StreamGuys, a Bayside, CA-based streaming media and content delivery provider, has established a virtualization streaming platform that delivers quality of service and an economical path to 100GB/s remotely located cluster servers. Virtualization supports high service availability and fault tolerance for mission-critical content delivery and multimedia streaming, according to the company.
In terms of network capacity, StreamGuys is enabling a path to 100GB/s services by standardizing on 10GB/s network connectivity all the way to the physical host servers, enabling customers to easily scale for large events and bursts of traffic. The company is also expanding its data centers by implementing VMware’s vSphere Hypervisor architecture at its Dupont Fabros (DFT) data center in Chicago, as well as in Amsterdam and other data center locations around the world.
Virtualization separates the hardware layer from the services, offering improved redundancy and scalability, enhanced storage and recovery options, increased streaming capacity, advanced monitoring and reporting capabilities, and reduced management. Costs are also reduced through a more efficient rack-space footprint and a greener use of operating resources such as power and cooling.
True 24/7 availability of service is key for broadcasters who need 100 percent uptime, according to Kiriki Delany, president of StreamGuys. He said virtualization and cloud computing have entered everyday discussions in the broadcast world; however, they are very different concepts that are often confused as one and the same.
“Too often, the cloud becomes a fog where it's difficult to understand the resources within,” Delany said. “Cloud computing at its best should provide a transparent, consolidated environment that improves resource management without sacrificing quality of service. The StreamGuys virtualization platform allows us to enhance engineering and architecture to meet professional quality of service and performance expectations.”
Delany added that the company’s plans for cloud computing will grow out of its virtualization efforts, with a focus on maintaining a high quality of services through transparent, private clouds.
To support the new service, the company is currently building clusters of physical nodes on top of VMware ESXi at the host level, Delany said.
“Abstracting the hardware layer from services allows us to modify architecture and adapt organically with demand. We also offer services with varying levels of redundancy and availability. This means we can more closely design and price solutions based on customer requirements,” he said.
The streaming virtualization service is also ideal for short-notice events, allowing StreamGuys to more rapidly provision services to meet custom demands than what is possible on physical systems.
“Our goal is to bring the benefits of virtualization to our existing customers and expand to a true cloud-based computing service,” he said. “We believe that the tangible benefits of virtualization, combined with our service and support, will enable StreamGuys to offer better services to our customers.”