Introducing Microsoft Windows Server(TM) 2003

With Windows Media Services 9 Series, you can customize the distribution of your content using server-side playlists and advertisements. Once you've customized your content, it's easy to distribute it to the edge of the Internet by stringing servers together using the latest protocols and cache/proxy solutions.

Server-Side Playlists

The Windows Media server-side playlist is based on the Synchronized Multi ­media Integration Language (SMIL) 2.0 standard. It's a robust mechanism for assembling content for playback on personal computers and portable devices. Both broadcast and on-demand publishing points can stream content from a playlist that executes on the server. A server-side playlist can contain live or preexisting content and can be delivered using unicast or multicast transmission.

Windows Media Services fully supports the application of business rules and industry regulations for playlists, including compliance with Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) guidelines.

Here are a few examples of what you can do with server-side playlists:

• Stream an infinite sequence of content, repeat content, or set durations for content.

• Stream content to devices that don't support client-side playlists, such as some handheld personal computers and set-top boxes.

• Insert advertisements, or wrap site branding or sponsor information around your content.

• Interrupt content for ads or emergency announcements.

• Use ASP or CGI scripts to dynamically display ads with each pass through the playlist.

• Switch between live and stored streams with no noticeable delay on the client side.

• Dynamically change and save playlists, or build playlists on the fly based on user profiles or preferences.

• Stream content from a variety of sources, including Windows Media Encoder or another server.

• Nest playlists within one another.

Advertisements

Streaming advertisements is a great way to generate revenue for your Web site. Windows Media Services integrates with third-party ad servers to enable you to use advertising in the following ways:

• Place ads at the beginning and end of your playlist, or at any point within the playlist.

• Dynamically change the ads that you show based on national, regional, local, or other demographic information.

• Personalize ads based on information you gather from cookies or other data gathering tools.

• Overlay ads to comply with rebroadcast requirements, such as those outlined by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

• Log ad data, such as number of ads played in a particular broadcast or number of users who watched the entire ad.

Edge Delivery

To ensure that your content gets where it needs to go when it needs to be there, Windows Media Services provides the following features:

• New cache/proxy support, which enables developers to easily build streaming cache/proxy solutions and control the customization and extension of native cache and proxy policies. Cache/proxy solutions conserve network bandwidth, decrease network-imposed latency, and decrease the load on Windows Media origin servers.

• Improved protocol support between servers, including RTSP and HTTP. Support for new client protocols and standards includes RTSP, HTTP version 1.1, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 6, and IP version 6.

• Flexible distribution between servers using User Datagram Protocol/Transmission Control Protocol (UDP/TCP).

• Interoperability with Windows Media Services version 4.1 for streaming in mixed environments.