PLANO, Texas – Jan. 7, 2009 – ViewCast Corporation (OTCBB: VCST), a developer of industry-leading hardware and software for the transformation and delivery of professional-quality video over IP and mobile networks, today announced the release of the Niagara 2100, the lowest-priced video streaming appliance available on the market today with an MSRP of $3,995.00 (U.S.). This latest addition to ViewCast’s acclaimed line of Niagara video streaming appliances offers exceptional ease-of-use while providing professional-grade value for government agencies, business enterprises, and others who want to stream video over IP and mobile networks.
“In light of the economic challenges facing many organizations today, the Niagara 2100 is well-timed, and represents an exceptional value in enabling Web-based video communications for a variety of applications,” said ViewCast President and CEO Dave Stoner. “The Niagara 2100 captures, encodes, and streams video with plug-and-play simplicity via an easy-to-use Web interface. While the encoder includes many of the same powerful features found in ViewCast’s professional-grade streaming appliances, its programmable streaming profiles and convenient front-panel display allow educators, IT professionals, and government officials to quickly and easily encode video for reliable live and on-demand streaming.”
Stoner added that continuing additions of new streaming technologies are part of the company’s strategy to increase its presence in the video streaming market and develop a broader base of customers. The trend to streaming all types of programming and information over the Internet and mobile networks is beginning to accelerate, as more broadcasters and other content owners are seeking larger or more targeted viewing audiences. According to a recent forecast by Cisco Systems (Cisco Visual Networking Index-Forecast and Methodology, 2007-2012; June 16, 2008), “IP traffic will nearly double every two years through 2012” and video traffic, now approximately one-quarter of all consumer Internet traffic, will account for 50 percent by 2012.
The Niagara 2100 enables easy, affordable entry into streaming and is well-suited for a wide variety of uses including Web casting city council meetings to community members, streaming and archiving of educational activities, and deploying executive messaging and online training for organizations. The Niagara 2100 is also an exceptional solution for the encoder requirements of many other streaming industry software and network providers and integrators to bundle with their products. The compact, self-contained unit fits neatly into fixed installations and provides the portability and stability necessary for on-location streaming. Like all Niagara appliances, the unit features image scaling, cropping, de-interlacing, inverse telecine, and closed caption rendering.
This newest Niagara encoder accepts component, Y/C (S-Video), and composite video inputs, as well as balanced and unbalanced stereo audio inputs. And, as it comes with ViewCast SimulStream technology, it can simultaneously stream multiple resolutions at multiple data rates in Windows® Media format. The unit’s front-panel display confirms the presence of audio and video, apprises the user of streaming status, and allows simultaneous activation of multiple codecs from a single “stream” button.
ViewCast’s Niagara SCX streaming media management software is integrated into the Niagara 2100 to enable management of live video broadcasting over the Internet and to mobile devices. The software enables desktop setup and control over Niagara streaming systems positioned throughout an enterprise or anywhere on the network. As a result, the user can instantly see the status of all networked encoders, identify active encoding sessions, and control and monitor each individual stream.
More information about ViewCast video streaming solutions is available at www.viewcast.com.