Torrent VCG (Video Conferencing Gateway) is the first videoconferencing to streaming gateway, designed to stream H.323 conferences to end-users across an intranet or via the Internet or other IP networks. The Torrent VCG is interoperable with leading manufacturers’ products including Polycom, Tnadberg, RadVision, Accord and Vcon. Torrent’s digital-to-digital archiving and exporting capabilities can utilize multiple streaming media formats including RealOne, Apple QuickTime and Windows Media Technology.

The Torrent is a 1U-high server running Red Hat Linux 2.4 and a combination of third- party licensed and Starbak-written applications for streaming and videoconferencing. The server contains built-in Gigabit Ethernet connections, and has options for Networked File System-mounted storage devices.

Features of Torrent include:

· Interactive Chat Feature Provides added levels of interactivity where they did not exist. The interactive chat feature allows viewers of the videoconference to participate by communicating with the moderator and other users in the chat. They no longer require an H.323 endpoint for communication and are not limited to one-way communication

· Video Conference Archiving  Videoconferences can be recorded to the disk. Since the archived copy is stored on the Torrent VCG it can be viewed or exported any time on-demand. The VCG offers a wide selection of storage options, including multiple internal disk sizes as well as external SCSI and Fiber Channel support.

· Slide Show Tool The moderator can present slides during the conference, enhancing the presentation. These URL based slides can reside on the Torrent VCG or another web server, and external URLs can be referenced across the Internet.

· Conference Exporting Archived conferences can be exported to a QuickTime .mov file and imported into any standard editing software, allowing for easy editing to meet the user&singlequot;s needs.

·Address Book Administrators can add commonly called endpoints and MCUs into the address book, saving time and call configurations. The Torrent VCG complies with H.323 aliasing, E.164 dialing, direct IP address dialing for each individual port on the VCG, and the new URL and email based dialing found in the latest version of H.323 - providing effective gatekeeper registration. The added feature of Hands Off Administration provides automatic stream and record recognition from incoming calls, thereby minimizing unnecessary administration.

·Live Call Monitoring Using Java, both the Administrator and Moderator can obtain real time feedback on current call conditions such as video and audio bandwidth. Individual port statistics can be monitored and logged.

Designed with the requirements of end users in mind, the Torrent VCG provides corporations, government, academic and medical organizations with a powerful, yet easy-to-use and cost-effective solution for the wide scale deployment of IP communications over their existing infrastructure.