Wowza to Premiere Media Platform for ‘Any Screen Done Right’ Delivery at 2011 NAB Show
Wowza Media Server 3 Provides Single Extensible Foundation and Value-Added Components to Content Publishers and Service Providers of All Sizes
Evergreen, Colo.(07 Apr 2011)
Any-screen content delivery has become the most important industry trend, ranked significantly higher than any other, according to the recently published 2011 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) by Devoncroft Partners. Wowza Media Systems® recognized this trend in 2007 when it rolled out its industrial-strength media server software. Today more than 70,000 worldwide licensees use Wowza Media Server® software for simultaneous streaming to PCs, smart phones, tablets, and IPTV set-top boxes.
At the 2011 NAB Show, Wowza® will preview Wowza Media Server 3, its next generation of award-wining software providing a single extensible foundation and value-added components for "any screen done rightTM" media delivery. Wowza Media Server 3 makes hard-to-implement features such as adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming and time-shifted playback simple and cost-effective. Now content publishers, service providers, and other organizations of any size can profit from these high-value features while offering their viewers the best possible experience when and where they want it.
"The industry is eager for any-screen reach, but the cost and complexity of fragmented client-specific platform requirements have made feature-rich any-screen delivery practically unattainable for all but the largest service providers," said Dave Stubenvoll, CEO and co-founder of Wowza Media Systems. "Wowza Media Server 3 simplifies the complexity, providing anyone from a neighborhood church to a media giant with a cost-effective foundation for delivering a superior viewing experience to the wide diversity of screens."
According to James G. Hart, vice president of sales and marketing for Mirror Image Internet, "Wowza continues to demonstrate not only that it is a visionary company, but one that delivers very practical solutions to address the real-world needs of users. The Wowza Media Server 3 platform will help us create and monetize new services while further boosting our competitive position as one of the most innovative content delivery networks."
Complementing the Wowza Media Server 3 platform is an initial set of value-added software components, Wowza TranscoderTM and Wowza Network DVRTM (nDVR). Mixed and matched, Wowza Transcoder and Wowza nDVR AddOns provide solutions and revenue-generating services for an ever-growing number of destinations, including Flash®- and Silverlight®-capable computers, tablets, phones, set-top boxes, media players, and game consoles; Apple® iPhone®/iPad® and other HLS-capable devices such as Apple TV® with AirPlay® , ROKU® media players, and Internet-connected TVs like Samsung® , Smart TVTM, and Google TVTM-powered sets.
Wowza Transcoder AddOn takes advantage of commodity hardware to transform incoming live streams from encoders, IP cameras, IPTV headends, and other live sources into multiple stream sets ‘done right' for H.264-everywhere adaptive bitrate delivery using Flash RTMP and HTTP Dynamic Streaming, Apple HLS, and Silverlight Smooth Streaming. Wowza Transcoder can also be used for non-adaptive streaming using any transport protocol supported by Wowza Media Server 3, including RTMP, RTSP/RTP, MPEG-TS, and HTTP.
Integration of transcoding with the media server eliminates the provisioning complexity typical of adaptive bitrate streaming, reduces needed access bandwidth by up to 80 percent, and enables better utilization of network resources such as routers and switches. The result is not only simplicity but also increased system-wide reliability and overall lower cost.
Wowza Network DVR AddOn is an innovative live stream cache that stores content in a normalized format accessible to Wowza Media Server 3 for any-screen playout. Compared to client-specific nDVR implementations, Wowza Network DVR significantly reduces cost by minimizing network storage requirements and simplifying the delivery workflow for all screens. Wowza nDVR enables Wowza licensees to increase revenues and viewer engagement by delivering live linear streams as time-shifted services to any screen. It also supports trick-play features such as live-stream pause, rewind, and resume, and enables content publishers and service providers to develop premium catch-up TV services to individualize the viewer experience.
At the 2011 NAB Show, Booth SU9313, Wowza Media Systems will demonstrate comprehensive capabilities of the Wowza Media Server 3 platform on every popular player and device - mobile phones, tablets, PCs, game consoles, set-top boxes, and IP-connected TV sets.
General availability of Wowza Media Server 3 is expected in Q3 2011. All current Wowza Media Server 2 licensees will be eligible for a free upgrade to the new platform. The price for Wowza Media Server 3 will remain at $995 for a single Perpetual edition license, and $65 (or less) per month for Subscription edition instances. Pricing for AddOn components will be announced at a later date.
For more information about Wowza Media Server 3 and to sign up for preview testing, please visit www.wowzamedia.com/wowza-server-3.php.
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About Wowza Media Systems
Wowza Media Systems® is the premier media server software company delivering an industrial-strength infrastructure for live video, video-on-demand, live recording, and video chat. Wowza® has a singular focus on delivering high-performance media server software to service providers, media properties, enterprises, and other organizations serious about delivering video to any digital screen - computer, mobile phone, or home TV. More than 70,000 global licensees in entertainment, social media, advertising, enterprise, education, government, and Internet commerce have deployed Wowza's media server software to date. Wowza Media Systems is privately held with headquarters in Evergreen, Colo. More information is available at www.wowzamedia.com.
Wowza, Wowza Media Systems, Wowza Media Server and related logos are trademarks of Wowza Media Systems, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.