Ever wondered how much data resides inside your own home? It's estimated
that the world produces more than an exabyte of unique information every
year, or roughly 250 megabytes per person. And as digital cameras, MP3s,
DVDs and other portable devices transform the way we view and capture data,
they will also have a tremendous impact on the amount of personal digital
storage we'll require.
As part of IBM's Extreme Blue initiative -- a summer program for business
and technical students to collaborate and innovate -- a team of researchers
recently created CASA, a consumer all-purpose storage appliance that
addresses the growing need for home content management. The benefit? Easy,
universal storage and information retrieval, and potentially an end to
paper trails and bulky file cabinets.
CASA provides users with singular access to all types of digital media
including text, images, messages, audio and video. The system also
integrates technology for information capture, content management, search
and retrieval, and categorization, and provides indexing for a user's
multimedia assets. CASA automatically indexes digital media, stores and
manages diverse types of content, and provides the flexibility to support
the plug and play of any new device, such as cameras or scanners. Even more
impressive is its ability to store up to 150 gigabytes of information, so
it could house all your digital assets for the next 20+ years.
Ever wondered how much data resides inside your own home? It's estimated
that the world produces more than an exabyte of unique information every
year, or roughly 250 megabytes per person. And as digital cameras, MP3s,
DVDs and other portable devices transform the way we view and capture data,
they will also have a tremendous impact on the amount of personal digital
storage we'll require.
As part of IBM's Extreme Blue initiative -- a summer program for business
and technical students to collaborate and innovate -- a team of researchers
recently created CASA, a consumer all-purpose storage appliance that
addresses the growing need for home content management. The benefit? Easy,
universal storage and information retrieval, and potentially an end to
paper trails and bulky file cabinets.
CASA provides users with singular access to all types of digital media
including text, images, messages, audio and video. The system also
integrates technology for information capture, content management, search
and retrieval, and categorization, and provides indexing for a user's
multimedia assets. CASA automatically indexes digital media, stores and
manages diverse types of content, and provides the flexibility to support
the plug and play of any new device, such as cameras or scanners. Even more
impressive is its ability to store up to 150 gigabytes of information, so
it could house all your digital assets for the next 20+ years.
Background Info
Today, devices used in home are becoming digital and we are seeing all kinds of consumer appliances becoming digital. With CASA (Consumers' All-Purpose Storage Appliance) , people everywhere can gain greater access to their personal multimedia assets. CASA concentrates on applications and devices where interactions with computing can be extended beyond the confines of the current PC model. Our goal is to develop prototype architecture and technologies to work with a variety of devices and content types supporting a broad range of users, roles and needs.
CASA will enable a user to connect various devices to collect, manage and display various media files (Photo, Video, Audio & Documents). An end user will use a CASA-enabled device, whether it is a PC or a stand-alone, low cost CASA device, to transcode a library of files to be viewed or experienced on a wide-range of output devices. For example, a user can view a digital photograph on a standard or digital TV, monitor or PDA. The CASA engine will modify the base picture file, converting it to a file type required for the TV, monitor or PDA, as appropriate, using XSL Style Sheets. CASA will also be the multimedia library for the future, allowing the user to search his or her media library based on user selected keywords and other metadata. It integrates technology for information capture, storage management, search and retrieval, implicit and explicit categorization of digital content and provides indexing of a user's assets. Finally, the CASA device may be network-enabled, allowing for on-line searching, streaming and e-commerce.