SeaChange will unveil a Flash-based server at The Cable Show next month, and Cable Digital News has picked up on the discussion of where Flash fits into VOD roadmaps.
Like DRAM-based solutions, Flash hardware uses a solid-state architecture, and therefore enjoys the benefits of employing no moving parts. Both DRAM and Flash also offer cost advantages for power and cooling, a significant consideration for operators who are facing ongoing maintenance for their video servers.
I wanted a bit more detail on why Motorola chose DRAM over Flash for the B-1 Video Server, so I did some digging with the relevant business group. I found out first that Motorola seriously evaluated Flash and hasn’t ruled it out for the future. For now, however, there are reasons to stick with DRAM. Capacity and storage don’t scale as well with Flash as they do with DRAM, and currently there is no industry standard defining Flash interfaces or behaviors. No industry standard means that Flash customers could find themselves locked into a single memory vendor.
[...] these days, but VOD vendors are going to great pains to play nice with everyone. SeaChange, which I referenced a few days ago, is now offering its Axiom Suite VOD software as an open platform. Motorola will be demonstrating [...]
Seriously, capacity doesn’t scale with Flash as well as with DRAM? You’re kidding right? I can buy USB thumb drives with 16GB on them now… and most of the space is occupied by the electronics and USB interface. Flash must be an order of magnitude more dense than DRAM…
[...] six racks of legacy VOD equipment. Not only does the solid-state DRAM approach to VOD hardware save on power and cooling; it saves on real [...]
[...] back to April of 2007. I wrote a post on why Motorola chose DRAM initially for the B-1 video server. Even then, however, the on-demand group wasn’t ruling out Flash for the [...]