EMC Showcases Media Server at NAB '96; Works With Leading Telecommunications Suppliers Alcatel and Nortel in High Definition Video Demonstration At Broadcaster Convention

Business Wire, April 15, 1996

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- April 15, 1996--EMC Corporation, the world's leading provider of intelligent information storage and retrieval systems, is demonstrating its high-performance media storage system to thousands attending the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention here. EMC is working separately with two of the world's leading telecommunications equipment companies, Alcatel and Nortel (Northern Telecom), to demonstrate delivery of high-definition video over telecommunications networks to convention attendees at multiple locations in Las Vegas.

High-definition video content, originating from the EMC Media Server in EMC's booth (S1666), is being transmitted over high-speed fiber optic networks to special monitors in both the Alcatel and Nortel exhibits. The demonstration showcases the latest technology from all three companies.

The EMC Media Server, which is available immediately, combines EMC's industry-leading Symmetrix Integrated Cached Disk Array (ICDA) storage system with unique real-time software, called DART (Data Access in Real Time), that provides high-performance and high-capacity storage and delivery of multimedia applications over high-speed networks at speeds of up to 45 Mb/s. EMC's storage-based solution connects directly to the network with no host computer required, providing users with a highly optimized, cost-efficient solution.

"Making a video server by throwing huge numbers of CPU cycles at the problem is extremely inefficient," said Wilson Chao, industry expert and President of Cambridge Television Productions, Inc. "EMC's focus on the operating system and mass storage is correct, efficient and elegant. They've thrown out industry assumptions about what a video server should be, and re-examined what is really needed. It's an operating system issue, not a hardware issue. There are a few people talking in this direction, but nobody besides EMC has demonstrated how to do this."

Israel Gat, General Manager of EMC's Network Storage Group, said, "EMC is addressing the performance limitations of network video for what they really are -- an information throughput issue -- not a processing problem. EMC's intelligent storage systems provide industry-leading throughput and with the new DART software, are an ideal solution for delivering video streams over a network."

In delivering high-definition images to the Alcatel booth, an Alcatel 1743 Video Codec compresses the video signal to a DS3 data signal for storage on the EMC system. This signal is transported over a DS3 link to Alcatel's booth, decompressed in a 1743 VC decoder and up-converted and displayed on a HD-monitor to simulate projection to a theater screen. The Alcatel 1743 VC, part of Alcatel's Switched Digital Video Network (SDVN) product family, is a new video codec that compresses and encodes analog composite (NTSC or PAL) and serial digital component video (ITU-R601/SMPTE 259M) for transmission over the telephone fiber optic network at 45 Mb/s.

Separately, EMC's Media Server is delivering broadcast-quality video to the Nortel exhibit through Nortel's new DV-MPEG codecs which encode video signals for transport, allowing video coverage of live events or stored video to be carried down a Nortel S/DMS TransportNode network and handed off to video operations centers or to "super" or "mini" head-ends for distribution.

At NAB, the content is being sent as a DS3 transport stream over Nortel's Supertrunk system, which, for this demonstration, is an OC3-level fiber optic network. Nortel can control the delivery of the video streams from its booth via a server control station on an ethernet link to their DV45 Supertrunk.

EMC Corporation, based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, is the world's leading independent supplier of enterprise-wide intelligent information storage and retrieval technology, designing systems for mainframe, open systems and midrange environments. The company has offices worldwide, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EMC and is included on the S&P 500 Index. For further information about EMC products and services, EMC's home page can be accessed at http://www.emc.com.

CONTACT: Rick Lacroix

(508) 435-1000