Pandora: An Experiment in Distributed Multimedia

Abstract

An experimental workstation is described which supports digital video and audio in a distributed environment, and which presents this functionality to the user through the medium of a video-extended implementation of the X Window System. The Pandora Workstation is built out of two quite separate parts. A standard UNIX machine (the Pandora Host) brings standard hardware and software computing resources to the system- a highly-specialised processing engine (Pandora s Box) handles the high-bandwidth, time-critical, and device-dependent processing. A 50 Mbit/second ATM network provides for real-time data communication within the system. Nineteen Pandora Workstations have been deployed within Olivetti Research Ltd and the Cambridge University Computer Laboratory, and are used routinely to run distributed applications including video mail, video conferencing, and real-time media delivery services.