N e t w o r k A p p l i c a t i o n s a n d
P e r f o r m a n c e P r o j e c t
Achievements
During the 1997/98 financial year the McIver video-on-demand system was
implemented over the Victorian Regional Network (VRN) between Monash
University and Melbourne University using switched virtual circuits.
This ensured that the bandwidth in the network was allocated to video
when required. This involved ATM switches from 4 different vendors
(First Virtual, Fore Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and NEC)
inter-operating using the Private Network to Network Interface (PNNI)
protocol for ATM routing. Attempts to expand the trial to interstate
Universities over the AARNet infrastructure were hampered by the lack of
direct ATM connectivity between the VRN and AARNet.
The McIver software was incorporated into a video-on-demand system for
the State Library of Victoria for use by the general public. Cinemedia
(formerly the State Film Centre of Victoria) negotiated copyright
approval for a series of Australian short films for public display.
ANSPAG encoded the films into MPEG1 format at close to VHS quality for
use in the system.
Given that ATM networks are now unlikely to be widely implemented
end-to-end (ie from a video server to PC video client), and the growth in
the use of the Internet protocol to link computers on any network, the
project began to migrate the McIver video-on-demand system to support the
Internet Protocol. As part of this migration, the McIver video-on-demand
player was also converted to operate from a standard World Wide Web (WWW)
browser as a helper application. The growth in the capabilities of PCs
and the increased availability of bandwidth has also increased the range
of products that provide video-serving capabilities. The McIver system
now incorporates support for First Virtual ATM video servers, Silicon
Graphics Cosmo Mediabase video server, and MicrosoftUs Netshow Theatre
software.
As a result of the modifications, ANSPAG tested McIver between Monash
University and the ACSys group at Australian National University over
AARNet using the IP protocol, passing through a combination of ATM
switches and Cisco routers. The trial provided access to a few videos
loaded onto a Silicon Graphics video server. The initial tests have
highlighted the need for effective video buffer management and
appropriate choice of transport protocol for connections that have
substantial delay variation and also substantial probability of packet
loss.
ANSPAG has been working closely with Cinemedia in the development of the
Swift service. The service is initially targeted at providing schools
with on-line access to a large collection of on-line videos. The service
includes full copyright management of the video content with systems to
provide a financial return to video producers that make content available
on-line. Different users of the system can be restricted to a subset of
the video titles available on-line. Currently the lack of widespread low
cost (ie the cost of a phone line) access to ATM networks has resulted in
developing techniques for providing access to the content through a
variety of other networks. ANSPAG has conducting testing over the new
cable TV networks in Australia (consisting of hybrid fibre/coax
transmission systems and cable modems), and concluded that full on-line
streaming of high quality videos would be unreliable. Another issue is
the uneconomically high costs of data transfer charged at 35 cents per
Megabyte for video services.
To overcome the high costs of bandwidth, ANSPAG has been developing
systems targeted at distance education that combine text, graphics, audio
and low bit rate (56 kbit/s or 128 kbit/s) video. Examples of these
systems have been tested with lecturers and students at Monash University
and are gaining strong interest. As part of this development ANSPAG,
developed an automated system for capturing the audio from lectures, and
automatically making the audio of lectures available over via the
Internet using WWW browsers.
The ANSPAG network testbed was enhanced with a connection to TelstraUs
Accelerate ATM commercial service, TelstraUs Big Pond cable modem
service, and TelstraUs Big Pond ISDN service. These enhancements assist
in developing applications that can be deployed on commercially available
wide-area networks with a range of bandwidths.
As a result of the expertise built in the NAP project, ANSPAG staff are
working with the film production industry in South Melbourne on a project
called Digital Docklands. This project aims to build a pilot network to
demonstrate techniques for using telecommunication networks to improve
the film production process which involves several companies in different
locations cooperating together.
