here's the lowdown,

I am a Sys Admin for a litigation consulting firm. Our clients are attorneys
and law firms and I want to implement streaming services for them a little
to no cost. Since WMS is 'free' and I run a Micro$oft network, hopefully it
can fullfull my needs.

Part of our services includes a our web based case management app which
clients can use to access cases and related files we produce for them. Files
include everything from pdf's, doc's and images, but my main concern is
mpg's and the client's ability to play them. I want to be able to stream
this content to my clients and for them to be able to start viewing the file
AND be able to control the playback (FF/RW, etc) from the start. The main
problem they are facing right now is having to download the files before
they can view them.

I have several TB's of stored mpeg files which the webapp gives the clients
access to.  Furthermore, most of these files are quite large (100+ MB's) -
some are even several GB's in size! Hence the issue the clients are running
into.

PLEASE NOTE:
- mpeg-1/2 is the standard for the legal industry so just converting the
existing content to WMV and digitizing future video to the windows format is
not an option; on top of that, the existing content is considered evidence
so cannot be changed anyway
- since we are talking TB's of mpg's, doubling storage on my SAN just to
accomodate the converted files is not an option
- client end control funtionality; clients MUST be able to control playback
(FF/RW/SKIP/etc)

Basically, I need the mpg's to be converted and streamed on demand while
staying within the parameters of the notes above.

Additionally, documentation mentions options for developing an mpeg plugin
via the SDK for allowing the media server to stream mpeg. I have searched
all over on this and cannot find any additional, or helpful, info.

Can I accomplish these things via WMS or do a need to look at other
vendors/options?

Many thanks for any and all help here.

Lilskook
SysAdmin - Dallas, TX