Radios

We have a workgroup with about 30 local workstations, and 2 VPNs with about 4 users on each (remotely) we’re hosting an exchange server, the 2 VPN connections, and general browsing and email. Would it be a bad idea to open up internet radio streaming to the users?

We have (2) T1’s for a total of 3MBx3MB. I would like to allow users to stream radio at their desks, but would it consume too much bandwidth?

Thanks.

Streaming media storage size (in the common file system measurements megabytes, gigabytes, terabytes, and so on) is calculated from streaming bandwidth and length of the media with the following formula (for a single user and file):

Storage size (in megabytes) = length (in seconds) · bit rate (in kbit/s) / 8,388.608 (since 1 megabyte = 8 * 1,048,576 bits = 8,388.608 kilobits)

Real world example:

One hour of video encoded at 300 kbit/s ( a typical broadband video) encoded in a 320×240 pixels window size) will be:

(3,600 s · 300 kbit/s) / 8,388.608 = 128.7 MiB of storage

If the file is stored on a server for on-demand streaming and this stream is viewed by 1,000 people using a Unicast protocol, you would need

300 kbit/s · 1,000 = 300,000 kbit/s = 300 Mbit/s of bandwidth

This is equivalent to 125.73 GiB per hour. Of course, using a Multicast protocol the server sends out only a single stream that is common to all users. Hence, such a stream would only use 300 kbit/s of bandwidth.