Scalability in Distributed Multimedia Systems

1 Acknowledgements The work in this thesis 1 is a part of the OtaOnline research project at the Helsinki University of Technology. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to the work. First, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Shosta Sulonen for all his support, guidance, constructive criticism and ideas. I would also like to thank my advisor Antti Yll-JJJski at the Nokia Research Centre, as well as Esa Turtiainen at the Helsinki University of Technology for their guidance and support. I am grateful to my colleagues Tuomas Puskala, Marko Turpeinen and Janne Saarela for all their help and comments. I would also like to thank Heikki HHm-mminen, Jaripekka Salminen and Sami Tikka at the Nokia Research Centre for inspiring discussions. I would like to thank Nokia for providing nancial support for the work. I also owe my gratitude to my parents for their encouragement and support, and to my brother and sister for making life so enjoyable. Finally, I would like to thank my friend Thomas for his immense patience and support, without which this work might never have been completed.