AMSTERDAM — Akamai may be best known for helping speed up the flow of internet packets of all kinds using its distributed network technologies. But the Cambridge, MA-based outfit is also zeroing in on the booming online video industry.
In this video interview with Beet.TV at the IBC show, EMEA product director Stuart Cleary says Akamai’s network is well deployed in video processing for clients.
“We have a massive network of over 135,000 servers,” Cleary says. “We can transcode video very quickly – at minimum, about 50 percent of the time of the duration of the asset itself.”
Launched last year, Akamai’s cloud video transcoding service turns single video files in to versions in multiple bitrates, suitable for playback on a range of devices.
“In the old world of streaming, you had one device that content providers were targeting – it was either a PC or a Mac,” Cleary adds. “Now it’s a much more complex environment for a content provider to get their video out.”
Beside transcoding, Akamai also used IBC to introduce FastTCP, a distribution technology that claims to improve the internet’s underlying TCP/IP transmission system to pump out video faster.
