Professional Adobe® Flex® 3

Chapter 48. Flex and Flash Media Server

The Flash Media Server (FMS) family of products from Adobe enables you to create rich social media services and stream high-quality audio and video through a protected and scalable server solution. This chapter will focus on the media streaming capabilities of the Flash Media Server and how it can be utilized with Flex.

There are three versions of the Flash Media Server: Flash Media Interactive Server (FMIS), Flash Media Streaming Server (FMSS), and the Flash Media Development Server. The FMIS is the flagship of the product and has no limitations in bandwidth, connections, or functionality. It supports server-side shared objects, scalable server deployment with origin and edge configurations, and the ability to record video to the server from a client. The FMSS is a solution paired for video streaming but without the more advanced data and server features. It has all the power for streaming audio and video as the FMIS without the ability to record your content to the server. The Flash Media Development Server has all the same functionality of the FMIS but is limited to 10 concurrent connections. The Development server is free and can be used for production or local development. For a more concise comparison, see www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/compare.

Benefits of Streaming Video with the FMS

There are a few key benefits that should definitely be called out concerning streaming content with the FMS. First is its ability to stream live ...