Thursday Apr 26, 2007

When it comes to television, most people would choose to watch what they want, where and when they want it, rather than adjust to the schedules set by network broadcasters and content providers. But until now, the technology to do so has not been readily available. Enter the Sun Streaming System.

Today's edition of Innovating@Sun welcomes Director of Engineering, Systems Group, Henk Goosen and Bob Sokol, media architect in Global Sales and Services. Host Hal Stern, vice president of Global Systems Engineering, joins his guests in a banter about how the new system will enable massive-scale, private video streaming. The trio discuss how this will change the user experience for end-customers, as well as business models for telcos, cable companies, and startups looking to bring personalized television services to market. Podcast highlights include:

  • The six software applications and three hardware boxes, including the new Sun Streaming Switch, that enable unique video delivery
  • How availability and fault tolerance are handled
  • Initial reactions from the content provider market
  • How the distributed object system with Sun-developed IP drives reliability and high-performance at this level of scale
  • Why customers will enjoy tremendous consolidation as well as the ability to do targeted advertising, thereby increasing response rates and revenues

    With the technology now available to do personalized television on a large scale, the market can expect new services and applications that will be much more relevant to end-users, infusing new energy into the television market.

    Links:



    Show Transcript
    Sun Streaming System website



    • Posted at 05:58AM Apr 26, 2007 by Laura Ventura in Sun   [permalink]    

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    Monday Apr 23, 2007

    The thinking around what libraries are and how we can utilize them is changing, as is evidenced by some innovative work being done at the Stanford University Library. Hal Stern, Sun's VP of Global Systems Engineering talks with Stanford's Michael Keller in this latest edition of Innovating@Sun about the shifting paradigm in the world of research, knowledge attainment, and sharing.

    According to Keller, we need to think about libraries in a broader sense and realize they have multiple manifestations. He says libraries are places where information is chosen and made available to members of a community. Whether the information artifact is physical or virtual, how we deliver services based on this new paradigm is both complicated and interesting.

    The interview discusses:

  • The key role of IT, whether for storage, cataloguing, content collection, or distribution
  • The technology needed to serve up very large databases that are enriched weekly by thousands of e-articles, and which are highly-trafficked by science professionals who cite them regularly.
  • How cross-referencing and content consumption deepen links making the library more valuable because common areas of interest can be detected.
  • How Sun's Try and Buy program enabled Stanford to test Sun's Honeycomb technology and prove its efficacy, ousting a competitor's bid for the business.
  • Digital content safety via LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Content Safe)

    Keller also notes how they are currently building out features that will allow "Web 3.0" to deliver to readers, automatically, relevant content that is based on previous uses of similar content based on subject, language or author.

    blogs.sun.com/innovation/resource/stern-keller.jpg" width="360" height="230" border="0" align="right" border="0">

    Links:



    Show Transcript
    Project Honeycomb Transfers to Storage Products
    Honeycomb Video
    Solving the Storage Problem
    Sun's 25th Anniversary Sale
    Try and Buy program



    • Posted at 06:43AM Apr 23, 2007 by Laura Ventura in Sun   [permalink]    

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    Tuesday Apr 10, 2007

    Workplaces and workspaces around the world are changing rapidly to accommodate more globalism, take advantage of new networking technologies, and to cater to the needs and expectations of a workforce eager to be efficient, productive, and eco-conscious.

    Hal Stern, Vice President of Global Systems Engineering at Sun welcomes Ann Bamesberger, Vice President of the Open Work Services group to this edition of Innovation@Sun. Stern and Bambesberger dialogue around the evolution of the Open Work environment at Sun and how this has branched into a consulting service to customers and partners who want to build their own virtual work environments based on Sun's best practices. Discussion areas include:

  • What Open Work is and how it is physically implemented via drop-in centers, Open Work cafes, etc.
  • How to connect people through both technology and social practices to effectively work across distance and time
  • How an Open Work program affects company culture, changing the way managers and employees interact
  • Why a new generation of workers is demanding the ability to work remotely, travel, and access information from anywhere
  • Internal and external benefits of open work programs including costs savings, reduced real estate needs, reduced carbon emissions, etc.
  • Data security, data management concerns, and the thin client approach
  • Extending Sun's learning into partner and customer environments
  • The next generation of virtual work environments

    Links:



    Show Transcript
    Open Work website



    • Posted at 09:33AM Apr 10, 2007 by Laura Ventura in Sun   [permalink]    

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