94.7 coming to a PC near you

There`s a radio programme coming to a PC near you. More people than ever before are listening to radio broadcasts via the Web and to cater for the demand, Internet Solutions (IS) has introduced new high-speed audio streaming technology.

Streaming is the process whereby audio or video content is piped over the Internet in real-time. Streaming radio is not the only application that can be delivered using this medium. Some South African companies have used online streaming to deliver corporate events, such as annual results presentations, to analysts throughout the world.

"Traditionally, streaming any online content in SA has been a frustrating and expensive experience. But we have introduced a technology in SA that makes it inexpensive for radio stations and easy for online listeners to tune in," says Greg Payne, general manager, hosting, at IS.

"The demand for online content has been growing steadily over the past few years. Many radio stations are using this medium to expand their reach to various regions, both locally and internationally," he says.

Ryan Till, promotions manager at Johannesburg radio station, 94.7 Highveld Stereo, says the unique feature of the new streaming system is that it carries a fixed cost.

"We know what we are in for every month to get virtually unlimited concurrent users streaming audio from our site. Radio is becoming increasingly interactive and the Web site is a way for people to listen to the station and interact with people here," he says.

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Says IS`s Payne: "In order to satisfy the requirements for predictable cost and high quality of content delivery, IS has rolled out an infrastructure which allows for single streams to be carried to all of our major national and international nodes. End-users, who request streams are then directed to the node closest to them, which includes major centres in SA, London and New York. All they need to listen to their favourite programmes, no matter where they are in the world, is an Internet connection and a PC with speakers.

"This technique, which allows a single stream to be carried to the edge of the network, and then split to individual users over the last mile is known as `stream splitting`. This results in a large saving of national, and especially international core network bandwidth, which comprise the main costs of delivering streaming content," he says.

Geoff Rehmet, a consultant at IS, says the statistics provided as part of the solution give Highveld Stereo an accurate view of listening patterns on their Internet broadcasts.

"The solution provides access to online, real-time statistics so that owners of the content can determine if they are receiving the desired coverage."