Many people talk about streaming content, and almost everyone has used it at one time or another. But not everyone fully  understands what streaming technology is or the problems it can create for an employer’s network.
Streaming content or streaming media is a method for delivering video files, audio files or software applications that may not be used frequently but are essential to business operations. The files are distributed over the Internet or through a network in a continuous stream or in small chunks. The method of transfer allows users to use a portion of software or watch a video as the file arrives on their desktop rather than having to wait for the entire file to download.
For more than a decade, companies have been streaming content to accomplish a variety of tasks such as conveying complex information to employees, informing vendors about a new product or sharing company news with investors. But the technology can be a bit more sophisticated than it appears. Sometimes it may be the most cost-effective approach for sharing critical information. Other times, the cost of using streaming video may outweigh its value because it may slow down the speed of your network operations.
So when is it appropriate to use streaming video? Will it help you communicate more efficiently with employees or customers? How will it impact your network’s performance? What extra costs will your organization incur? Three information technology experts offer suggestions on how to add streaming content to a network without compromising its performance, and regardless of your objectives, the experts agree it comes down to three factors: need, size and frequency.

Bandwidth Hog

Before adding streaming media to a network, it is important to understand how the technology works. Streaming media actually works in a manner similar to how standard TV or high-definition TV operates, says Eric Siegel, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, a research and advisory organization headquartered in Midvale, Utah, that focuses on information technology infrastructure.
To deliver standard TV-quality video over a network would require transmission speeds of 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) using MPEG-4 advanced video coding, a format for coding video so that it can be transmitted. High-definition quality video requires speeds of 3 Mbps. Lower-quality streaming media can be sent in as little as 100 kilobits per second (kbps), which represents 100,000 bits of data per second (1,000 kilobits equal one megabit).
The transmission can be sent at either a constant bit rate (CBR) or at a variable bit rate (VBR), says Siegel, though both methods have their downsides. With CBR, a lot of sudden movement in the video could cause video degradation. While VBR usually offers slightly better quality, it is not a steady stream of data and contains short bursts of high bandwidth. At times, the speed can burst up to 8 or even 15 Mbps of bandwidth. These bursts resemble a snake that just swallowed a series of basketballs, he says. “The result is that you need a lot of bandwidth and that bandwidth is very bursting,” he says. “What it’s really doing is sending a still picture. Then for the next half-second or so it sends the changes to that picture. Then it sends another still picture. That’s why we get that bursting.”
So how does that impact your network? Whether using CBR or VBR, if streaming media is placed in the same transmission path of other business applications, it can take up all available bandwidth and completely overwhelm a network, says Siegel. At that point, users start having problems with other applications, unless those applications are given a higher transmission priority. Applications that tend to fail include Web browsing and voice over Internet protocol, a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection.

Establish a Need

One of the first things a company must determine is whether streaming media is a nice-to-have feature or a must-have business tool. More than likely, that is determined by a company’s information technology department, and those that need streaming media must be prepared to state their business case for adding the technology. Like anything else in business, determine whether or not streaming media can help your company reduce costs or increase income, and be creative. Look around and see how other organizations are using streaming content to achieve key objectives.
For example, consider a U.S.-based manufacturer with a factory in India. The company could use streaming video to illustrate product defects or demonstrate improvements related to manufacturing process to senior executives in the corporate office. “They wouldn’t need to travel to India or open a small office next to the factory, which would reduce a ton of overhead,” says Bobby Braunstein, director of network services at Electron Networks, a technology consulting firm in Los Angeles. Many production companies in Hollywood use streaming video to pitch shows to networks, as streaming media can be a great sales vehicle for nearly any product, he says. The production companies also use streaming media after filming so people in different locations can either edit a movie or show or approve changes.
A company’s information technology director will want to know everything about the application. How frequently will people use it — every day, every week or perhaps it is being used as a training tool and only will be accessed on a quarterly basis? How many people do you anticipate will access streaming media — a handful of employees, an entire department or maybe it will be used as a recruitment tool that highlights the benefits of living and working in your community? In this scenario, the files be housed on your Web site, which means thousands of people could access it each month.
“You probably want to enlist the highest level [information technology] person in the organization so he/she can take a look at the overall network and do some planning to figure out what may or may not be needed for it,” says Braunstein.

Size Up the Situation

While streaming content certainly has its advantages, its incredible appetite for bandwidth still prevents some companies from adopting it. Bandwidth determines both the speed and amount of information that can simultaneously flow through your network at one time, says Seth Hishmeh, co-founder and COO at USAS Technologies, a New York-based software development consulting firm with offices in India and China.
Hishmeh often tells clients to think of their network as a pipeline. Instead of water flowing through the pipe, digital information like e-mail messages and Internet content flows through your network. The bigger the application, the more space or bandwidth is required. Forcing too much water through the pipe at one time can make it burst, and the same holds true with your network. Receiving or sending too much data at one time can make your network sluggish or even crash. Consider all of the applications used daily by employees in your office. If there is  not enough bandwidth, problems will erupt.
“A company may have a server located on their network and may stream information internally or externally but may not take into account how that may impact their internal network,” says Hishmeh. “Say you have 100 employees and they need access to the Internet and e-mail. If all the bandwidth in the pipe in their network is taken up by streaming because 50 people start streaming video, then other employees won’t be able to access their e-mail. That’s a problem and stops their business from operating efficiently.”
A company can control employee access to streaming content located on the network, but the same cannot be said of external users. While a news announcement may drive traffic to a Web site, the company will not know whether 100 or 1,000 people will visit it on a given day. This unknown variable can slow down the speed of a Web site speed to a crawl if a company is not prepared.
This is the main reason why a company will need to prioritize the data that flows through its network, Hishmeh says. Look at how much bandwidth is being used on an average day for standard office functions such as e-mail, browsing the Internet, transferring files or printing documents. Chances are, the information technology department already has captured that historical information. So when a company moves to add streaming content, the information technology department can determine if more bandwidth is needed or if the amount not being used by your network can handle the flow. “It’s a team-based decision if people want to start using streaming content,” he says. “It can come down to a budget issue — whether you can afford the infrastructure required to implement your initiative.

Multiple Choice

If more bandwidth is needed, several alternatives are available, but instead of adopting a proactive approach, many companies wait until there is a problem, such as after the network begins slowing down, Hishmeh says. By then, it may be too late.
Companies can create a bigger delivery pipe by purchasing additional bandwidth, beefing up the network’s infrastructure to accommodate more bandwidth or even limiting the number of users that can access the streaming content by installing a protected password. For example, if certain customers only need to view information relevant to them, the amount of data they view can be limited, which reduces the bandwidth they consume.
One method companies can use to control bandwidth use is installing devices called bandwidth throttlers or regulators, which monitor and control the amount of bandwidth used by specific applications or users, Hishmeh says. These are comparable to a device that controls the amount of gas that flows into a car’s engine. During heavy periods of network use, for example, the throttler would limit the amount of bandwidth allocated for the use streaming media, allowing only a specified number of people to watch streaming video at a single time. Otherwise, the network could be overwhelmed or resources for other critical applications may not be available, he says.
Some companies also use proxy servers, which regulate the traffic leaving the network. Employees may be restricted from browsing the Internet because there is not enough bandwidth to support that function as well as key corporate functions such as e-mail.
Even crossing borders does not have to be a problem. As many global companies have experienced, accessing their U.S. network from overseas locations can be tedious and slow. For example, employees in an office in China may not be able pull up streaming content from the U.S-based Web site due to the slowness of the overseas connection. “If you want employees in your overseas office to view a streaming video, your [information technology] department can replicate the content to domestic servers in the overseas country so that users can access the streaming content from a server closer to them in the same country,” says Hishmeh. “This way, they’ll have quick access to the content, which otherwise may be too slow or even inaccessible.”
Other times, consider a lower-resolution effort. If a company is using streaming video for building security, for example, the images may not need to be crystal clear, says Braunstein. “Low-resolution pictures usually don’t require the addition of any bandwidth,” he says. “You can also schedule viewing times where the bandwidth on the network might be a little bit slower. Generally, larger companies are going to have redundant Internet connections so they might be able to use some of the idle bandwidths that would normally be redundant and aren’t used that much.”
In some cases, end users may not be able to tell the difference between medium and high resolution, Braunstein says, but if high resolution is needed, a company can always place the streaming media outside a corporate network. A hosting package can be acquired from companies which sell space and bandwidth on their own server. There also is software that compresses streaming media. Since the size is much smaller, it will be much easier to store and require less bandwidth or space.

Selective Use Can Offer Benefits

Although streaming content can serve as an effective communication or sales tool, do not fall into the trap that some companies have — believing that all information must be distributed over their network in real time, says Siegel. These companies even go so far as to ignore cheaper options that are just as effective but not as sexy to use for the end-user.
“There’s an old joke that there’s stupendous bandwidth in a station wagon filled with DVDs,” Siegel says. “You don’t always have to send stuff over a network in real time. You can send it as a file transfer to an office server or you can send it as a DVD. But if you do want streaming media, just realize that it requires considerable bandwidth and must be managed and kept out of the way of other applications.”