SEACHANGE EXTENDS BROADCAST MEDIACLUSTER PRICE-PERFORMANCE WITH NEW PLAY-TO-AIR SYSTEM MPEG-2 VIDEO SYSTEMS LEADER ROLLS OUT NEW MEMBER OF BROADCAST MEDIACLUSTER FAMILY FOR MODERATE STORAGE AND CHANNEL NEEDS MAYNARD, Mass., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- SeaChange International,Inc. (Nasdaq: SEAC) today introduced the Broadcast MediaCluster 800 Series,the newest member of the SeaChange Broadcast MediaCluster family of digitalvideo play-to-air systems. With an entry-level price of $129,500, the 800 Series is the televisionindustry's most aggressively priced fault-tolerant multichannel MPEG-2 videoserver system. It delivers a price-performance advantage that is close totwice the value of competitive systems. "Since the first customer shipments of our initial broadcast product lastyear, the Broadcast MediaCluster has matured into a product line that enablestelevision station operators to achieve optimum reliability, scalability andvideo quality for commercial playback and program delivery," said John Pittas,broadcast products manager, SeaChange International. "The new Broadcast MediaCluster 800 Series is positioned to deliver faulttolerance to a segment of the market that could not previously afford thisbenefit. Competitive systems provide redundancy by duplicating storage. Ourpatented RAID2 ('raid squared') architecture eliminates the need forduplicating storage to deliver fault tolerance. We are aggressively movingthis technology down the price curve for the benefit of small and mid-sizebroadcasters. This is fault tolerance for the mass market." Currently, two scalable Broadcast MediaCluster models are now available fororder worldwide: the 800 Series and the 1200 Series, which are third-generation, Windows NT-based MPEG-2 video server platforms, or 'nodes'. Nodesare the building blocks of the Broadcast MediaCluster. Interconnected by ahigh-performance mesh network, nodes collectively form a single fault-tolerantserver designed for program origination, commercial playback and time/shiftdelay applications. SeaChange's MediaCluster technology extends the concept of RAID (RedundantArray of Inexpensive Disks), from the disks within a node, to nodes within acluster (RAID2, 'raid squared'). MediaCluster requires only one copy of avideo file and dramatically reduces storage requirements while guaranteeingthe availability of video at any output rate. There is no single point offailure and, in the event of a disk drive or entire node failure, videocontinues to play. Starting at $129,500, the entry-level BroadcastMediaCluster 800 Series configuration provides one input, three outputs and 11hours of MPEG-2 video storage at 24Mb/sec or 33 hours at 8Mb/sec. SeaChange's high-performance 4:2:2/4:2:0 MPEG-2 codecs and the integratedBroadcast Operation Service Station (BOSS) are included. 800 Seriesconfigurations can include up to five nodes using 18GB disk drives providing15 I/Os and MPEG-2 video storage capacity of 44 hours at 24Mb/sec or 132 hoursat 8Mb/sec. The Broadcast MediaCluster 1200 Series is ideal for television operatorswith greater requirements. In a three node cluster configuration, the 1200Series provides up to 12 I/Os and 96 hours of video storage at 8Mb/sec, or 32hours at 24Mb/sec using 18GB disk drives. Scalable to five nodes, with addedstorage expansion, the 1200 Series can provide hundreds of hours of storageand 20 I/Os. All Broadcast MediaCluster configurations can be integrated with leadingstation automation packages including those from Drake Automation, Florical,Louth Automation Systems, Odetics, Omnibus Systems, Pro-Bel, SGT and SundanceDigital. SeaChange's video server architecture is coupled with world-class digitalvideo I/O subsystems. SeaChange's integrated MPEG-2 codecs use IBM's second-generation codec ICs, delivering MPEG-2 Main Level/Main Profile coding up to15Mb/sec and studio quality Main Level/4:2:2 Profile coding up to 24Mb/sec.The codecs include serial digital A/V inputs and outputs and other keyfeatures required by the industry. Serving hundreds of geographic markets and more than 17,000 televisionchannels worldwide, SeaChange International, Inc. (www.schange.com), is theleading provider of MPEG-2 digital video systems for television. SeaChange'sproducts, incorporating the company's patent-pending software and hardwaretechnologies, automate the management and distribution of video streamsincluding advertisements, movies, news updates and other broadcast-qualityvideo programming requiring precise execution. Founded in 1993, SeaChange isheadquartered in Maynard, Mass. SeaChange is currently touring the U.S. to provide convenient BroadcastMediaCluster demonstrations. Call 978-897-0100 to participate in the nearestscheduled visit. MediaCluster and RAID2 are registered trademarks of SeaChangeInternational. SOURCE SeaChange International, Inc. CONTACT: John Coulbourn of SeaChange International, 978-897-0100, ext. 3098, [email protected] Web site: http://www.schange.com/