Ten years – wow! In many ways, it seems like only yesterday that a handful of us set out with a dream of building a global multi-platform IP services powerhouse. How far we’ve come in making that dream a reality! I am proud of the talented and spirited people here who have had a hand in making it happen, and I am blessed by the amazing customers, partners, investors and other stakeholders who have played a vital role in our success.

While the past decade has seemingly flown by for me, at the same time, a decade feels like an eternity in this industry, particularly when you consider its constant state of motion and the growth and evolution we’ve experienced over the years. I can now only scarcely recall what it was like in July 2002 when we were just getting started – before the smartphone frenzy and the social media revolution, when the online gaming industry was in its infancy, when ‘watching the news’ could only mean that you were sitting in front of the television. It’s exciting to so clearly see now that Highwinds was founded on the very precipice of one of the biggest cultural shifts of our lifetime, driven by the demand for content at any time on every device in all corners of the world. It’s amazing to know that we’ve not only been a part of this revolution, but also to know that we’ve contributed to shaping it while helping so many of our customers navigate through it.

Fast-forward ten years. Today, we find ourselves in the upper echelon of global CDNs, a position we’ve earned through hard work, talent, imagination – and a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears. Yet, over the years, we’ve pushed ourselves to be more than just another CDN. We’ve invested our time and resources into owning and operating the world’s fastest CDN, one that’s profitable, stands the test of time and rises to the occasion for any challenge thrown at it. We’ve also differentiated ourselves by tapping into our software development pedigree to build a content delivery, network and IP services software stack and solutions portfolio equal to none – one that’s rooted in delivering value to customers. Along the way, we’ve continually broken the barriers of possibilities with tools like real-time analytics, multi-platform load balancing, high-definition streaming, online game delivery and more. I continue to be amazed by our achievements, stemming from both our technical expertise and our service commitments.

To my teammates, thank you! Your ability to innovate and to make the seemingly impossible possible, the purity of your dedication to customer service, and your perpetual enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit have not only sustained us over the years but also make it a joy to walk through the door every day. A special thanks to Scott Munger and Mark Daniels who have been here since day one.

To our customers, thank you! We are blessed to count among our customer base the multi-billion dollar enterprises that are shaping the industry, the small startups that are shaking it up, and a myriad of others – without you, our efforts would be futile. We are pleased to be able to help you build and grow your connections with customers, and honored that you have chosen our backbone and solutions to support your business growth.

To our partners, thank you! It’s always been comforting to know that there are other companies out there that mirror our commitments to technical innovation and customer care, and we are pleased to have built long-lasting and mutually successful partnerships with you. Whether you’re a technology, ecosystem, channel or peering partner, your role in supporting us and shaping us into who we are today has truly been invaluable.

To our investors, thank you! Much of our growth and evolution has been supported by your belief in our ability to deliver on our promises. With your support we’ve been able to close five acquisitions, expand our network footprint onto four continents, create new solutions, hire more world-class talent and sustain our profitability. I’m glad we’re gaining value together.

I’m proud of everything we’ve achieved during our first decade and for the passion, integrity and innovation we’re known for today. At the same time, I believe we are at the early stages of our growth opportunity – and I’m excited for what’s to come in the next decade as we continue to capitalize on one of the fastest growing markets in generations.

Steve Miller
Founder and CEO

Brad Altfest, Principal Solutions Architect, Highwinds
David Moffly, CEO, Baeblemusic.com

CLICK HERE to view the video now.

The rising demand for “all-you-can-eat” video subscriptions has content owners and OVP operators struggling to redefine their business as they face the challenges of evolving a traditional ecommerce transaction into a subscription experience. The subscription business model presents significant operational barriers that companies like Netflix and Hulu have conquered, in part, with in-house development – undeniably, the most expensive way to solve a problem.

The gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” in Media & Entertainment has never been more prevalent than it is today and in-house development is simply not an economical approach for many organizations faced with the need to make this change. Selecting the right partner with video delivery and back office experience can greatly reduce risk and time to market. Broadcasters must evolve beyond the “player” way of thinking and provide a complete web presence with an integrated subscriber management solution in order to begin offering a subscription service experience.

As a pre-integrated partner to Highwinds, RevX provides the tools to personalize, price, and securely deliver content to a subscription audience. By combining the power and flexibility of our billing & subscriber management system, the RevX Media framework, and the Highwinds Content Delivery Network infrastructure, we’re able to offer an unparalleled solution to the challenges content owners face in moving to a subscriber-centric media model.

Highwinds’ customers now have access to a complete, turn-key solution to price bundles of videos, offer fixed or varying monthly subscription prices based on channels, events, or blocks of time (pay-per-minute), automate account management, and customize the look and feel of their viewers’ experience.

What are some of the challenges you are facing with converting premium viewers into monthly subscribers?

For more information on RevX Systems, visit www.revxsystems.com.

For more information on Highwinds, click here or call 866.872.0357

The beta version has already been experienced by over one million gamers with War Inc. to come out of beta over the following weeks.  The press release states that open beta averaged 200,000+ users per month.

Online Warmongers is a Los Angeles-based developer and publisher serving the free-to-play gaming community and made up of industry professionals from EA, Activision, and Cryptic Studios.  The reliability of gameplay and Highwinds’ commitment to working closely with Online Warmongers “impressed [the entire] team with their technology, capabilities and service.”  In addition, CEO of Online Warmongers, Sergey Titov, says, “You just can’t beat Highwinds’ commitment to the gaming community, gaming-focused solutions portfolio and industry-leading cost structure.”  It is that service and reliability that “enables faster downloads, lower delivery costs, fewer abandonments, instant purge and real-time analytics.”

War Inc. allows gamers to create their own classes (ex. heavy weapon frontline Assault), customize their characters from hundreds of options, and choose from over 140 weapons.  (It is definitely worth checking out the broad range of weapons on the game’s website, including assault weapons, explosive, hand guns, machine guns, shotguns, submachine guns, and sniper rifles.)  The setting is rather humorous: War Inc.’s website describes the game based off of real-life situations:

Some had said that 2012 wasn’t the end of the world, but it damn near might as well have been.  The global economic chaos that started in 2008 had run rampant for almost 4 years.  National fortunes were squandered and lost.

Due to the turmoil that ensued around the world, “Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War spread as if the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse had actually been released from the Gates of Hell.”  Since the world had fallen from its former state of civility, men and women emerged to create “Shadow Organizations,” combating world players for “assets, money, and power.”

KitGuru says: We recommend checking this game out, especially as it is released from its beta mode.  Not only does the game’s premise sound bloody fantastic, but honestly, who doesn’t love a free shooter?  If you happen to be in the Los Angeles or Berlin area, you can check in on Highwinds at the LA Games Conference on April 24^th or Deutsche Gamestage, Germany’s game developers event, April 24^th-28^th.

View original article »

Highwinds Delivers World’s First AAA Free-to-Play Shooter Game to Online Players Globally

WINTER PARK, Fla. – April 23, 2012 – Highwinds^®, a leader in content delivery, network and cloud-based IP services, today announced that Online Warmongers has selected the Highwinds GDN^™ (game delivery network) for the delivery of War Inc. Battle Zone, the world’s first AAA-rated free-to-play shooter game.  Online Warmongers is ramping up its marketing initiatives for War Inc.’s full release with the game set to emerge from beta this month.  Over a million players have played the beta version, and the game has consistently averaged over 200,000 users per month during its open beta.  Highwinds delivers reliable gameplay to War Inc. players worldwide.

“Highwinds has impressed my entire team with their technology, capabilities and service,” said Sergey Titov, CEO of Online Warmongers.  “Their engineers and support staff have been with us each step of the way as we’ve ramped up at a furious pace with the War Inc. launch looming.  Their willingness to work closely with us, rapidly configure a test environment and ease of accessibility have all been invaluable.  And you just can’t beat Highwinds’ commitment to the gaming community, gaming-focused solutions portfolio and industry-leading cost structure.”

Highwinds GDN is the first CDN specifically tuned to maximize throughput, providing for lightning-fast game delivery.  It integrates CDN services and a gaming software stack that enables faster downloads, lower delivery costs, fewer abandonments, instant purge and real-time analytics.  Highwinds’ StrikeTracker^® 2 console is providing Online Warmongers’ marketing arm with valuable insight into player geography, completion ratio, and other key statistics, enabling marketing to match its go-to-market plan against real-time analytics.

“There’s no denying that a certain level of excitement naturally surrounds a customer like Online Warmongers,” said Steve Miller, founder and CEO of Highwinds.  “They’re a startup teeming with potential, leveraging amazing talent, ready to globally unleash their first game and standing on the verge of massive growth.  It’s easy for us to get excited about all that – and that excitement is good for our customer, too, because we find ourselves as vested in their success as they are.”

War Inc. is an action-packed, downloadable, MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) that features fun player-versus-player ground combat in multiple settings with a variety of modes and options for all players.  Set in a vast, open environment of realistic detail, War Inc. brings new innovations to classic multiplayer combat game play.  A retail quality game in a free-to-play form, it features modern graphics, high production values and in-game monetization, providing players early access to weapons and equipment that speed up game progression.  Play at www.thewarinc.com.

Visit Highwinds at the LA Games Conference in Los Angeles, April 24 or Deutsche Gamestage in Berlin, April 24-28.  To schedule a meeting, call +1.407.215.2400 or e-mail info@highwinds.com.

About Highwinds Network Group, Inc.
Highwinds is a content delivery, network and cloud-based IP services business that offers a comprehensive suite of CDN solutions, including content storage and IP software.  The company delivers content and rich media over its high-performance RollingThunder^® network to millions of global users every day.  Highwinds CDN customers gain unprecedented command and control with its StrikeTracker^® console and open APIs.  Highwinds is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., and maintains data centers around the world.  For more information, visit www.highwinds.com.

About Online Warmongers
Online Warmongers Group Inc. is an independent Los Angeles-based video game developer and publisher.  The company is partnered with Cybergun (NYX: CYB) and funded through Arktos Entertainment Group’s early stage VC fund.  Online Warmongers was established in 2009 to develop innovative online next-generation titles for consoles and PC.  Online Warmongers was formed by a group of industry veterans from EA, Activision and Cryptic Studios with the vision of creating high quality, free-to-play online games.

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Highwinds, RollingThunder and StrikeTracker are registered trademarks, and GDN is a trademark, of Highwinds Network Group, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Webinar attendees learn the formats, codecs, and workflow tips that lead to robust mobile experiences.

Presenting best practices for streaming video to mobile devices, Highwinds, Kaltura, and Concurrent took part in a webinar hosted by StreamingMedia.com on Thursday, March 22.

The de facto standard for mobile video streaming is to use the H.264 codec in an MP4 container, presenting HD aspect in multiple bitrates, said Chris Bray, vice president of product management for content delivery network Highwinds, who spoke first.

Bray offered several tips to consider for best results, such as making sure keyframe alignment is consistent across bitrates. That way, when a viewer switches streams, the keyframes stay in alignment. He also advised turning off scene detection during encoding (it introduces irregular keyframes) and encoding audio in the same way for all the video streams.

The industry is moving toward HTTP streaming, said Bray, with the strongest adoption around Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Some are playing HLS streams in Flash. MPEG DASH is still on the horizon, he said. While many are looking at it, they haven’t yet made a commitment.

Next up was Damian Rochman, senior director of product for online video platform Kaltura, who noted that mobile video traffic is surging. For publishers, mobile video comes with several challenges, such as supporting different codecs, presenting a unified user interface and experience across various platforms, fitting into publishing workflows, and providing content protection.

Publishers who want to target a variety of mobile devices need an automated workflow that transcodes video for all targeted devices. They should automatically serve the best encoding, offering multiple streams for adaptive video, such as high-, medium-, and low-bitrate encodes, Rochman said. Viewers expect the same experience on a mobile site as they get on a regular website.

Comparing mobile website and app experiences, Rochman noted that neither is inherently a better experience. Mobile websites don’t offer real full screen viewing but do offer cross platform access, while apps give better control over the experience but require custom DRM support.

As for content protection, Rochman said that mobile video requires workarounds to safeguard video, such as token authorization, geo blocking, IP blocking, or chunking. Going with an app is a currently a better route for those offering premium content.

Exploring the workflow required to create adaptive video for mobile devices, Jim Denenny, vice president and general manager for online media solutions at Concurrent, defined steps for transcoding (the processor intensive heavy-lifting), transmuxing (done on-the-fly, able to be done in real-time), protection and policy (for monetization), and delivery (using an HTTP infrastructure and leveraging a company’s existing investment).

While MPEG DASH could well make adaptive video delivery simpler in time, requiring only one format for delivery, there’s likely to be an overlap period when publishers need to support four formats, Denenny said. Fortunately, all of them use H.264 video, AAC audio, and MP3 audio. The best practice, he said, is to create a single MPEG4, fMP4, MPEGTS source and repackage it on-the-fly.

During the question and answer session, listeners asked about latency in live video, how to support older mobile phones, and closed captioning on mobile devices.

The entire webinar, “Best Practices for Streaming to Mobile Devices,” will be hosted online for 90-days and is free to view. Registration is required.

View Original Article »

Highwinds Supports Funcom’s Current Game Titles and is Positioned to Deliver the Highly Anticipated Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game ‘The Secret World’

SAN FRANCISCO – March 5, 2012 – Highwinds^®, a leader in content delivery, network and cloud-based IP services, today announced that independent developer and publisher of online games, Funcom, is tapping into Highwinds GDN^™ (game delivery network) for the delivery of its online games to global audiences.  In addition to supporting Funcom’s existing game titles today, Highwinds is also well-positioned to support the public release of Funcom’s highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game, ‘The Secret World,’ set to launch on June 19th.  Highwinds GDN provides Funcom and its online audiences with reliable gameplay via HTTP caching, which supports game downloads, patches, content expansion and in-game monetization.

“Highwinds’ commitment to the gaming community is commendable,” said Ole Schreiner, COO of Funcom.  “It’s evident in Highwinds’ dedicated and experienced account team, and it’s evident in their solutions to support the evolving needs of the gaming industry.  We look forward to a long and rewarding partnership.”

‘The Secret World’ (TSW) is currently in beta, with over 750,000 gamers now registered as beta testers.  Funcom expects the number of beta registrations to grow significantly in the coming months as the company ramps up its major PR and marketing initiatives towards launch.  TSW is consistently mentioned as one of the most anticipated MMOs in development, breaking new grounds and genre conventions by introducing a modern-day setting, a story-focused MMO experience, and a freeform progression system using no classes and no levels.  ‘The Secret World’ is developed and published by Funcom and will be distributed by co- publishing partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA).  Those looking to join the ongoing beta test can sign up via the official TSW site at www.thesecretworld.com.

“We’re excited to be standing at this threshold with Funcom, with the public release of ‘The Secret World’ fast approaching,” said Steve Miller, founder and CEO of Highwinds.  “The fact that the entire gaming community is talking about this game and anxiously awaiting its launch is a testament to Funcom’s reputation for delivering great titles and outstanding entertainment over the past two decades.  Highwinds stands ready to continue supporting Funcom’s existing titles, while scaling our game delivery solutions to support the massive growth on their horizon.”

Highwinds GDN, which was launched last August, is a vertically focused reinvention of its content delivery network (CDN) for online game publishers and the first CDN specifically tuned for high-performance game delivery.  It integrates CDN services and a gaming software stack that enables faster downloads, lower delivery costs, fewer abandonments, an integrated download manager and real-time analytics, all from a single-source provider committed to game delivery innovation.  Learn more about Highwinds GDN this week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.  To schedule a meeting, call 407.215.2400 or e-mail info@highwinds.com.

About Funcom
Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC and consoles.  Funcom has provided outstanding entertainment since 1993 and continues to expand its track record of more than 20 released games.  Recent titles include ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures,’ ‘The Longest Journey,’ ‘Anarchy Online’ and ‘Dreamfall.’  For corporate information, visit www.funcom.com.  For information about Funcom games, visit www.anarchy-online.com, www.dreamfall.com, www.thesecretworld.com or www.ageofconan.com.  Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

About Highwinds Network Group, Inc.
Highwinds is a content delivery, network and cloud-based IP services business that offers a comprehensive suite of CDN solutions, including content storage and IP software.  The company delivers content and rich media over its high-performance RollingThunder^® network to millions of global users every day.  Highwinds CDN customers gain unprecedented command and control with its StrikeTracker^® console and open APIs.  Highwinds is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., and maintains data centers around the world.  For more information, visit www.highwinds.com.

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Highwinds, RollingThunder and StrikeTracker are registered trademarks, and GDN is a trademark, of Highwinds Network Group, Inc.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ZEDO TAPS HIGHWINDS CDN FOR PERFORMANCE-BASED LOAD BALANCING SOLUTION

(San Francisco, Calif., and Mumbai, India – Feb. 27, 2012) – ZEDO, Inc., the leading independent advertising technology partner for publishers, today announced that it is using SelectPath™ multi-platform load balancing technology from content delivery network (CDN) provider Highwinds® to optimize content delivery across multiple CDNs and platforms. SelectPath, which is integrated into ZEDO’s ad platforms, combines advanced multi-platform network monitoring and CDN load balancing to fuel real-time data-driven content delivery decisions. ZEDO’s single, unified platform with SelectPath improves performance and increases fault tolerance for customers’ ads.

“We chose SelectPath because it is a unique and cutting-edge technology that allows us to load balance multiple CDNs based on performance. Other vendors that we talked to could do this on geography alone. SelectPath integrated into our ad platforms improves delivery performance and reliability,” said Joseph Jacob, CTO of ZEDO, a 12-year-old advertising technology company, the largest independent ad server and an industry thought leader. “With SelectPath, ZEDO is the first in the industry to be able to CDN load balance based on performance rather than geography.”

Companies like ZEDO use multiple CDNs for many reasons, most of which are driven by the need to deliver the best experience every time to every user. Highwinds SelectPath, which includes licensed technology from multi-cloud performance and automation pioneer, Cedexis, is well-positioned to help content providers meet performance goals. It collects real-time performance data directly from actual end users across any number of CDNs as well as the provider’s own origin, and it captures valuable last-mile data often excluded from monitoring services. SelectPath reacts to the data by dynamically adjusting loads and automatically routing content over the CDN performing best at the moment of delivery. Highwinds customers can also use SelectPath to create custom rules that programmatically flow content based on geography, time of day, day of month, etc.

“SelectPath is rooted in two premises. First, we’ve seen third-party data consistently showing that Highwinds CDN outperforms others, and not surprisingly, since we’ve invested heavily into our infrastructure and software stack to ensure our seat at the top. And second, because we agree that performance matters, SelectPath will steer all content in the direction of the optimally performing CDN, even if it’s not ours,” said Steve Miller, chairman and CEO of Highwinds. “We commend ZEDO for their recognition that no one CDN is ever faster than the aggregate, and we are excited to support ZEDO’s multi-CDN approach – while earning their bytes on a performance basis.”

To learn more about SelectPath, visit www.highwinds.com/cdn/load-balancing.php.

ABOUT ZEDO
ZEDO, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., with development centers in Russia and India, is a digital ad solutions company offering products and services for the premium, self-service and remnant inventory of online publishers. ZEDO’s product suite includes ad network optimization, innovative rich media formats for direct sales teams, full-featured ad serving with built-in behavioral targeting data, and an exchange-like platform for publishers to sell behavioral and DMA-targeted inventory at high CPMs (visit www.zedoadnetwork.com). These products can be used separately but are also tightly integrated into ZEDO’s single, outsourced ad ops solution.

ABOUT HIGHWINDS
Highwinds is a content delivery, network and cloud-based IP services business that offers a comprehensive suite of CDN solutions, including content storage and IP software. The company delivers content and rich media over its high-performance RollingThunder® network to millions of global users every day. Highwinds CDN customers gain unprecedented command and control with its StrikeTracker® console and open APIs. Highwinds is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., and maintains data centers around the world. For more information, visit www.highwinds.com.

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Highwinds, RollingThunder and StrikeTracker are registered trademarks, and SelectPath is a trademark, of Highwinds Network Group, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

In a recent interview with StreamingMedia Magazine’s Jan Ozer, I had the opportunity to talk about why we decided to make the transition from Adobe RTMP to Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming, and how the transition is progressing. With the turn-down of our FMS platform now complete, it was a great opportunity to communicate with our current and future customers about how we see the future of streaming, and about our commitment to innovation.

Speaking with Jan was a great experience. We spend so much time in the technology trenches, so it was exciting to step back and share what we had built with someone with a fresh perspective. Like most journalists, particularly those in technical industries, Jan has a lot of deep knowledge on the subject and was able to provide feedback that I found to be both insightful and useful in helping to inform the future direction for our product roadmap. I’m looking forward to having more of these types of conversations with our customers, so we’re re-posting the article here and will be looking for your feedback!

_________

Highwinds Completing Transition from RTMP to HTTP
Posted on StreamingMedia.com on February 3, 2012
By Jan Ozer

The future of CDN-delivered video is cacheable, HTTP streaming, with MPEG DASH ultimately taking over, says Highwinds’ Chris Bray

At Streaming Media West in Los Angeles last fall, I met Highwinds VP of product management Chris Bray, and we got into a lengthy discussion about the future of RTMP and HTTP-based Dynamic Streaming. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my notebook, so didn’t get the most important points down. Fortunately, Chris was willing to fill me in on Highwinds’ move from RTMP to HTTP and discuss the future of HTTP delivery in general.

Streaming Media: Why has Highwinds decided to stop offering RTMP delivery and move on to HTTP? Has the switch already happened?

Bray: Yes. Technically this is already in effect—while we are still wrapping up the transition of some customers, we are no longer taking on new FMS customers.

Why?

We believe strongly that the future of CDN-based streaming video delivery is via cacheable, HTTP streaming protocols. Today we have multiple flavors of HTTP streaming protocols from multiple vendors, and we are supporting those from Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft, along with those that are proprietary to some of our customers, but the standardized DASH protocol and the eventual descendents of DASH will dominate in the long-run.

At Highwinds we have a philosophy of investing in the areas that will provide our customers with the most value, that they can then use to provide unique value to their own offerings. Highwinds is different from other CDNs in that our history (and present) is as a software engineering company in addition to being a network operator. That means that we always need to be innovating and investing where we can bring new value. If we aren’t bringing new value to our customers, then there is no need for us to be a CDN, as there are several companies already providing similar services. Most of the other CDNs in the market do not innovate in many areas—they are focused solely on fast-follower strategies and trying to operate as cheaply as possible at scale. Being able to control your underlying costs is a necessary element of a successful CDN, but these companies are not providing new capabilities to their customers.

Akamai is one company that does a good job of acting like an operator and innovating, and that’s why you see things like the HDNetwork coming from them. The Highwinds HTTP Streaming platform is directly comparable to the HDNetwork, and we are working on ways to surpass them this year in the HTTP Streaming area. There are a number of CDNs out there that have suitable FMS services, so if that’s what a customer still wants then their needs will be met by the market, but there isn’t much that we can add to that solution — it’s already fully mature, and there’s no room for us to help our customers add new value to their products.

What’s been the response from your customer base?

Most of our heavy FMS users have already moved onto our new HTTP Streaming platform, but there are a handful that are still making the transition. While this was more work for some than for others, in the end very few of our customers opted out of their FMS contracts. Most of them see the value in moving to HTTP Streaming, and have moved forward with us. The most popular benefit is that these customers are effectively now gaining the ability to natively stream to Apple iOS devices for free (they still have to pay for the bandwidth usage, but there is no premium).

What steps are necessary to transition over to HTTP?

Bray: For customers who are already using H.264/AAC/MP4, the only steps needed are the creation of SMIL metadata files (which many customers generate dynamically via their content management systems), and some small changes to their players. The player changes are not typically large as Adobe and Microsoft have done most of the work for you. HTTP Streaming is built-in to iOS, so there’s no work to be done there.

Given the inherent caching capability of HTTP over RTMP, is HTTP streaming reducing bandwidth costs when customers switch over?

Bray: Initially no, but in the long term it is absolutely the case that HTTP Streaming will reduce costs for our customers. Right now we are still working towards the critical mass needed to bring down prices on the platform, and need to keep tweaking the system to squeeze out cost. RTMP has better overhead characteristics relative to HTTP streaming, but that is far outweighed by the significantly higher efficiencies that we can extract on the server infrastructure side.

CDNs that are dependent on transit and don’t have the scale to be able to negotiate the best rates will not see as much of a benefit here as their own bandwidth costs will still be the most significant part of their costs. That’s one of the reasons that Highwinds has invested in building out our own network, and it continues to help us maintain some of the most aggressive costs in the industry.

If you look at where we are in the growth curve of IP-based video delivery, we are clearly still at the beginning. We’ve barely scratched the surface. The combined delivery capacity of all CDNs today would only be able to service a tiny fraction of the demand if all of the videos that are watched during prime time were delivered at HD bitrates to everyone who watches them on traditional broadcast today. We have a long way to go, and only a cacheable streaming technology will get us there.

How does HTTP work if the customer wants features like DRM or peer-to-peer?

The Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft protocols all support DRM for HTTP Streaming. DASH and future protocols will work with rights management schemes like UltraViolet or its successors.

You serve high-volume customers. Does it make sense for lower-volume users with their own servers, say on the Amazon cloud, to convert from RTMP to HTTP?

Absolutely. There is very little, if any, innovation happening around RTMP right now. Adobe has even invested in their own HTTP streaming protocol. I don’t think that’s simply because they wanted to have a new toy. They already had RTMP, and even RTMPT, which tunnels RTMP over HTTP, but they still built an HTTP streaming protocol.

One of the key benefits to what we are providing here is access to the technologies that have helped the biggest streaming companies grow to the size that they are. Netflix, for example, uses a flavor of HTTP streaming that is unique to them, but is still fundamentally HTTP streaming. In the past, cooking up your own protocols to do this was just too expensive of a proposition for smaller customers. What this platform represents is the best in streaming technology, now available to customers of all sizes.

View Original Article »

The future of CDN-delivered video is cacheable, HTTP streaming, with MPEG DASH ultimately taking over, says Highwinds’ Chris Bray

At Streaming Media West in Los Angeles last fall, I met Highwinds VP of product management Chris Bray, and we got into a lengthy discussion about the future of RTMP and HTTP-based Dynamic Streaming. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my notebook, so didn’t get the most important points down. Fortunately, Chris was willing to fill me in on Highwinds’ move from RTMP to HTTP and discuss the future of HTTP delivery in general.

Streaming Media: Why has Highwinds decided to stop offering RTMP delivery and move on to HTTP? Has the switch already happened?

Bray: Yes. Technically this is already in effect—while we are still wrapping up the transition of some customers, we are no longer taking on new FMS customers.

Why?

We believe strongly that the future of CDN-based streaming video delivery is via cacheable, HTTP streaming protocols. Today we have multiple flavors of HTTP streaming protocols from multiple vendors, and we are supporting those from Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft, along with those that are proprietary to some of our customers, but the standardized DASH protocol and the eventual descendents of DASH will dominate in the long-run.

At Highwinds we have a philosophy of investing in the areas that will provide our customers with the most value, that they can then use to provide unique value to their own offerings. Highwinds is different from other CDNs in that our history (and present) is as a software engineering company in addition to being a network operator. That means that we always need to be innovating and investing where we can bring new value. If we aren’t bringing new value to our customers, then there is no need for us to be a CDN, as there are several companies already providing similar services. Most of the other CDNs in the market do not innovate in many areas—they are focused solely on fast-follower strategies and trying to operate as cheaply as possible at scale. Being able to control your underlying costs is a necessary element of a successful CDN, but these companies are not providing new capabilities to their customers.

Akamai is one company that does a good job of acting like an operator and innovating, and that’s why you see things like the HDNetwork coming from them. The Highwinds HTTP Streaming platform is directly comparable to the HDNetwork, and we are working on ways to surpass them this year in the HTTP Streaming area. There are a number of CDNs out there that have suitable FMS services, so if that’s what a customer still wants then their needs will be met by the market, but there isn’t much that we can add to that solution — it’s already fully mature, and there’s no room for us to help our customers add new value to their products.

What’s been the response from your customer base?

Most of our heavy FMS users have already moved onto our new HTTP Streaming platform, but there are a handful that are still making the transition. While this was more work for some than for others, in the end very few of our customers opted out of their FMS contracts. Most of them see the value in moving to HTTP Streaming, and have moved forward with us. The most popular benefit is that these customers are effectively now gaining the ability to natively stream to Apple iOS devices for free (they still have to pay for the bandwidth usage, but there is no premium).

What steps are necessary to transition over to HTTP?

Bray: For customers who are already using H.264/AAC/MP4, the only steps needed are the creation of SMIL metadata files (which many customers generate dynamically via their content management systems), and some small changes to their players. The player changes are not typically large as Adobe and Microsoft have done most of the work for you. HTTP Streaming is built-in to iOS, so there’s no work to be done there.

Given the inherent caching capability of HTTP over RTMP, is HTTP streaming reducing bandwidth costs when customers switch over?

Bray: Initially no, but in the long term it is absolutely the case that HTTP Streaming will reduce costs for our customers. Right now we are still working towards the critical mass needed to bring down prices on the platform, and need to keep tweaking the system to squeeze out cost. RTMP has better overhead characteristics relative to HTTP streaming, but that is far outweighed by the significantly higher efficiencies that we can extract on the server infrastructure side.

CDNs that are dependent on transit and don’t have the scale to be able to negotiate the best rates will not see as much of a benefit here as their own bandwidth costs will still be the most significant part of their costs. That’s one of the reasons that Highwinds has invested in building out our own network, and it continues to help us maintain some of the most aggressive costs in the industry.

If you look at where we are in the growth curve of IP-based video delivery, we are clearly still at the beginning. We’ve barely scratched the surface. The combined delivery capacity of all CDNs today would only be able to service a tiny fraction of the demand if all of the videos that are watched during prime time were delivered at HD bitrates to everyone who watches them on traditional broadcast today. We have a long way to go, and only a cacheable streaming technology will get us there.

How does HTTP work if the customer wants features like DRM or peer-to-peer?

The Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft protocols all support DRM for HTTP Streaming. DASH and future protocols will work with rights management schemes like UltraViolet or its successors.

You serve high-volume customers. Does it make sense for lower-volume users with their own servers, say on the Amazon cloud, to convert from RTMP to HTTP?

Absolutely. There is very little, if any, innovation happening around RTMP right now. Adobe has even invested in their own HTTP streaming protocol. I don’t think that’s simply because they wanted to have a new toy. They already had RTMP, and even RTMPT, which tunnels RTMP over HTTP, but they still built an HTTP streaming protocol.

One of the key benefits to what we are providing here is access to the technologies that have helped the biggest streaming companies grow to the size that they are. Netflix, for example, uses a flavor of HTTP streaming that is unique to them, but is still fundamentally HTTP streaming. In the past, cooking up your own protocols to do this was just too expensive of a proposition for smaller customers. What this platform represents is the best in streaming technology, now available to customers of all sizes.

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