NAB Show: Bitmovin Live Encoding And Akamai Team Up To Optimize Live Streaming Experiences

Bitmovin, a  video streaming software solutions provider, announces the launch and immediate general availability of Bitmovin’s Live Encoder running on Akamai Cloud Computing, the world’s most distributed cloud platform. “By reducing data transfer out (DTO) costs, the combination of Bitmovin Live Encoding and Akamai can help lower operation costs by as much as 90%,” Bitmovin says.

Running Bitmovin Live Encoder on Akamai Cloud Computing is intended to help streaming services deliver better live viewing experiences across a host of use cases including sports/eSports, news, online fitness, eLearning, religious services, large-scale events, corporate communications, and political campaigns among others. Bitmovin’s Live Encoder also supports several ad monetization models, including 24/7 linear television channels and Free Ad-supported Television (FAST) channels.

Dan Lawrence, Akamai VP of cloud computing, says: “Bitmovin can help its live-streaming customers deliver higher-quality viewing experiences, and reduce and better control costs by running Live Encoder on Akamai Cloud Computing. Placing and executing Live Encoder’s critical compute functions closer to end users can realize lower latency streaming while maintaining the high quality of service that consumers have come to expect and demand from streaming providers. It can also help dramatically reduce DTO fees in many cases. Collectively, we believe this meets the industry’s desire to continue raising the standards of live streaming, provide lower and more predictable operational costs, and more opportunities to monetize content.”

Bitmovin says its Live Encoder “has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for users of all levels to set up live streams quickly, while Bitmovin’s robust API gives developers complete control over every aspect of the encoding pipeline.” Live Encoder is also integrated with Akamai Media Services Live to support live-to-VOD and live clipping, which is part of Akamai Connected Cloud to support secure and efficient streaming at massive scale across Akamai’s global content delivery network (CDN).

Customers who run Bitmovin’s Live Encoder on Akamai will also benefit from integrated “third-party solutions for their video streaming workflows, including Videon’s LiveEdge contribution encoders, Grass Valley’s Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP) for live production, Zixi for secure transport and ingest; EZDRM for multi-DRM and content encryption; Yospace for Server-side Ad Insertion (SSAI), and more,” the company says.

“Our Live Encoder elevates live streaming, eliminating sub-par image and audio quality so audiences can enjoy truly immersive live experiences,” said Stefan Lederer, Bitmovin CEO/co-founder. “It’s a huge honor to announce our Live Encoder is running on Akamai Cloud Computing, which will help organizations of every size accelerate the quality of their live streaming workflows and deliver world-class viewing experiences.”

The Bitmovin Live Transcoder running on Akamai comes by way of Bitmovin joining the Akamai Qualified Computing Partner (QCP) Program. The program is designed to make solution-based services that are interoperable with Akamai Cloud Computing services easily accessible to Akamai customers. The services are provided by Akamai technology partners that complete a rigorous qualification process to ensure they are readily available to deploy and scale across the globally distributed Akamai Connected Cloud.

Bitmovin will demonstrate its Live Encoding on Akamai Cloud Computing at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 14-17 (Bitmovin at Booth W3013, Akamai at meeting space W235LMR).