Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Starlight Networks


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. RL0919 (talk) 20:40, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Starlight Networks

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Fails WP:RS, WP:SIGCOV, WP:GNG. Störm  (talk)  17:53, 25 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions. Shellwood (talk) 18:11, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.      </li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> </ol>

<ol> <li> The book notes: "Starlight Networks Starlight Networks' challenge was to provide full-motion video and multi-media applications to desktop PCs, using existing hardware, without slowing down the network or interfering with other mission-critical applications. To accomplish that, the company developed a data streaming software that provides guaranteed delivery of live or stored full-motion video, audio and animation to desktops without sacrificing network speed or capacity. It is possible to run multimedia applications and video-enhanced web pages from services quickly and reliably without downloading. Starlight Networks understands the technology required to guarantee delivery of full-motion video to solving the problems inherent in this effort. Users are demanding access to mixed media applications on an unprecedented scale. These applications may generate enough audio/video traffic to overwhelm an unprotected local area network. Starlight Networks offers powerful software packages that enable organizations to stream on-demand video, live broadcasts and multimedia applications to hundreds of desktops across existing networks:" The book then discusses StarLive, StarCenter, StarCast, and StarWorks.</li> <li> The article notes: "As the chairman of Starlight Networks, a Mountain View, Calif.-based software company, Long has never lost sight of his main objective--to develop streaming products for corporations like Boeing, General Motors and Bloomberg. ... Long and Starlight cofounder Charlie Bass (who also started Ungermann-Bass, one of the first Ethernet companies) pitched the concept to venture capitalists. Basing his technology on MPEG1 and MPEG2 video, Long and Bass came up with a proprietary technology to achieve high-quality video streaming. (MPEG--Moving Pictures Experts Group--is a standard for compressing video, and MPEG-2 is used in DVD movies.) Excited VCs pumped in $2 million in seed money, and over the next six years the company raised an additional $20 million in five rounds of funding from VCs like Sequoia Capital, InterWest, Access Partners and Star Ventures. ... The company has developed a $50,000 software package dubbed StarWorks. The software has already won widespread support. There are 300 companies--100 of which are already clients and 200 that are testing Starlight's software to stream video over their networks. ... The financial services industry has also embraced Starlight with open arms, representing almost 50% of the company's sales. (Government and education sectors come in a close second and third.) Brokerage firm SmithBarney is going to replace its hoot-and-holler trading system with Starlight's software--a contract that could be worth a couple of million dollars for a company which did upwards of $5 million in sales in 1997."</li> <li> The report notes: "This report and related research is part of INPUT's Market Analysis Program (MAP). This program provides market research, reports, consulting and recommendations to the management of leading vendors in the information services industry and to information systems functions of user organizations." The report notes: "9. Starlight Networks Inc. StarWorks Release 1.7 networking software Starlight Networks' products allow for real-time storage and network management of digital video applications. Its current technology includes video application servers, based on a client/server platform configuration that allows up to 40 simultaneous users to share full-motion, full-screen video applications. It also supports a variety of network configuration and video content. The recent StarWorks upgrade provides users with up to 50Mbps of video/audio streaming capacity and adds bandwidth reservation, which is designed to improve throughput to multiple users. This will provide desktop users with Ethernet links as much as 1.2Mbps throughput. This will require, however, an FDDI backbone between the StarWorks server and an Ethernet switched hub. The company's technology, as it continues to evolve, will be complementary to store and forward digital video applications, broadcast video and eventually desktop video conferencing over LAN/WAN network configurations."</li> <li> The book notes on page 118: "Besides the giants of the Web, Microsoft and Netscape, smaller companies such as Icast, Precept Software, Starlight Networks, and RealNetworks have been formed in the last few years to address real-time multimedia applications. ... *Starlight Networks was acquired by PictureTel in July 1998." The book notes on page 119: "Today, Paribas uses streaming video from Starlight Networks to enhance its information delivery. ... In a piilot application, live feeds of Reuters and Bloomberg television are delivered directly to traders' desktop computers via Starlight Networks' streaming video software and multicast IP. As a consequence, traders no longer have to leave their desks to watch these broadcasts in a viewing room. Rather, they can keep abreast of late-breaking financial news and their investment portfolio activity simultaneously. ... On February 17, 1998, Starlight Networks announced that Smith Barney, the United States' second largest retail brokerage firm, was implementing its StarCast software. The adoption represented an innovative move by Smith Barney to deliver real-time, video-based financial information to approximately 11,000 financial consultants and managers at nearly 500 remove branch locations across a satellite network. Smith Barney advisers will be able to receive live information from industry and market analysts directly on their desktop workstations; in the future, they will have access to commercial video feeds, custom-developed reports, and multimedia training material." The book notes on page 120: "Smith Barney has been working with Starlight Networks for six months to complete the prototype system. The video rollout started in the second half of 1997. The primary video content will consist of analysts' daily briefings, which will be delivered directly and in real time to the desktop. A video encoder running StarCast Multicaster will send the feed to local desktops at the New York headquarters and retransmit the feed via Smith Barneys' satellite network. At each receiving location, a video server running StarCast Recaster will then take the feed and multicast it to all local desktops. Financial consultants will be able to remain at their desks and view broadcasts on their PC desktops through the StarCast Viewer, without disrupting other applications or feeds. [three more paragraphs about StarCast]" </li> <li> The book notes on page 76: "StarWorks from Starlight Networks, Inc. uses a different approach to providing multiple workstations accessing video files. StarWorks, when installed on an Intel468 microprocessor-based EISA server supports up to 20 simultaneous multimedia users accessing streams of video, audio, and animation. StarWorks allows users to access video and other applications simultaneously, requiring no application modification to DOS and Windows applications, and coexists with other LAN protocols used by network operating systems." The book notes on pages 223–224: "Starlight Networks is also marketing networking software optimized for the delivery of multimedia information over a local area network. Starlight combines the capability of controlling the delivery of motion video and audio files in continuous streams. In its optimal configuration, motion video and audio files are stored on a separate, high-performance file server in a switched ethernet topology, using an intelligent hub. In this way, when an application requires the higher data rate for contiguous multimedia files, the information is directed through the intelligent switch hub to the appropriate workstation. Starlight has been successful delivering multimedia data in the worst-case scenario of 20 multimedia workstations in a classroom, where all students are working on the same lesson at the same time."</li> <li> The article notes: "The Customs Service will use new video streaming technology from Starlight Networks Inc., to broadcast live over the Internet a briefing on a system for collecting information from importers. The briefing, planned for Sept. 3, will be distributed over the Internet at the same time it is broadcast by satellite. ... Observers said the Customs event is one sign of growing interest among agencies in using Internet-based video and audio technologies. 'There's a tremendous amount of initial interest, at least in examining the technologies that are available, for delivering video and audio online, said Al Lill, vice president and research director with Gartner Group. He said the most prominent applications for the technology are distance learning, telemedicine and faster information dissemination. ... Starlight, which is being acquired by videoconferencing vendor PictureTel Corp., is the 'most prominent firm in the industry for applications in which video quality matters, Lill said."</li> <li> The article notes: "Star light, star bright, what video should I watch tonight? Networked PC users will soon be able to ask themselves that question with the help of startup Starlight Networks Inc., which last week introduced a system that allows as many as 20 users to simultaneously access and view videos located centrally on a standard Ethernet network. ... Industry analysts said StarWorks will increase the market for networked video products. 'The product is outstanding, and the most important thing is they took a very pragmatic approach in terms of preserving investment,' said Albert Lill, vice president at Gartner Group Inc., a market-research firm in Stamford, Conn. 'It explodes the myth that ATM [asynchronous transfer mode] and FDDI [Fiber Distributed Data Interface] are required to run video over a network.' Users of the product will be 'anybody who has any requirements for a visual database, anyone with complex products and extensive field service and support organizations, as well as advertising agencies and media agencies,' he said."</li> <li> The article notes: "At Bloomberg TV, financial news gets shown and updated continuously around the world. But all that video isn't stored on videotape. Instead, it is kept on Sun Solaris digital networking servers in New York, Tokyo and London and accessed with StarWorks software by Starlight Networks, Inc. in Mountain View, Calif. News is then sent by satellite around the world, and ends up on radio and television stations such as USA Network that are viewed by millions of people each day. Bloomberg TV, a subsidiary of Bloomberg LP in New York, has used the software for two years on its Sun Microsystems, Inc. servers. The company soon will upgrade with StarWorks 3.0, which was released in early December, for higher quality and speed, Bloomberg officials said. ... StarWorks allows multiple digitized news segments to be stored and retrieved at the same time over a standard Ethernet network. Television-quality video of 30 frame/sec. can be provided. StarWorks 3.0 provides recording and playback of a video stream at speeds up to 200M bit/sec. ... Starlight's competitors include Sun, Digital Equipment Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Oracle Corp. and IBM. But they haven't shown the working knowledge of networks that Starlight has, Ball said."</li> <li> The article notes: "Starlight Networks Inc. will announce this week availability of its Windows NT-based digital video management technology. StarWorks 3.0 is capable of delivering both live and stored audio, video and graphical media streams from a Windows NT server to hundreds of desktops simultaneously via Netscape Communications Corp.'s Navigator or Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browsers. ... The U.S. Marine Corps depends on StarWorks field training before sending soldiers into a war zone."</li> <li> The article notes: "Full-motion QuickTime movies may be playing soon on Macintosh Ethernet networks. Due next month, the Starlight Media Server from Starlight Networks Inc. will transform an Intel 486-based computer into a video application server for Macs, IBM PCs and compatibles, and Unix workstation clients. Unix-based server software, called StarWorks, will control an array of hard drives to support simultaneous delivery of QuickTime or DVI (Digital Video Interactive) video clips to as many as 10 Mac clients for about $23,000. The Starlight Media Server, which initially will work with 10BASE T or thin Ethernet cabling, includes the following components:"</li> <li> The article notes: "With its StarWorks digital video networking software, Starlight Networks Inc. is the first to provide network users with a way to piggyback on a video solution that provides the familiar 30-frame-per-second data rate without requiring a dedicated high-performance network. ... Starlight also provides a proprietary Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)-like data storage and management scheme that supports the high-performance data streaming necessary for maintaining a full-motion-video data rate. ... We could find no obvious flaws in the StarWorks' implementation. However, we did encounter some configuration problems, in part because of the lack of a Digital Video Interactive (DVI) standard. Most of the standards issues are expected to be resolved within the next 18 months."</li> <li> The article notes: "But PictureTel Corp., the leading supplier of videoconferencing systems, is hoping to marry the two technologies as a result of its pending acquisition of Starlight Networks Inc. PictureTel last month disclosed its intent to acquire Star-light for an undisclosed sum. ... Starlight is regarded as a leading supplier of streaming multimedia software and video-on-demand servers. The company could be just what PictureTel needs to bring the conferencing and IP multicasting worlds together, said Gartner Group analyst Al Lill. 'Instead of going to one set of vendors to get videoconferenc-ing and another to get video-on-demand, customers will be able to go to one vendor,' Lill said. ... Lill also said Starlight's streaming video technology is best suited for large-scale enterprise applications because it supports both low- and high-bandwidth connections."</li> <li> The article notes: "'It's a litmus test of the viability of video distribution over LANs,' according to Jim Greene, analyst for Summit Strategies (Boston, Mass.). Microsoft's Tiger and Oracle's VideoServer will be eventual competitors predicts Greene, but for now the HP/Starlight combination is unchallenged. Although claiming that the solution is scalable up to HP 9000 systems, it remains to be seen because not be available until sometime in 1996 when Starlight's UNIX-based StarWorks product is ported to the HP-UX platform. In the meantime, the Intel solution will be available from HP direct and indirect channels and sold for information-on-demand, performance support and video training applications in the financial services, telecommunications and retail markets. Unlike HP's own MPower and InSoft's Communique! (another HP alliance), which are UNIX-based video conferencing solutions, the Starlight bundle is a video streaming technology. 'They distribute information differently,' explains Greene."</li> <li> The article notes: "It's the job of John Downey, deputy director of information management for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology (ACQWeb), to get information to the people at each facility responsible for buying the supplies the military needs. But when Downey decided streaming video was the way to go, he realized he couldn't rely on the kind of homogeneous high-speed networks common at large corporations. Instead, he turned to a combination of products from corporate intranet streaming specialist Starlight Networks Inc., Mountain View, Calif., and from RealNetworks Inc., Seattle, which dominates the market for streaming video over the public Internet. The solution Downey assembled can play high-quality video over the ATM backbone at the Pentagon's air-conditioned offices as well as get the same message through to a supply officer sweltering in a Quonset hut at a remote tropical base. ... At government facilities with access to high-speed Internet links, Starlight Networks Starlive client software runs the video, chat, and slide presentations on user desktops. At locations with slower connections, the DoD uses RealNetworks clients and a Web browser. ... Greg Tapper, an analyst with Giga Information Group, Santa Clara, Calif., said the Pentagons adoption of the technology shows that video on organizational intranets is creeping beyond the initial core of large, technology-savvy businesses."</li> </ol>

There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow Starlight Networks to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 11:03, 29 November 2019 (UTC)</li></ul> <div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus. Relisting comment: needs analysis of Cunard's RS

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Natg 19 (talk) 19:55, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Probable keep. Without delving into reliability of each individual source, trust Cunard's judgment. Hyperbolick (talk) 20:52, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep - Cunard has located sources to show notability. And the nominator has been careless in the nomination and WP:BEFORE Lightburst (talk) 19:43, 7 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Keep Using Cunard's numbering above: 1 is good and meets the criteria for establishing notability; 2 fails WP:ORGIND as it is from a connected source (the ex-Chairman); 3 is also good and meets WP:NCORP. Since there are multiple sources I didn't check the rest. Topic meets GNG/NCORP. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 15:51, 8 December 2019 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.