VDOnet expands repertoire

VDOnet today announced the release of VDOMaster, a management system for Internet service providers, telecommunications companies, cable providers, and information systems managers that will deliver video applications.

The company also announced the new version of VDOLive, the company's streaming video product. VDOLive version 3.0 automatically adjusts to a user's bandwidth from dial-up speeds to cable speeds of 512 kbps, a speed that delivers TV-like quality, according to VDOnet. The previous version of VDOLive scaled only to 256 kbps.

The company faces stiff competition from Progressive Networks, C-Phone, White Pine, and Vosaic. But it hopes to capitalize on the burgeoning market that provides both streaming video and videoconferencing to ISPs. Videoconferencing alone could become a $3 billion industry by the year 2000, according to some estimates.

VDOMaster allows users to manage quality of service, bandwidth usage, and billing for video services. The product is already in use by MediaOne--a broadband telecommunications provider owned by US West Media Group--and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph. Other companies are also working with VDOnet on developing broadband video services, a spokeswoman said, but she would not disclose which ones.

VDOnet is trumpeting VDOMaster's bandwidth management capabilities. Internet service providers and information systems managers concerned about video's bandwidth consumption can control what quality of video certain users receive based on how much they have paid for service.