REMC XI Host Server Upgrade
Discovery Media Server Upgrade
A new host server coming in January! REMC XI of the Berrien County Intermediate School District in Michigan has operated a Discovery Education streaming host server for the past three years. The purpose of the host server is to save our districts expensive Internet bandwidth and to improve performance. Twenty-two of our local districts are connected to our site via a wide-area network. It also gives us the option of adding our own content.
This first generation server for REMC is a several-year-old Intel based server that was upgraded to 1.5 TB to accommodate Unitedstreaming video content.
Several of the hard drives are attached to the case of the server by zip ties!
When this server was installed, Discovery sent out FireWire drives to load the content. The support staff was very helpful and we got our server up and running in no time at all. Each night, content is updated from Discovery.
Since that installation, two concerns have come up. First, this is an old server that is working night and day and reliability will soon become an issue. Secondly, and most important, some of our districts are looking for the large format videos. These larger format videos (700 KB to 1 MB) greatly improve the resolution of the image and look great when projected from a data projector. Several local districts became connected to us by fiber this past summer. These connections make it possible to move large amounts of data.
Recently Discovery changed its approach to host servers by offering the Discovery Media Server in three levels of Dell servers. (To see the announcement click here.) These are shipped with the content preloaded eliminating the need to load data on site from FireWire drives. The level of server is sized based on the needs and demands of each installation.
Our server has arrived and we are anxiously awaiting the rails so we can rack it up and get it running. We expect to switch over early in January.
Local districts will need to request by Email or letter that they wish to have the high-resolution videos turned on for their district.
If you are interested in a host server for your district, visit the Discovery Education Web site or contact your sales representative. To view the Discovery Media Server Solution flyer click here.
