DigiDelivery

[james123]

I just looked at the info available for this new server/product. Is anyone interested in this? Has anyone bought this?

[tomhartman]

I'm very interested, but don't understand it a bit.

It plainly says you don't HAVE to have the "appliance." So then how do you use it? Download the software and then....what?

How much is the "appliance"?

Need more info.

[RobMacki]

I'm very interested, but don't understand it a bit.

It plainly says you don't HAVE to have the "appliance." So then how do you use it? Download the software and then....what?

How much is the "appliance"?

Need more info.

I'm interested too.

I think they mean your client or a 3rd party wouldn't need one for it to work on the other end. But the host ie myself would need to have one.
I think.

Can we get a specialist in here?

[Chief Technician]

I do not work for Digidesign, nor do I consider myself a specialist on this unit, since I don't own one. I have used it once. I think what you'll read below will clear the air.

I've seen this DigiDelivery server equipment twice. Once at AES and a second time at a more exclusive event. First off, the basics: It occupies one (1) RU, you never have to attach a keyboard or a monitor to it, and it runs on some type of linux. It is an outgrowth of the defunct Rocket Network acquisition (a system for having session collaboration online 2 years ago that faltered for reasons I'm not privy to).

How does it function? You either have one of these DigiDelivery servers, or you have access to one. You can upload a text file, an mp3, or the newly mastered Linkin Park album, with encryption, to the server. You then specify who should receive an email saying that project X (what you uploaded) is available for download. The email that is sent out has a unique delivery key. The email recipient downloads client software (for Windoze XP or Mac OS X) and using that client software and the information in the email they can then retrieve the file. For those who are prone to being cutoff from the internet in the middle of the download, it has a resume function.

The server can keep track of who has downloaded the file and can delete it once everyone downloads your uploaded file. The deletion can occur immediately, or at a set time (a day later, a week later).

This product, it seems to me, is aimed at two types of clientele. Those who want a fully automated FTP server and not worry about maintenance (file server for dummies as one individual put it), and those who want to be sure that their album isn't released on Kazaa before it hits the shelf at Virgin in Times Square. Notice I mentioned Linkin Park above. If you've read MIX within the past year, you probably read an article on the great lengths they took to prevent that album from leaking (I'm not a fan so I don't know if they were successful).

The purchase of a DigiDelivery server is a one time transaction with Digidesign. They do not stand to make money beyond your purchase for this product. There are two versions of the server. A $3k and a $10k unit. I believe the only difference is disk space (could be wrong).

Hope that helps.

[james123]

What I understand from the online info is that you buy this server and then you can send data (a single folder or a single file) to anyone you want and the data is encrypted for the transfer. There is a price differentiation between the servers for the # accounts that can send data, storage capacity, and 100 vs 1000 base ethernet.

What I don't get is the product concept. Why would I spend so much money on a file transfer server that does some encryption? Why would I spend more money on a 1000 base T version if I'm primarily sending files to people outside my facility? 100 baseT is way faster that any Cable or DSL upload transfer rate that I know of. If I'm moving files from within my own facility from computer to computer then this products feature set seems very anemic for a LAN server.

This product doesn't seem to know if it wants to be a WAN or LAN server, or at least I can't tell what it primary purpose is. It also seems to have very limited functionality particularily for its price.

That's why I'm curious if anyone has purchased this product and is using it. I'd like to know why you found this to be a needed product for your business. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't get it.

Thanks

[Chief Technician]

I'd like to know why you found this to be a needed product for your business. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't get it.

If you're addressing your question to me, the facility I work for doesn't have one, nor would I recommend acquiring one. We have an FTP server. It works fine. Encryption isn't necessary.

I think Digi is catering to the likes of Linkin Park (work everywhere with massive security and no pre-release copies) and people who want an FTP server but they do not want to set one up manually, worry about permissions, passive vs active servers, etc.

[Mark Wheaton]

Any off the shelf mac can function as a web server under OSX. Also any account with an ISP will probably provide web hosting services that allow ftp if you ask. Therfore it may not be necessary to have an in house web or ftp server such as the Digi product.

The trick is, do you have fast upload connections? Standard DSL accounts (in the $30 per month range) provide fast Download and slow (128K or less) Upload speeds. Also, if your isp restricts traffic on your connection you may not be able to upload large files anyway.

The advantage of an in house server, is, You don't have to worry about upload speeds because it is a computer to computer transfer, but the person accessing your files Will have face your upload speed no matter what their download speed is. In other words the file still needs to upload to the isp whether you do it to post on a remote ftp server, or your client does it by accessing your files. If your upload speed is standard, it will be incredibly slow to upload anything other than mp3s whether you have this device (Digidelivery) or not. Fast uploads are available from isps such as SBC Communications as premium or enhanced service and cost anwhere from $80 per month for about 384K upload to well into the hundreds per month for T1 speeds. (1.5meg) (by the way internet and modem speeds are measured in bits not Bytes and therefore are an order of magnitude slower than hard drive speeds.

Even at T1 speeds, it will take a long while to upload uncompressed audio tracks. If you upload an entire CD of multitrack sessions it could take hours to post the session even at T1 speeds. That is reality whether you invest in this box or not. i usually find it more time efficient to just burn a CD or DVD and ship via US Post. I post short files or mp3s as proof copies only onto my ftp site, which I get from my web hosting service as part of the standard $20 or less per month fee (this is in addition to the isp fee which for enhanced DSL is about $80 per month.) You will have to pay at least the isp fee whether you have a dedicated in house web or ftp server or not.
I know this sounds overwhelming and it is.

Political diatribe follows:
The promise of the internet has been "postponed" while corporations figure out ways to squeeze the small guy for as much as possible while charging a premium to have fast up and down speeds despite the fact that they could offer this at the same price if they chose to. The fact is, they are trying to keep out the riff raff by keeping prices high. However if the government took back the internet and regulated it, fiber optic internet could become a reality and would allow almost real time transfers of data. This may or may not happen in our lifetime because of "privatization and de-regulation" This is the hidden reason why the dot com bust occurred. The companies that were poised to profit never saw an internet that delivered on the promise, because companies were too busy fighting turf wars instead of installing infrastructure. It may be that only a government funded project much like the interstate highway project of the fifties could handle the job. The only other way is a sanctioned monopoly such as the Bell companies enjoyed when they installed the phone system we take for granted today.

[BlueDog]

I was at a recent Digitour, where they went into it in some detail.

The "appliance" is basically a secure file server. There is also a software component that anyone can download and use.

The software will losslessly compress the files by 50% or so and then: either send them via ethernet to the "appliance" which in turn uploads to the net when the client provides the password, or if you don't have the "appliance", will just use your computer to upload to the Net when the client provides the password.

The advantage of the "appliance" (that's starting to sound obscene ) is that it frees up your computer from the snail pace of uploading. There are two flavors of "appliace", the low end has 10base or 100base ethernet, the high end is gigabit. Prices were somthing like 2k and 4k, (I could be totally wrong, but I think that's what he said).

It does some other nice streamlining of the process, and seems very cool if you need to send huge files on a very frequent basis.