Sun Microsystems 2.1 manual Introduction

C H A P T E R 1

Introduction

Introduction	page 1-1
Sun MediaCenter Hardware	page 1-2
Sun MediaCenter Software	page 1-4
Video Output Interfaces	page 1-8
Content Preparation and Loading	page 1-10
Server Management	page 1-11
Push Model	page 1-11
Design Benefits	page 1-12

1.1Introduction

The Sun MediaCenter server is a combination of standard server hardware and special software that is optimized for and dedicated to the storage and delivery of video streams. The special software includes:

■a modified Solaris kernel;

■modified network interface drivers, dedicated to continuous-media output;

■a Media File System (MFS), optimized for the demands of the delivery of isochronous bit streams;

■a Media Stream Manager (MSM), which includes an RPC-based API, that provides users access to the server;

1-1