Following the announcement earlier this month that AerQ has joined the Streaming Video Alliance, Netskrt Systems has now also joined the Alliance, an industry forum comprised of leading companies from the online video ecosystem.
The Alliance has established Working Groups that target sector issues such as Open Caching and Quality of Experience (QoE), with member companies coming together in quarterly face-to-face meetings and regular phone calls to produce documentation for the entire online video ecosystem. The documentation produced includes best practices, specifications and requirements for an open architecture that will operate across the entire online video value chain.
The Alliance is not a standards body, but uses the output from its Working Groups (and the combined expertise of its member base) to work with existing industry organizations (like the CTA) and influence the creation of online video standards. The Alliance is currently focused on identifying issues and solutions related to open architecture, quality of experience and interoperability.
Netskrt says it joined the Alliance in order to help solve “intractable problems” that still hinder universal consumption of streaming video, namely the inability for conventional content delivery networks (CDNs) to serve users in locations with poor or intermittent connectivity such as aircraft cabins, trains, remote communities and even densely packed stadiums and other venues.
Steve Miller-Jones, VP of product strategy at Netskrt stated, “We’re extremely honoured to be joining the Streaming Media Alliance and look forward to interacting with the top video streaming companies in the world as well as sharing our expertise in edge Content Delivery Networks (eCDNs).”
Other Alliance members include giants such as Amazon, Paramount, NBC, Sky, Universal, Disney and Cisco, while aviation members include Intelsat, Hughes, Panasonic, ST Engineering, AerQ, Thales and Viasat.
Netskrt’s eCDN technology enables streaming video providers to serve users with live and on-demand content, either directly to content providers or in conjunction with existing CDN relationships, thereby facilitating a seamless extension of their existing service capabilities. The system also accelerates the movement of transportation operators (such as airlines) away from ‘walled garden’ onboard VOD libraries by providing passengers with access to content sources to which they already subscribe, such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
“The Streaming Video Alliance was established to develop an open architecture, propose standards, and promote best practices to support the future of streaming video,” added Jason Thibeault, executive director of the Streaming Video Alliance. “We welcome Netskrt to the Alliance. They join leading organisations from across the industry to help the Alliance shape the future of online video by collaborating, discussing and planning how the video ecosystem can operate openly and scale to best meet consumer demand.”
