Nine steps to set up a video portal.
Implementing a video portal involves several software and hardware components typically from different vendors. "The biggest concern is remaining agnostic and staying with open technology," says Eric Alderman, president of Media Publisher.
Here are nine steps to set up a video portal:
Step 1: Investigation.
Research other enterprise implementations to learn from successes and failures. Find out about business uses and technology approaches.
Step 2: Pilot program.
Choose a motivated business unit with managers who appreciate the benefits of video. Use results of the pilot to show key decision-makers how video portals can streamline corporate communications, marketing, training and other functions.
Step 3: Business analysis.
Get input from CEO, business unit heads, human resources, marketing and corporate communications. Determine what types of content and the volume of content each business unit will create. Determine which content will be distributed live and which will be archived.
Step 4: Assign video team.
Consider creating a dedicated position or team to handle video control and management.
Step 5: Network analysis.
Analyze topology of the network. Determine the number of branch offices and the speed at which they can connect to the network. Determine whether the network is multicast-enabled. Decide what type of video indexing and search capability is required.
Step 6: Format and standards selection.
Decide which formats your video portal will support. These might include MPEG2, MPEG4, Windows Media and Real.
Step 7: Select vendors.
• Enterprise Content Delivery Network (Network Appliance, Cisco, Certeon).
• Video management, aggregation and portal (Media Publisher, The Platform, Kontiki).
• Videoconferencing-to-streaming gateway (Starbak).
• Video logging, indexing and search (Virage division of Autonomy, Nexidia, eMotion).
Step 8: Integration.
Ensure all of the pieces fit together. Integrate with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol user database.
Step 9: Deployment.
Consider a final pilot before enterprise-wide deployment.