Akamai Announces Native MPEG-DASH and HDS Support for Live Video Workflows

April 08, 2014 Akamai Announces Native MPEG-DASH and HDS Support for Live Video Workflows

Akamai Contacts Chris Nicholson

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Qualified encoders supporting additional formats can stream directly to Akamai, simplifying high-quality video delivery to growing array of connected devices

LAS VEGAS - 2014 NAB Show (Booth SL4525) - April 08, 2014 - Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimising and securing online content and business applications, today announced that it is adding native support for the emerging Motion Picture Experts Group-Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH) and HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) formats for live and linear streaming content. By accepting these additional formats into its globally distributed entry points, Akamai expects to offer its customers greater flexibility to reach an ever-increasing array of connected devices.

MPEG-DASH support addresses the requirements of Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Television (HbbTV), a pan-European specification for interactive television delivered over both broadcast and broadband Internet connections, while HDS is widely supported by Adobe Flash. The addition of DASH and HDS complements Akamais existing support for RTMP and HLS formats, underscoring its commitment to simplify the evolving complexities of delivering high-quality live and linear online video at scale.

The new capability is designed to allow event producers to send their streams directly into Akamai ingest servers via nearby entry points, minimising the chance of quality loss through local network issues and congestion. In addition, Akamai is working with encoder vendors to qualify their offerings for compatibility, and has also added DASH support to its Adaptive Media Player. This three-pronged approach is intended to help users more easily stream live events at higher quality to audiences worldwide.

Elemental Technologies is the first partner to be qualified by Akamai for direct DASH and HDS ingest. Their Elemental Live and Elemental Server products have been configured and tested in an effort to ensure that streaming content in these new formats is securely and efficiently transferred through Akamais ingest points.

Like Akamai, Elemental believes in the importance of a seamless end-to-end experience for our customers, said Keith Wymbs, chief marketing officer at Elemental. Thats why were pleased to work closely with Akamai to continually enhance the technical capabilities we bring to the market on behalf of our mutual customers.

Akamais Adaptive Media Player offers support for DASH, including the newly released dash.js v1.1.2 standard. Already in use by some of the worlds largest broadcasters, the Adaptive Media Player provides a simple yet powerful approach to player technology across connected devices.

We believe this continued innovation, support for multiple streaming standards and our unrivaled global network enables fast, secure content ingest directly into Akamai for high-quality end-to-end, said Will Law, chief architect of media engineering at Akamai. These efforts and capabilities streamline the workflow and are designed to help ensure a top-notch playback experience.

As a charter member of the DASH Industry Forum and as one of the first content delivery networks to offer a complete DASH workflow for live streaming, Akamai is committed to supporting the open standard for helping simplify video delivery across connected devices.

Akamai is showing its full range of digital media storage, processing and delivery solutions at the 2014 NAB Show, booth SL4525, in Las Vegas, April 7-10. Demonstrations will underscore how live and on-demand online video content, including 4K, can be delivered at the quality and scale necessary to meet increasing consumer demands and expectations.

For more information about Akamais presence at the 2014 NAB Show or to schedule a meeting, visit http://www.akamai.com/nab2014.

About Akamai

Akamai is the leading provider of cloud services for delivering, optimising and securing online content and business applications. At the core of the Companys solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

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