IBC: Akamai Aims 'Sola' Flare at Internet Video

CDN provider's cloud-based services to include video delivery, workflow and monetization

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/5/2012 6:30:00 AM

Complete Coverage: IBC 2012

Akamai Technologies is rolling out a suite of services for Internet-video delivery under the new brand name Sola -- spanning ingest, transcoding, workflow and delivery -- designed to run on top of its worldwide content-delivery network infrastructure.

The Sola Media Solutions portfolio includes the company's core CDN, although customers also can use other CDNs, said Ahmet Ozalp, vice president of product marketing for Akamai's Sola Media Solutions.

The different elements are: Sola Sphere, a CDN-based service that provides support for progressive media downloads and adaptive bit-rate streaming; Sola Vision cloud-based transcoding and stream packaging; Sola Media Analytics, with both real-time quality and post-event audience engagement information; and the Luna Control Center unified Web user interface.

"We are trying to solve more problems for our customers in the whole video ecosystem," Ozalp said.

The Sola Vision service uses Akamai-developed transcoding technology for on-demand content and provides stream packaging for live streams or single files for Adobe Flash HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and RTMP for live streams. It also includes support for industry initiatives such as TV Everywhere and UltraViolet, according to Ozalp.

In addition to being able to use other CDNs, the Sola services are able to accommodate a variety of third-party security/DRM and advertising and monetization technologies and platforms, the company claims.

Akamai picked the name Sola because it "implies light....streams of video presented to viewers is the emotive feeling we want to present," Ozalp said.

Akamai plans to demonstrate the Sola offerings at IBC2012, taking place Sept. 6-11 in Amsterdam.