The moving media industry continues to undergo profound changes as evidenced by the explosion of the Internet and the changes in the types of moving media available to us all. The Second Edition of Video and Media Servers, Technology and Applications, puts a stake in the sand for video and media server technologies. Now that video and media file servers are mature, profitable devices, we seek to find harmony in the various delivery mediums available.

Information is crucial to the world we know today. The conveyance of that information and its associated storage of that data will continue to be one of the highest profile elements for the future. Some feel that storage technologies may be changing so fast, they may actually obsolete the future.

Increasing the amount of information we generate requires increasing the means of delivery and, in turn, increasing the growth of storage. Worldwide, the Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet markets are exploding. As of 2001, traffic on the Internet is doubling in just under three months and is expected to reach 730,000 users worldwide by 2004.

Magnetic storage density increases 60 100 percent every year and storage prices fall 35 40 percent annually. While the growth of data is exponential, improvements in storage performance increase only about ten percent per year.

The cost of compute power falls 25 35 percent per year while the density of silicon switching transistors doubles every 18 24 months. However, annual improvements in computer performance remain at only 30 35 percent.

Optical bandwidth outside the...