Q: What are Starlight's products?

A: Starlight offers a family of multimedia networking products to meet the needs of a broad range of customers. Starlight's products include StarWare® and StarWorks® video server software and StarWorks-TV(tm) multicasting software. StarWare is an NLM (NetWare Loadable Module) based on the standard Novell NetWare file system and protocols. By leveraging a general-purpose file server platform, StarWare provides support for a wide variety of networking media, including Ethernet, Token-Ring, FDDI, server peripherals, and server management software, and can turn a file server into a combination video/data server. StarWare supports PC and Macintosh clients.

StarWorks is based on 486/Pentium, SPARC Solaris systems or IBM RS/6000 Systems (AIX) and uses a Starlight-developed streaming file system and video protocol. StarWorks is designed for enterprise-wide multimedia applications and more demanding multimedia networking applications, such as multimedia information systems and video databases, where reliable 30 frames per second delivery is important. By using a file system and protocol designed from the ground up for video delivery, StarWorks provides the greatest performance on any given hardware platform; reliable, full-performance video delivery; and simultaneous access for all StarWorks clients. StarWorks on a PC is a dedicated video application server while StarWorks Solaris or AIX systems can co-reside with other applications such as databases.

StarWorks currently supports DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and SPARC station clients. StarWorks on 486/Pentium servers can be used in Ethernet, Token-Ring, or FDDI environments from either server platform. StarWorks on SPARC-based servers supports Ethernet and FDDI environments and soon ATM.

StarWorks-TV on the StarWorks video server represents the first step in integrating live and stored video. StarWorks-TV provides a 'one-to-many' multicasting service of live and stored video to hundreds of viewers over local area networks. Application areas for StarWorks-TV include distance learning, remote manufacturing process management, corporate communications, security/surveillance, and live TV news on a desktop. StarWorks-TV is supported on 486/Pentium EISA and SPARC servers and DOS and Windows clients.

Both StarWare and StarWorks products are compatible with standard desktop personal computers, server hardware, operating systems, compression schemes, and networks.

Q: What do Starlight's products do?

A: StarWare is an NLM-based video I/O engine that interfaces to Novell's Direct File System and prioritizes video data over nonvideo data. In addition, StarWare runs on top of NetWare's IPX protocol and groups packets together to reduce network collisions. Client PC's talk directly to the StarWare NLM through the StarWare redirector software on the client.

StarWorks is a video networking software architecture that consists of a video file system (Streaming RAID), video network protocol (Media Transport Protocol(tm), MTP) and video network software engine that reserves server and network resources for reliable video delivery. Streaming RAID(tm) reserves disk resources, stripes video data across multiple drives, and intelligently reads video data to eliminate disk fragmentation and maximize simultaneous playback. The storage management functions also include a parity option that allows faster recovery from disk drive failures. In a 40-user StarWorks system, for example, the clients could all be playing the same video, the same video at different points in the file, or completely different movies with no loss in video playback performance or startup time. MTP is a lightweight, rate-controlled protocol that actually controls, or meters, the flow of video on the network, allowing more video traffic on a network segment than could be obtained with other protocols, while still remaining compatible with existing data network protocols (e.g., IPX, TCP/IP). The StarWorks video network software engine provides a flexible architecture for synchronizing and streaming video and audio data directly to and from the server, multicasting live and stored video, and a growth path to future services such as stream 'conditioning' (scaling, transcoding to another compression scheme, etc.). Finally, StarWorks allows a user to reserve bandwidth on networking segments attached to the server, minimizing network overload caused by video.

StarWorks-TV, included with the StarWorks video server, turns a PC-based LAN environment into a virtual TV station by providing multicasting services for live and stored video. Input to the StarWorks-TV Broadcaster, which multicasts digital video streams over a LAN, can come from an analog source, such as a camera, cable tuner, or a video tape recorder, or from stored video. Multicasts can be viewed by any Video For Windows or Media Control Interface client application, including the StarWorks-TV Viewer, which comes with the product. StarWorks-TV's network delivery management ensures the quality and delivery of multicasts independent of other video-on-demand activities on the network. StarWorks-TV also manages storage of multicasts on the StarWorks video server, and recordings can be scheduled or performed in real time.

Q: How do I take advantage of StarWare and StarWorks services?

A: Digital video applications can be networked by StarWare and StarWorks without any modifications. StarWare and StarWorks both tie into DOS and Windows-based multimedia products through a redirector that makes access transparent to the end user. StarWare and StarWorks also support Macintosh computers and Solaris environments. Therefore, any application that works on a local disk may be networked. Moving video from the desktop computer to a video application server enables multiple users to simultaneously access video information. StarWorks also provides networked video services directly to video authoring tools and digital video player systems on desktop computers. These tools and video systems communicate directly with StarWorks video application server software to request video data. Other applications such as database applications or groupware applications, which typically reside on a dedicated server on the LAN, can also add video services. For example, a database application or a groupware application like Lotus Notes can work together with StarWorks. Consider an advertising agency with a Sybase customer database that also has hours of video associated with their customers. Sybase could be used to "manage" the video database - one could search for all commercials filmed in Hawaii, but Sybase would not actually store or transmit video data. Sybase would direct StarWorks to send the appropriate video information to the requester's PC video system for playing.

Q: What kind of server is required?

A: Starlight's goal is to provide the best price/performance video server solution. Both StarWorks software and StarWare software run on industry-standard PC servers, and StarWorks also runs on SPARC-based systems, and IBM RS/6000-based systems. StarWorks uses a 486/Pentium 33/50/66 MHz server with 24 MB RAM (minimum) and can support up to 40 simultaneous users. StarWare 2.0 runs on Novell-certified i486 or Pentium PCs and can support up to 100 users.

Higher performance for StarWorks can be obtained using higher-end servers such as PCs with Pentium processors. In addition, high performance in the StarWorks-50M configuration for EISA PC servers is achieved by connecting the server to a switched hub via a StarLink(tm) video server adapter card. The StarLink adapter, designed by Starlight, provides a high-speed connection to the hub and "turbocharges" the EISA PC server platform to support more users.

Another option for higher performance is running StarWorks on a SPARC-based server. Today, this requires a Sun Microsystems SPARC server 10 or SPARC server 20 with a 50 MHz or faster SPARC processor and 128 MB or more of main memory. StarWorks' support for Solaris provides customers with a scalable server platform, laying the foundation for the hundreds of simultaneous users and hundreds of gigabytes of video storage.

Both StarWorks and StarWare servers use standard network adapters and disk drives. StarWorks supports over 400 gigabytes of storage managed by the Streaming RAID software. StarWare supports both disks and other mass storage devices that are supported by NetWare.

Q: How many users does each product support?

A: Both StarWare and StarWorks are sold according to user and/or bandwidth capacity supported so that users can flexibly take advantage of server capacity, according to the needs of the compression schemes they choose. For example, a 50 Mbps version of StarWorks translates into 40 simultaneous users playing Video for Windows or QuickTime video at 1.2 Mbps each, 12 users simultaneously playing motion JPEG video at 4 Mbps each, or any combination totaling up to 50 Mbps. Each user may play the same video, even with different start times, or each user may play a different video, or any combination thereof. StarWare 2.0 supports up to 100 users. StarWorks and StarWare can also support multiple video types (i.e., compression schemes) playing simultaneously. StarWorks and StarWare are currently sold in the following capacity configurations:

Product Server Capacity
StarWorks-6M 5 users (@ 1.2 Mbps)
StarWorks-12M 10 users (@ 1.2 Mbps)
StarWorks-25M 20 users (@ 1.2 Mbps)
StarWorks-50M 40 users (@ 1.2 Mbps)
StarWare 2.0 100 users (@ 1.5 Mbps)

Q: What is Starlight's maximum performance?

A: Starlight's performance is dependent on the capabilities of the server platform. While our standard products are available at 50 Mbps for StarWorks, Starlight has created higher performance versions of the StarWorks video server products for OEMs. StarWorks on Solaris will support multiprocessor servers in the near future to address hundreds of Mbps and hundreds of simultaneous users. StarWare 2.0 supports up to 100 users.

Q: How much network bandwidth is used by StarWorks-TV?

A: Network bandwidth used in the 'one-to-many' multicasting service provided by StarWorks-TV is independent of the number of viewers of the multicast; one stream is used to reach hundreds of viewers. Live and stored multicasts can be delivered at 0.8 - 3 Mbits/second, depending on the configuration of the network. StarWorks-TV software gives the network administrator the ability to control the maximum bandwidth allowed for video on a networking segment, and also offers flexibility in choosing frame rates and resolution to meet bandwidth and quality requirements.

Q: Can I use my current applications on my desktop computer while playing video?

A: Yes. StarWare and StarWorks manage the delivery of video to the desktop without impacting current desktop applications. A user can watch a video in one application window while simultaneously accessing other files or application servers on the LAN for current data applications.

Q: What desktop environments does Starlight support?

A: Starlight's goal is to provide enterprise-wide video networking solutions. This means supporting the popular desktop computers, the popular network operating systems, and the popular video compression formats. StarWorks and StarWare are independent of the video compression format, supporting both software-only compression formats as well as hardware-assisted video compression systems. StarWorks is available for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and SPARCstation Solaris client environments. StarWorks-TV is supported on EISA and Solaris StarWorks video servers and DOS and Windows clients. StarWare supports DOS, Windows, and Macintosh clients. StarWorks runs in all the popular networking environments and is compatible with NetWare, AppleShare, LAN Manager, NFS, and VINES.

Video operating systems and formats supported include: multimedia operating systems, Video for Windows, QuickTime, QuickTime for Windows, and Audio-Visual Kernel. Compression schemes include: Indeo, Video 1, Cinepak, Apple Video Compressor, PLV, RTV, MPEG, motion JPEG, Sun CELLB, TrueMotion, PhotoMotion, and pX64. StarWorks-TV currently supports Indeo, motion JPEG video compression formats, and support of MPEG is planned in a future release.

Q: What networking environment is needed?

A: StarWare supports all LAN environments supported by NetWare, including Ethernet, Token-Ring, and FDDI. StarWorks on 486/Pentium servers are compatible with 10BaseT and thin Ethernet LANs, Token-Ring, and FDDI. StarWorks on SPARC-based servers supports Ethernet and FDDI. StarWorks is expected to also support 100BaseT, 100BaseVG, and ATM in the near future.

Q: What about ATM networks?

A: The StarWare and StarWorks architectures can readily be adapted to other networking physical layer technologies since the client software is all in the higher network layers (OSI layer 4) and above. ATM will offer advantages for handling video in the enterprise network, particularly along the backbone structure. ATM will need to be supported in both native and LAN emulation modes. Starlight will continue to upgrade its products to support emerging networking technologies like ATM, 100 Mbps Ethernet, and 100BaseVG.

Q: What about international support?

A: Starlight products are sold and supported by value-added resellers and systems integrators in Canada, Mexico, the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, and other selected countries in Asia and Europe. Starlight offers a Japanese version of StarWare (StarWare-J) and will soon offer StarWorks-J as well. Both products will be localized for other markets as appropriate.

Q: Why does Starlight support so many platforms?

A: The market for video servers/networks is new, but already requires different platforms depending on the application and computer environment. Customers even need different platforms for the same application such as when they need to support a field sales office with one server and a headquarters group with another. Some installations require video and nonvideo on the same platform, some need a rarely managed dedicated video server as almost a network appliance, and others want video service integrated on an enterprise server. Starlight believes our customers benefit when they can choose the same Starlight application support on a wide variety of network solutions. This position has made Starlight the open systems leader in video networking.

Q: What applications are Starlight Networks products typically used for?

A: Popular applications today for Starlight's video networking services software include the following: interactive, video-based training; performance-support systems; networked video kiosks; video databases; distance learning; video production; and corporate communications.

Q: Why is Starlight focusing on the NetWare platform?

A: NetWare's large market share combined with Starlight's open systems strategy makes NetWare an ideal platform for Starlight's patented, streaming technologies. Also, NetWare's inherent low-overhead architecture on inexpensive PC hardware creates an unbeatable value-proposition from Starlight to the NetWare customer - up to 100 concurrent video streams on PC hardware. Called StarWare® version 2.0, this second generation software installs easily on an existing NetWare server and can support streaming multimedia applications without major upgrades to underlying local area network infrastructure or expensive server hardware. In fact, this product establishes a new price-performance benchmark in the media server marketplace when compared across any platform.

Q: What kinds of multimedia applications are you seeing in the NetWare market?

A: The NetWare market represents a shift from the early prototyping stage to implementations of client/server multimedia applications that, for example, turn single-use CD-ROMs into multi-use, centrally administered digital libraries. Particularly popular for NetWare workgroups is on-demand training for mainstream productivity tools such as Word and Excel. Millions of dollars are spent each year on such training. By deploying on line multimedia based departmental training, companies can not only realize cost savings, but also increase employee performance through better access. Starlight is working with several ISVs to make it easy to deploy network-enabled digital multimedia training content in this market. Starlight also sees increasing mainstream usage of digital multimedia networks in the NetWare market - for example, the emergence of digital multimedia content that needs to be indexed, transcribed, sorted and network-delivered between departments across entire enterprises. Such libraries share multimedia presentations, product demos, marketing communications, corporate broadcasts, videoconference audits, clips from annual reports, analyst meetings, casual training, and more.

Q: What are the key features and benefits of StarWare?

A: StarWare 2.0 features Starlight's patented, streaming middleware technologies, which provide client connectivity and streaming services. Starlight's middleware optimizes network delivery with traffic shaping, rate control and reservation subsystems, such that existing networks are used more efficiently for streaming video without intruding on traditional LAN traffic. The benefit is that StarWare runs on existing LANs without requiring major upgrades. For better monitoring and management of the video network StarWare provides the above mentioned sophisticated controls to network administrators all with the ease of a NetWare NLM. Another feature is StarWare's ability to mix several datatypes - high bandwidth graphics, audio and video streams, database, and, of course, text to offer true multimedia services. Starlight software will plug and play with existing QuickTime and Video For Windows applications. In addition, ISVs can use Starlight APIs to develop powerful client/server multimedia applications that begin to provide back-office functions coupled with front-office performance tools.

Q: Does StarWare run on any version of NetWare?

A: StarWare version 2.0 runs on either NetWare version 3.12 or 4.10.

Q: How is StarWare licensed?

A: StarWare follows the tradition of Novell's NetWare in offering 10, 25, 50 and 100 concurrent user licenses with upgrades between the packs. The concurrent usage is controlled at the server although customers have unlimited control over the number of seats they can enable to access the StarWare server. Any concurrent access exceeding the purchased license capacity is simply denied with a busy signal. At installation, each StarWare pack defaults to a minimum 5-user license. When the customer acquires a key from Starlight to unlock a security code it brings the server up to its purchased capacity.

Q: Is StarWare a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM)?

A: Yes. Installed as an NLM, StarWare provides the same look and feel of other NLMs, including the benefits of easy installation, administration and usage. As a software product it can be dropped on an existing NetWare server so customers can painlessly begin experimenting with client/server multimedia applications before full deployment. It co-resides with core NetWare print and file functions. Therefore StarWare customers do not need to dedicate server hardware to multimedia.

Q: How many video streams can StarWare deliver concurrently?

A: On fast, single processor PC's, StarWare can support up to 100 concurrent video streams that are 1.5 Megabits-per-second (Mbps) wide. There are no inherent limitations on the stored multimedia formats, which include MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Video for Windows, Indeo, PLV, Motion JPEG and QuickTime.

Q: What kind of server hardware is required for StarWare?

A: Novell certified PC hardware with high-speed bus (PCI, EISA), 32 MB of RAM, standard & RAID enabled disk storage and networking cards (10BaseT, 100VG, FDDI and ATM). A 133Mhz Pentium processor with 32MB of RAM, can support up to 100 users. Pentium 90s or Intel 486 platforms (80% of NetWare installations) can easily support 5 to 50 concurrent users without displacing core file and print functions. In all cases, any extra hardware required, such as disk spindles, networking cards or switched ethernet hubs, will work with StarWare as long as the hardware is Novell certified.

Q: Can I run data and video applications concurrently?

A: Yes. StarWare 2.0 co-resides with other NetWare functions such as File and Print services. Other examples include the popular multimedia applications for desktop training by Minnesota based J3 Learning. When using one of these applications a user can access one MPEG-1 video stream while 2 to 3 network documents are being opened. At the same time, information is being selected from one centralized Microsoft Access database which also gets updated for management purposes. A Help file and even the executable can be centrally stored and launched from a StarWare server. Since StarWare does not claim a bandwidth license for non-video data access, one user accessing all these files expends a single license. In other words, 50 users can be running the same application concurrently while accessing multiple streaming and non streaming files. On StarWare, 50 users will expend only 50 licenses regardless of how many activities they are engaged in. Some competitors use up a complete license for each file accessed, whether video or non-video data. In the above example, the competition would have required the use of up to 7 licenses for a single user.

Q: Can I run video over wide area networks (WANs) using StarWare?

A: Compared with LANs, wide area networks introduce higher latencies in the transmission of data even when using high-throughput protocols such as frame-relay. StarWare data transmission rates are adjustable so that multimedia data can be centrally stored but accessed over long distances. In fact, excess capacity in the national telecommunication infrastructure (dark fiber) coupled with excess MIPS on computer desktops is an emerging opportunity for broadband multimedia WANs to soak up excess capacity while providing centralized multimedia server access. Starlight brings ubiquitous multimedia access from LANs interconnected over WANs.

Q: What client platforms does StarWare support?

A: Starlight's client software, which runs on Windows, Windows for Workgroups, Windows-95 and Macintosh OS 7.x, can access the entire range of Starlight's multimedia server platforms - Unix or NetWare.

Q: What applications are available for use with StarWare?

A: StarWare 2.0 works with any QuickTime or Video for Windows applications. Starlight is also working with several ISVs to network enable their multimedia applications, particularly in the area of on-demand training. For example Starlight will offer specific training content (Win-95, Microsoft Office training modules, etc.) with it's multimedia networking software to create Training Centers Out of the Box.

Q: Is StarWare 2.0 a Novell certified product?

A: Not yet. We plan to work closely with Novell in the future.

Q: Does StarWare 2.0 support any live video applications?

A: StarWare version 2.0 does not yet support Starlight's live broadcast product suite. It will, in version 3.0. Some applications for live-TV, which is available for Starlight's Unix based StarWorks product line, include distance learning, access to live broadcasts, news to the desktop, etc.

Q: Will StarWare 2.0 support the MP version of NetWare?

A: Not yet. Novell's SMP version of NetWare is currently not available for general release but several PC vendors that Starlight is working with are certifying their server hardware to be NetWare SMP enabled.

Q: What about future product offerings?

A: Starlight will continue to develop video networking software solutions on three dimensions: providing solutions for the appropriate client and server platforms; addressing the requirements of LAN, WAN, and enterprise-wide network topologies; and supporting video application demands. Starlight's initial products cover today's most popular multimedia platforms, PC, Macintosh, and UNIX clients, and UNIX and NetWare server platforms. Support for Microsoft NT servers is planned in the future.

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