Michel’s Artières predictions for 2015 first published in Winter issue of Streaming Media Europe Magazine 2014.
The content delivery market is experiencing one of those technological revolutions that will not soon be forgotten, as both the end-user experience and the technological advances in backstage processing are in the spotlight. On the end-user side, the streaming media market is experiencing a standard evolution and resolution increase. To maintain their leadership position, obtain RO and increase market share, broadcasters, pay-TV operators and streaming media players are in a fierce competition and Ultra High Definition (UHD) has become a key innovation differentiator. To that end, five-to-ten new 24/7 4K channels will be launched in FY2015 and it is anticipated that this number will explode in 2016.
On the video compression standards front, HEVC is the new vehicle for enabling new and better services including, of course,4K. However, high definition service offerings have also increased, where only standard definition was possible in the past. HEVC services will be rolled out beginning in 2015, first through OTT VOD services on connected devices, followed by more services, including linear channels. In backstage processing, the content delivery market is migrating from 1-RU HW silo designs to full, flexible software solutions. Virtualization of video processing will allow broadcasters to become more agile in video channel allocation and streamlined maintenance in operations.
We believe that the future is in a hybrid, dynamic architecture, combining powerful on-the-ground private cloud computing platform and the always-available off-premise public cloud. Winners among providers will be those that invest in true, solution provider options, as opposed to “cloud washing” companies who don’t go further than adapting on-premises software to the cloud.
Michel Artieres
CEO | ATEME