Network Distribution of Digital Cinema Contents

In this work, carried out in the framework of the IST Project EDCINE, we present some key issues related to the distribution of digital cinema contents through an IP network infrastructure. One of the main criticalities of the system is the huge size of the contents to be transported. From the operator perspective, this criticality translates into the objective of optimizing the usage of network resources while complying with the quality of service constraints, along with the need of keeping the overall management cost low. The goal of this paper is to present the network architecture and procedures, as well as the relevant mathematical models for analyzing the distribution of pre-recorded movies and live events.