterprise. The first note, “Video Collaboration Vital for the Virtual Workforce,” explored the usage of videoconferencing and telepresence to reduce business travel. |
Although more enterprises today have the basic IT capabilities required to recruit and to support remote employees, the level and quality of corporate communications and ongoing training provided to these users is generally less than ideal. Remote staff operating out of branch sites or home offices are often integral to company objectives, and are sometimes specially recruited because similar talents are not available locally. However, an inability to extend regular corporate contact to these employees – who cannot physically attend company meetings and on-site training sessions – can limit their overall loyalty and effectiveness.
As a result, more business leaders today are motivated to find ways to better engage and interact with remote resources and integrate them into the company culture. IP-based streaming technologies, which leverage the existing enterprise network and VPN infrastructure, have emerged as arguably the most scalable and practical solution to addressing these needs. Broadly, this means live or on-demand delivery of rich content (including audio, video, and other customized media) to the PC desktops of end users.
Some key applications for streaming media in the enterprise include:
- A delivery platform for live broadcasts of corporate communications and events, such as company meetings and kick-offs, to all users in the organization.
- A digital media production platform for developing and encoding video-based training materials and making them available to users “on-demand.”
- A centralized solution for broadcasting live cable or satellite TV channels (for tracking financial markets or local news) to PCs and designated public spaces.
Overview of Streaming Media Technologies
While enterprise demand has risen, the continued progression of platform technologies has helped streaming media emerge as a feasible enterprise communications tool. The four leading vendors and technologies are listed below:
Given that a clear technology leader for the enterprise space has not emerged, selection of a streaming platform will depend heavily on the development skill set of IT resources. For example, Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Windows Media are complemented by the two companies' Rich Internet Application (RIA) frameworks, Flex and Silverlight, respectively, meaning that application development teams will likely have significant influence on any decision.
Also, while the above tools and platforms can be deployed on commodity hardware and operating systems, network-based and appliance-based streaming solutions such as Cisco’s Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) and VBrick’s EtherneTV, have gained a greater profile in recent years. These solutions serve as high performance, high capacity alternatives to standard server deployments, appealing to organizations that have previously identified specific internal and external applications for streaming media.
Key Infrastructure Considerations
Managing network performance stands as the single biggest challenge for enterprises that are planning to utilize streaming media for internal communications. In general, enterprise networks have improved considerably in terms of overall resiliency, and with the continued penetration of VoIP, enterprises have gained a better handle on real-time traffic management and Quality of Service (QoS) issues. However, while VoIP has similar traffic characteristics and delivery requirements, streaming tens or hundreds of rich media feeds concurrently (each several times the bandwidth of a single VoIP stream) as part of a company-wide broadcast will put significantly greater demands on the enterprise LAN and WAN.
Enterprise CDNs with Streaming Services
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One potential solution to this problem, particularly in larger organizations, is to employ a Content Delivery Network (CDN). CDN providers operate large, decentralized infrastructures that are specifically designed to deliver media content across a distributed Web audience – for example, nearly all major global media sites, such as CNN.com, employ the services of CDN providers. With the rise in streaming media applications in business environments, CDNs are increasing their focus on the enterprise space, and many currently offer streaming media services (see sidebar). While CDN rates have historically shown high variability, typical enterprise pricing would be in the ballpark range of $1-$2 per GB transferred per month.
Key Takeaways
- Streaming media set for growth in the enterprise. Given growing business needs and the advancement of the technologies involved, Info-Tech anticipates significant growth in enterprise media streaming over the next 12 to 24 months.
- Network requirements pose the greatest technical challenges. The capacity and performance demands of streaming media are significant and will stand as considerable hurdles for organizations that lack real-time traffic management capabilities.
Bottom Line
Usage of streaming media within the context of internal enterprise communications is poised for growth, given a combination of greater business demand, improved platforms, and more capable enterprise infrastructures. IT leaders should understand streaming opportunities and potential challenges for the virtual workplace.
