Delivering Streaming Media
Managing Dynamic Content for a Changing Web
By Larry Bouthillier
Early in the evolution of the World Wide Web, database-driven sites consisting of dynamically generated Web pages began replacing Web sites made up of static pages. This was when we started to see the idea of static Web sites give way to the richness and interactivity of Web applications. (See "Plugging in to Hosted Applications," November 1999.) Serving pages on the fly from a database allowed whole new ways of delivering information customized for the user. A similar revolution in delivering streaming media is underway.
Recent advances in streaming media products have made deploying streaming media systems easier than ever. But getting your servers up and running is just the beginning. The first thing you may find after a successful deployment of streaming media is that the amount of content you have grows very large, very quickly as your clients discover the benefits of receiving audio and video over the Web. This can swiftly lead to a new kind of challenge -- how to manage the content on your media servers.
It can also lead to a new kind of opportunity. With a basic content management system, you can let your users search your video database, play the clips that they find, bookmark interesting video segments, and save clips in personal collections or playlists. You can also manage delivery by load balancing among servers or directing video player clients to servers closest to them on the network. In fact, a basic content management system sets the stage for a whole range of applications built around streaming media.<>
