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, Google, Hitachi Ltd., 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.