All things related to multicast

["Vinay D. Anand" <>]

IP Multicast:  Delivering NetAid Live to Your PC!

On October 9, Cisco Systems and the University of Oregon will 
conduct the first large-scale Internet Broadcast trial enabled 
by two key Cisco technologies, IP Multicast and IP/TV. The University 
of Oregon will source the NetAid concert as well as back-stage 
interviews with artists from New York, London and Geneva to 
Internet2 universities worldwide. University students will 
experience the Internet of the future -  today. With no bandwidth 
issues and no image quality degradation!

Technology Behind Internet Broadcast
------------------------------------
Two Cisco technologies are key to bringing this Internet Broadcast 
trial to life. IP Multicast, delivered by Cisco IOS Software, enables 
the transmission of high-bandwidth applications, including live video 
and audio, over the Internet to PCs at multiple sites - with no impact 
on bandwidth or quality degradation. The second key technology is 
IP/TV, a complete network video solution that delivers TV-quality 
video program to PCs. With IP/TV, every networked user can watch 
management broadcasts, training programs, university classes, business 
TV and other programs from their own desktop. Cisco is spear-heading 
efforts to build the network infrastructure necessary to unicast the 
NetAid concert on the Internet, and simultaneously multicast the 
concert on the Internet2.

NetAid:  Helping to End Extreme Poverty
---------------------------------------
NetAid is a unique partnership led by Cisco Systems and the United 
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), working with world-class 
artists and producers to raise awareness and create opportunity for 
one of the most far-reaching problems in the world today - extreme 
poverty. NetAid marks the first time that an Internet site, webcasting, 
television and radio have been integrated on a global scale, creating 
a uniquely powerful force to support social change. Three live, 
overlapping concerts on October 9 in New York, London and Geneva will 
be broadcast around the world on television, radio and the web, 
launching NetAid with unprecedented visibility and energy. 

This event gives us all a chance to work together to combat poverty, 
and we are delighted to be teaming with you on this critical project. 
Our collaboration, will help increase viewership for the NetAid 
concert on October 9, boosting the United Nations fund-raising effort 
to fight hunger around the world.

NetAid will empower millions of individuals to help fight poverty by 
providing education, opportunities for engagement with anti-poverty 
projects and leaders, and through an e-pledge capability, enabling 
people to contribute money, time or other resources to anti-poverty 
efforts of their choice. Proceeds from the concerts, web donations 
and other resources raised by NetAid will go to the NetAid Foundation, 
an independent foundation run by the major NetAid partners. The NetAid 
Foundation will disperse money to UNDP and its projects, other UN 
agencies and private relief organizations.

Getting Your School Connected
-----------------------------
As one of the participating universities in this inaugural large-scale
Internet2 multicast, we are pleased to provide your university community
with free Cisco IP/TV Viewers for viewing the NetAid concert multicast.
 
Cisco IP/TV includes IP Multicast technology, which transmits one 
stream of data to many people without straining network bandwidth, 
thereby delivering high-quality live video and audio to all viewers.
 
The Cisco IP/TV Viewer offers users an easy-to-use interface. With
point-and-click simplicity, the requested program appears in a separate
viewing window.  Then the user can adjust volume and scale the viewing 
window to full-screen size for a TV-like experience.
 
We encourage you to set up and refer your user community to an internal
Web site where they will find information on how to download the IP/TV 
Viewer software, some commonly asked questions about IP/TV, a reference 
manual in PDF format and an e-mail form to return to Cisco to receive 
support before, during and after the broadcast.
 
We will be setting up a Cisco web site to access and retrieve all this 
information. There will also be HTML pages available there to aid you 
in setting up your own site.
 
The immediate benefit of downloading the IP/TV Viewer is that anyone 
will be able to watch the NetAid multicast from the convenience of 
their PC. But the benefits continue for a full year. Upon download, 
users will automatically receive a license to use the IP/TV Viewer 
for 12 months.

After the NetAid concert, the University of Oregon will be a continual 
source of content on the Internet2, and will provide a wide range of 
programs including public broadcasts, pre-recorded NASA flights, and 
music programs.

If you have questions, please contact Christine Falsetti at 
.
 
Once again, we look forward to working with you to make the NetAid 
concert a successful fund-raising event.

Best Regards.
Christine Falsetti
Vinay Anand

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Important Information and URLs 
------------------------------

1. Information needed to view content on IP/TV

[Please note that more technical details will be announced in a 
followup message next week. More then 10 sessions will be available 
to view the NetAid event]


Tune your IP/TV to the following sessions:

Ongoing (beginning next week):
Primary Content manager:   iptvhost.uoregon.edu
Secondary Content manager: iptvhost2.uoregon.edu

Session names: NetAid Test (H261)
               NetAid Test (MPEG1)
 
Speeds:        H261 bitrate: 325 K 
               MPEG bitrate: 1.5 M 

To view the live NetAid Concert 
--------------------------------
Tune in on October 9th, from 9:00am to 9:00pm PDT:

Session names: NetAid (H261)
               NetAid (MPEG1)
               [More session names will be announced shortly]


2. For more information, visit the following websites.

IP Multicast 
Technical Overview:     http://www.cisco.com/ipmulticast
For technical details:  ftp://ftp-eng.cisco.com/ipmulticast.html
IPTV                    http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/732/net_enabled/iptv/
NetAid                  http://www.netaid.org