Streaming centricity is at the core of the conference - with most vendors I've talked to, very pleased with the conference attendance and energy of the participants this year. I had the fortune of speaking with Rod Bacon - CEO of Media Publisher. Rod, what is the driving force of Media Publisher?

"In the development stagges Media Publisher focused on the enterprise". If you compare the Media Publisher solution to the competition you will see that significant difference. Media Publisher was developed from a network oriented perspective. From this perspective in it's earliest development stages with Inktomi it began to evolve as a media distribution system that focused on its scalability, security and redundancy. Now, Rod says, "the product has developed into a complete enterprise streaming media/webcasting application that focuses on the needs of the customer". What impressed me a lot about this company is that it hosts an annual meeting called the Customer Advisory Council. Rod host's a group of customers and his team analyses their use and recomendations of the product for future realeases. The product has scaled with the maturity of the streaming media industry. But like all products it is difficult to do it all and there are plus and minuses that need to be considered when deciding on a webcasting solution.

Consider that the solution doesn't restrict itself to one particular encoding hardware. This is an important consideration in the enterprise, especially if you have OS restrictions and in some industries like financial and pharma you have the regulated OS and desk top lock downs to deal with. The Media Publisher solution is not hardware dependent and uses encoders live V-Brick and ViewCast that are more network appliance based which allow greater flexability while maintaing a high level of security and functionality.

Another characteristic that makes the Media Publisher a true enterprise solution is its integration into Cisco ACNS. This offers the content publisher a simpler interface than the Cisco ACNS. Again demonstrating the strengths of the application and user centric focus in its develpment. My recomendation - If you are an enterprise this is your vehical - take it for a test drive.