Home VBrick Plays for Video Content Management in the Enterprise

VBrick Plays for Video Content Management in the Enterprise

The big plays being made for video in the enterprise are leading to all sorts of issues of how to scale with distribution, archiving, and optimization – without creating a huge burden on the overall network.

So, it is interesting to hear VBrick Systems‘ announcement today of its Enterprise Media System (VEMS). VEMS has the capability to distribute webcasts, on-demand video and rich media throughout the enterprise. The announcement comes less than a week after Cisco showed its deep commitment to the video enterprise market with its acquisition of Tandberg, a Norwegian video conferencing company that also happens to be one of VBrick’s partners.

VBrick sees itself as the hardware and software provider of a “unified” communications system that optimizes bandwidth to route users across a network. Users are zoned by region, which keeps the numerous networked applications that are managed within the enterprise from being affected. This feature and its UI may be VBrick’s differentiators. VBrick’s system is already in place at Vodafone, the mobile telecommunications company with 79,000 employees in 27 countries.

What we really see with the VBrick announcement is the emergence of video content management systems with all sorts of technology options that had not previously been as much of an issue for enterprise customers.

Frost and Sullivan (registration reqired) illustrates how video in the enterprise has become an increasingly complex sector:

VBrick is banking on its ability to offer a more complete content management system than its competitors. Here’s a glance at what it offers customers:

  • Zoning: Defining zones to dynamically direct users to video, while preventing them from pulling multiple video streams over low-bandwidth WAN links.
  • Scaling: VBrick offers a “reflector appliance,” installed at the network edge. The idea is to provide a service that can scale for a company of any size. These reflector appliances include software that compresses video after it is encoded from analog to digital format. The video is then distributed to the multiple devices available to users, including the desktop, mobile devices, and digital signs.
  • Management: Live and on-demand video is on the uptick. VBrick maintains that its system is designed to manage the multiple types of video content that are increasingly used by companies in all facets of their operation.
  • UI: Advanced search features and the ability to integrate with existing presentation software programs.

One hurdle for VEMS may be price. VBrick claims that it comes in lower than Cisco, but a single server runs upwards of $15,000. Enterprise deployment could easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A core part of VBrick’s offering is integration with third-party providers. VBrick is extending its integration with a new plugin for IBM Lotus Sametime. The plugin allows users to integrate video into instant messaging and Web conferencing environments.

VBrick is ranked by Frost and Sullivan as the market leader in the video enterprise market. But the competition is not slowing down. With Cisco making a run, VBrick will have to leverage its strength all the more to provide a platform for the global enterprise. This means having superior bandwidth optimization, the ability to scale, further third-party integrations, and an intuitive UI. And all of this while keeping its price in check with the market.

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