Video/Broadcast Services (VBS) maintains a flexible infrastructure to service Virginia Tech's streaming media needs. The department uses RealNetwork's Helix™ Server, which is capable of delivering content in Real, QuickTime, and MS Media formats, as well as dedicated QuickTime servers.

VBS operates three data repositories for streaming media. Grundy is a server that end users such as professors may be given an account on for direct control of their content. Specific class data and projects for departments are stored on servers that only VBS has access to. A multi-terabyte DVD jukebox is used for long term storage. It offers large amounts of inexpensive storage, with the drawback of being slower than hard drive based systems. This summer, VBS is adding a data server with 1 terabyte of RAID5 hard drive storage, which will be used to store files that require frequent, fast access, such as the classes that VBS provides streaming media recordings of. Those classes currently generate approximately 10 gigabytes of data per week during the spring and fall semesters.

All three data servers can be access by VBS's three primary Real Servers, realbcst, helix2, and helix3. No content is tied to a specific server, which allows for redundancy and load balancing. At this time, those three servers are still running RealServer 8, which is only capable of streaming Real format files. They will be upgraded this summer, which will allow them to stream all three formats.

VBS also has four streaming media servers that are not connected to the three file servers. There are two Helix servers which are used specifically for live streams, and two QuickTime servers which are available for live streams or for on-demand media which is only in QuickTime format.

The department offers a number of services to aid faculty with the development of streaming media content. VBS has a multi-camera studio and a smaller, single-camera studio for producing high quality video products. Non-linear editing is also available. If the content has already been produced, VBS can create Real, QuickTime, or MS Media streaming files from a variety of sources, including VHS, digital video, and MPEG2 files.

Questions and comments can be addressed to vbsweb@vt.edu