A CDE Definition

(1) (Storage Resource Management) The management of the storage resources in an organization in order to avoid duplication of files and to determine space utilization across all servers. A client component is placed in every server that monitors the files and disks within the server. The "SRM server" is actually the SRM workstation that collects the data from the clients and compares them. SRMs can be implemented on SANs as well as regular disks (JBODs).

(2) (Supplier Relationship Management) An information system that automates sourcing, purchasing and the management of daily supplier relations. It provides modules for vendor identification and selection as well as direct procurement.

(3) (Scalable Reliable Multicast) A protocol for the reliable delivery of multicast streams (one-to-many transmission). Normally, multicast is used for conferencing and streaming applications where a loss of packets is not critical. In SRM, mechanisms are used to detect packet loss in general and for individual streams so that the packets can be retransmitted. See multicast.

(1) To transmit data to multiple recipients on the network at the same time using one transmission stream to the switches, at which point data are distributed out to the end users on separate lines.

Contrast with Unicast
A "unicast" is a separate transmission stream from source to destination for each recipient. When sending large volumes of data, multicast saves considerable bandwidth over unicast.

Contrast with Broadcast
A "broadcast" is a transmission to every node reachable on the network or subnet, rather than to a specific list of nodes as in a multicast. See IP multicast, IGMP and SRM.

(2) In digital television broadcasting, to send multiple standard TV (SDTV) programs in the allotted bandwidth, rather than one high-definition TV (HDTV) program.