The State of Our Broadband Must Be Stronger

Late last week, CDN leader Akamai released its quarterly "State of the Internet" report. And, the conclusion for the U.S. is not great. We rank only 9th in the world in terms of robust residential "high broadband connectivity" (defined as connections of 5 Mbps or above). And, the U.S. ranks a paltry 39th in the world (out of a total of 200 countries and regions) in broadband connections of 2 Mbps or higher.

We have a long long way to go ...

The Big Tech IPO -- "We're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!"

2011 marks the year that the Big Tech IPO is back after being all but dead in the last two years.

Exhibit A -- Online micro-content generation site Demand Media just went public Wednesday with a big spike from its original price (although shares came back to Earth a bit yesterday).

Exhibit B -- LinkedIn, the largest social networking site for professionals (all of us have profiles on it), filed for an IPO yesterday and expects to go public later this year with a multi-billion dollar valuation. And, later this year it is anticipated that Groupon and Skype, among others, will go public. Online video site Hulu also may join the fray, although Hulu -- as I wrote just yesterday -- is in the midst of an identity crisis and continues to push back its plans as a result.

Of course, the big daddy of them all is Facebook -- which is expected to wait until 2012 for its big day.

Netflix v Hulu -- A Tale of Two Online Video Services

Netflix and Hulu -- two of the top online premium content video services (television programming etc.). But, while both face significant impediments to future mass growth, their respective vastly different origins create some vastly different roadblocks.

Let's take Netflix first -- yesterday, Netflix announced massive quarterly subscriber growth and profitability as a result of the explosion of its online viewing service which is priced at $7.99 per month for unlimited viewing. I am one of those subscribers -- and I am definitely a fan of the ease and quality of that service -- except for one thing, the breadth of its content offerings. And, that's the problem. Much has been written about the fact that the major media companies are loathe to license their prime movies and television shows to Netflix out of understandable fear that Netflix's success will fuel a massive disruption of long-time business models. In their view, Netflix's success will be at their expense -- and $7.99 per month simply does not generate sufficient revenues to pay for the costs of media production and operation.

Competing pioneering online premium video service Hulu faces similar pressures of course -- a dearth of prime premium video content. But, Hulu's pressures are very different from Netflix's -- while Netflix is fiercely independent, Hulu suffers from a major identity crisis due to its major media and telecom underpinnings. News Corp/Fox, Disney and Comcast/NBC Universal are some of its investors. So, Hulu's existential question is "To License, or Not to License?" (premium content to the service to make it compelling). If one hand giveth the content, then the other hand taketh -- and, this is at the expense of cable operators (Comcast) and, again, the media companies' existing business models.

That is why, according to a feature article in today's Wall Street Journal, Hulu apparently is now seriously considering re-inventing itself into something very different from its maverick vision -- something more familiar -- i.e., an online cable company that would deliver "live TV channels and video on demand content to subscribers." The service, in other words, would "mimic the bundles of channels now sold by the cable and satellite operators." This existential crisis is apparently leading to continuing delays in Hulu's long-anticipated IPO.

So, while both Netflix and Hulu face the same mega-challenges of acquiring the content they need to make those services truly compelling, their overall approaches may soon dramatically diverge. And, Hulu's initial ground-breaking approach may soon look awfully familiar.

But, Netflix certainly ain't immune from significant identity-crisis changes either. So, while Netflix may desperately try to hold onto its "all you can eat" subscription model only, my prediction is that it will ultimately morph as well to include certain a la carte pay-per-view streaming for premium movies and television that it simply will not be able to license at any rates that would enable it to be long-term profitable and viable. The studios simply will not allow it.

Squeeze 7 is Out! Jan Ozer Calls It the "Obvious Choice"

Squeeze 7 has launched! It is live. And, one of the industry's leading and most respected experts, Jan Ozer, calls it the "obvious choice" amongst desktop encoding tools. He also reveals his conclusions of Streaming Media's yet-to-be-released annual encoder roundup and writes, "if we presented our results in Academy Award format, Squeeze would pretty much win all the majors."

This is extremely gratifying to the team over here who have toiled long and hard to make Squeeze the most innovative desktop encoding application for video professionals (and the worthy companion to our innovative enterprise-grade Cloud-based video transcoding solutions known as Squeeze Server). Our goal is to meet every video transcoding need with the most innovative and highest quality video encoding solutions.

Too many innovative and industry-first features to write here -- but, our press release outlines these in detail -- click here to read it.

And, as always, we don't want you to take our word or Jan's word alone. Test drive it for yourself for free.

Video Encoding in the Cloud -- Watch & Learn

We at Sorenson Media are seeing unprecedented interest in high quality enterprise-grade video encoding in the Cloud. Last week, to address this reality, Cloud leaders RightScale and Aspera joined us for a webinar focused on that topic. In case you missed it, here is the recorded webinar -- it is instructive.

Video encoding in the cloud webinar - Sorenson Media

WebM v H.264 and Why It Matters - Simply Explained

Your head is undoubtedly spinning from all the recent chatter about the video codec wars between Google/WebM v. Apple/H.264.

Let's fix that problem -- David Dudas (VP Video Solutions here at Sorenson Media) can help. He writes an easy-to-understand "must read" about this, which was so compelling that it was featured today in the prestigious "Business Insider." Click here to read it.

The Music Industry's New Low -- Billboard #1 Album Sells Only 44,000 Units

This past week, Cake's new album -- "Showroom of Compassion" -- reached #1 on the Billboard charts. But, this #1 was not with a bullet, as the album sold a paltry 44,000 units (CDs and downloads) during the week -- which marked the lowest weekly total since 1991 (when, according to the Wall Street Journal, "accurate tallies first became available"). (And, Cake reaching #1 in the first place? A fine band, yes, but mainstream no).

This marks more bad news for the music industry.

What is going on here? Less music is being purchased, but I firmly believe that more music than ever is being "consumed." I know that I, for one, listen to music 24/7 and everywhere I go because "I can." And, I do this legitimately -- with Rhapsody, with Pandora (both of which are great services). Notice a trend here? Except on rare occasions when I absolutely need to have an album on my iPod, I don't buy any music -- and haven't really for years -- because I have subscription music (and have for years). I pay one price -- and get all the music I want. And, I want a lot -- more than ever -- and certainly a lot more than in 1991.

So, what's the music industry to do? Believe more in the subscription model -- and believe more in the power of new ways to "consume" music. Yes, there are many subscription services and other music-related apps with massive catalogs already. But, my feeling -- from personal experience (I previously served as President & COO of Musicmatch, one of the first music subscription services ever) is that the music industry really doesn't go out of its way to promote them. It wants to sell "ownership" rather than "rental."

Of course, subscriptions and app experimentation, etc. alone will not save the music industry -- many will continue simply to steal music on the Web. But, consumers now can access music anywhere, anytime, and on any device. That means more opportunity to listen. The music industry must actively support -- and promote -- those legitimate services that make the online and mobile experience easier and better (in terms of quality and overall experience).

I believe that it can -- and ultimately will -- happen.

Meet John Greene, Our New VP Worldwide Sales -- Veteran of DivX and Akamai & Major Coup for Us

Big news to report -- today we announce that video industry veteran and long-time DivX sales superstar John Greene has joined Sorenson Media to oversee our global sales efforts. John's official title is Vice President Worldwide Sales and he will report directly to me as part of my senior staff; and the entire sales organization will report up directly to him. Here is the link to our official announcement.

John is a major coup for us as an organization -- and, his decision to join us is a further reflection of the massive overall opportunity and market within which we play, and of the strength of our own positioning, prospects and talent to win in that market.

Here are only some of the reasons why I am thrilled to have John oversee our overall worldwide sales efforts:

(1) first, John is a great guy and is passionate about our overall opportunity here at Sorenson; I respect his talents, and I trust him completely; I know he will be successful;

(2) his 17 year career is impressive; the last 6 of which have been at DivX (now a part of Sonic Solutions which soon will be a part of Rovi); DivX/Sonic creates video technologies for the PC, television and mobile devices; while at DivX, John was directly responsible for significant revenue generation (DivX's revenues multiplied time and time again over the course of his tenure) and, accordingly, was elevated several times over to top sales management over the course of those 6 years;

(3) John has amazing relationships and contacts; while at DivX, his responsibilities included the establishment and management of strategic partnerships with top Hollywood studios and digital distribution content services, including Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Starz, Warner Bros, RoxioNow and MediaMarkt. He also was responsible for the overall business relationships with leading IC, ODM and OEM players, including LG, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. It was amazing to see John first-hand and for several days at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) -- everywhere we went, people recognized him and engaged with him -- I have never seen anything like it (and I like that working for us here at Sorenson!);

(4) he also has directly relevant experience prior to his time at Divx -- with Akamai Technologies; at Akamai (a provider of web application acceleration and performance management, streaming media services and content delivery) Greene managed more than 100 accounts including CCBN, CNN, MSNBC and Net Radio. Following his promotion to senior manager of interactive Web conferencing, Greene led 1,000-percent growth in his division; added more than 1,000 enhancements to the core platform and service he managed; and improved the success rate of the products under his purview from 52 percent to 99.9 percent.

I could go on an on -- but, bottom line, John is a great catch for us.

We all welcome him to the team!

My Video Interview with MacVideo -- London Calling

A few months back, several of us from my office attended the Streaming Media Europe conference in London -- where Sorenson Media won the "Readers' Choice" award for best video transcoding solution. On that trip, I visited with one of the leading UK-based tech publications -- MacVideo. Here is the link to my video interview with Rick Young, Editor of MacVideo that is titled "Encoding with Sorenson Media."

If you are interested in hearing more about the history of our company -- including how and why we got started in the first place back in 1995 -- then check it out. I also give a high level overview of our overall transcoding solutions.

Cloud Transcoding Webinar Nearly Oversubscribed -- Another Data Point Reflecting Interest in the Cloud Right Now

I recently announced that this Thursday, January 20th at 11 am PT, Sorenson Media and RightScale will jointly host a free webinar titled "Video Encoding in the Cloud: A Key Strategy for 2011." Interest in this webinar -- and in the overall Cloud-based video transcoding opportunity -- is unprecedented. At this point, the webinar is already nearly oversubscribed ("sold out") and we apologize in advance if you are unable to register. (Here is the link to the registration page if you would like to still try to sign up now.)

Real business drivers are afoot as we enter 2011 that underscore the power of enterprise-grade Cloud-based video transcoding (here is a link to my recent guest post in Streaming Media that describes these business drivers). And, these business drivers are not lost on enterprise decision-makers. Our upcoming nearly oversubscribed webinar is the latest data point that underscores that businesses are taking a serious look at Cloud-based solutions right now ... in real time. We will have some major data points in this regard to reveal publicly in the weeks ahead.

2 Weeks Later, Still #2 On the Charts -- The Power of the Cloud

Two weeks ago, my guest post about Cloud transcoding -- and the promise and power of the Cloud in 2011 -- was published in industry leading Streaming Media (click here for the link). Two weeks later, the article still ranks as the #2 most popular article on Streaming Media. In fact, the story is #2 with a bullet because it has risen in popularity over time.

Is this the result of great writing? No. It is simply a reflection of the great interest there is right now in the Cloud in general, and video transcoding in the Cloud in particular. My post -- which was a collaborative effort with great input from my talented senior staff (who have years of experience with the Cloud) -- gives a nice high level overview of all the benefits of the Cloud with respect to video transcoding. And, the response to it has been gratifying.

Expect more thought pieces about the video industry -- including the "demystification" of several highly confusing developments -- in the days and weeks ahead. I will keep my readers posted about these.

The Cloud Opens Up Enterprise Transcoding Possibilities

I recently have written a great deal about the power of the Cloud in connection with enterprise video transcoding (click here to read my recently featured guest blog on Streaming Media that discusses all the benefits of the Cloud). The power of the Cloud is fast becoming understood.

As a result, the interest in, and demand for, Cloud transcoding solutions are accelerating -- and they are surpassing even our own aggressive expectations at this point (click here to read more about Sorenson Media's enterprise-grade Cloud transcoding solutions).

We at Sorenson Media have a team that has been Cloud-focused -- and enterprise focused -- for years. And, of course, the tech team has the pedigree of our company's 15 year record of innovation (and well before that for many prior to Sorenson Media's inception). I am gratified to say that this is not lost on others -- yet another story broke today in that regard right in the heart of Silicon Valley (click here to read).

WEBINAR -- Video Encoding in the Cloud -- RightScale & Sorenson Media

I have blogged much today and in the past several days about the power and promise of video encoding in the Cloud (including my recent guest post in Streaming Media -- click here to read that recent post). Obviously, Cloud transcoding is an extremely timely topic for a host of reasons, including the need to bulk transcode video files into WebM.

Here's your chance to learn more fast and from the real experts -- RightScale and Sorenson Media. We are partnered together to offer the innovative new Squeeze Solution Pack high power volume video transcoding solution. And, we are partnered together for this webinar. Here is my commitment to you -- this will NOT be an advertisement -- it will be real expertise, real experts, real practical advise, real thought-provokedness (is that a word?) and simply, just, REAL. It will help make sense of all the confusion -- and it will help you understand how the Cloud can really really help. Securely.

Mark your calendars -- Thursday, January 20th at 11 am Pacific Time.

Click here to register -- obviously, free of charge.

WebM -- How to Encode & Convert Existing Video Libraries in Bulk to WebM

Right now, one of the big stories in tech is Google's decision to rip out H.264 support from Chrome and promote only its own sponsored format WebM. Basically, Google is pitting WebM against the current industry standard high quality video codec -- H.264. I have already written (as have many) about the "hows" and "whys" Google did this (and the ramifications to Apple and others).

That's all well and good. But, how about some real world practicalities and guidance? What does this mean for those who need to encode video files (and that is anyone who wants their videos to look good on any platform and any device -- both mobile and across the Web).

Expert Jan Ozer -- a name everyone in the video world respects immensely -- just wrote a detailed "How to Encode in WebM" guide and overview -- how to do it, what tools are available, and how each one performs. This is definitely worth a read -- click here to read it.

Here's another real world problem -- how does an enterprise convert their video libraries in bulk into WebM?

That is a critical real world issue -- and, quite frankly, there are very few solutions here. The best answer is the Cloud (for reasons indicated in my recent guest blog post in Streaming Media). And, we happen to have the only enterprise-grade Cloud transcoding solution to accomplish this -- Squeeze Server (click here for more info).

Google's H.264 Fumble -- Exhibit A for Using Sorenson Squeeze to Pick Up the Ball -- Blatant Plug, Yes, But It's the Truth

Google and Apple's ongoing battle ain't gonna stop anytime soon. And, as I wrote yesterday (as did everyone and his brother and sister in the tech world), Google's latest salvo is to rip H.264 HTML5 support out of its Chrome browser in favor of its own WebM "gift to the world" format which uses the On2 VP8 video codec it purchased long ago. Google gave many justifications for doing this, but many don't buy them. Here is TechCrunch's take on that subject in a scathing rebuke.

This is all well and good -- but this ain't just ivory tower type stuff. These decisions -- that seemingly come out of the blue -- have major real world impacts across the online video and mobile eco-systems. They impact anyone and everyone that wants to deliver high quality video across every platform and every device (the numbers of which are only multiplying as we saw at CES -- as an example, over 100 tablets were introduced at CES and that's just one category of products).

And, that means that anyone who wants to deliver online and mobile video must consider these kinds of ongoing disruptions and developments (never ending codec wars, new devices, etc.) when they consider their video encoding and transcoding solutions. Remember, ALL video must be encoded/transcoded for online and mobile video -- all video. And, it really doesn't matter why Google does this or Apple does that. You can't solve that problem. But, you need to solve the basic problem of delivering high quality video across all platforms and devices in this world of ever-increasing complexity where such strategic moves by the giants are not the exception -- they are the norm.

But, encoding and transcoding are hard, hard, stuff to get right. And, this process and your decisions in this regard are getting evermore complex as a result of these types of major market disruptions. As "pluggy" as this sounds, it really is critical to have a trusted encoding solutions provider to get you everything you need because encoding and transcoding are not your core competencies -- but they are for some. We at Sorenson Media like to think that we are THAT trusted source for one-stop encoding/transcoding shopping -- with our full portfolio of award-winning solutions including Squeeze Server (for high volume enterprise transcoding), Squeeze Solutions Pack (high volume transcoding with accelerated file upload and virtual server management), Squeeze Desktop (the gold standard professional video application), and related components including our 360 online video platform.

We believe in codec neutrality! We are Swiss! We don't favor one codec (H.264, WebM, etc.) over others -- we support them all! Heck, we have our own video codecs (Spark, the most ubiquitous codec in the world, and SV3), but they are just one among scores of others we support. In fact, we are known for supporting the widest array of codecs both on the input and output sides of the equation.

This ever-growing complexity in the online and mobile video worlds makes it increasingly critical for enterprises and individuals to find the right trusted encoding/transcoding solution. Candidly, it builds our case as a company and for our solutions. Think of it this way - we do the thinking about all of this frequently maddening stuff so that you don't have to -- and so that you can focus on your core competency -- i.e., building your business. Is this good for us, yes, of course. But, it can only be good for us if we are doing our job for you.

Google's New Codec War -- Chrome Drops H.264 Support -- Apple, Game On!

Wow! Just when you thought it was safe to transcode your video files and wade into the wonderful world of codecs, Google launches a major shot across the bow to Apple -- and drops H.264 support in Chrome. This came out of nowhere ... nowhere ....

Alas, you likely are scratching your head right now and muttering, "What does this mean to me?"

Thankfully, Coby Rich from my team comes to the rescue to explain the real world ramifications -- here are his thoughts (which are also posted on the Sorenson Media official blog) -- in particular, read the words in bold below:

Is the standards battle back on? Was it ever off?

Today Google announced that they will be dropping support for H.264 in for their Chrome browser in favor of open source codecs such as WebM and Theora.

From the Chromium Blog:
“To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 video support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.

“These changes will occur in the next couple months but we are announcing them now to give content publishers and developers using HTML video an opportunity to make any necessary changes to their sites.”

So, if you are reading this you are most likely thinking: “How will this effect me?” Regardless of this announcement, you still need to deliver video to browsers, including Chrome. Which, by the way, is the default browser for many set top boxes, including GoogleTV. That means that you’ll need tools that can create any number of agnostic files side by side for delivery to any destination. Enter Sorenson Squeeze. Squeeze allows users to encode and deliver video in every popular format for playback on all devices. So, no matter what codec/format/standard emerges victorious Squeeze will be there to encode it in the highest quality possible.

Your move Apple.

CES Redux -- It's Not Just About the Gadgets -- In Fact, the Gadgets Are the Side-Show

Several of us from Sorenson Media just returned from our annual rite of passage that opens every new year -- the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. I just blogged my initial musings yesterday about how I believe this show compared to those of the past couple years.

In addition to my thoughts yesterday, one more thought that may be obvious to many, but perhaps not all -- i.e., CES is NOT just about walking the floors to see the gadgets (more like stumbling and bumbling around the seas of people to peak over someone's shoulder). In fact, few of the gadgets this year really blew me away.

For me, the single most important reason to attend CES, by far, is the face-to-face meeting. As I pointed out yesterday, seemingly "everyone" was at CES this year. That means we had a rare opportunity to efficiently accelerate multiple business discussions in one single 4-day stretch (rather than be forced to individually schedule and meet all of those companies throughout the globe). And, THAT alone is worth the significant investment of time to attend -- and flights, hotels, meals, etc.

Yes, we have technology to help bridge the geographical gap for business meetings (I previously ran live video communications company SightSpeed that touted the business power of that technology). But, nothing will ever replace the power of the good old-fashioned face-to-face meeting.

This year, nine of us attended CES from Sorenson Media. And, each of us essentially had a continuous string of productive face-to-face meetings. THAT is the unique power of CES. THAT is why we will continue to attend year after year. Yes, there are many conferences throughout the year -- too many! But, CES seems to be the one place that attracts everyone. Real business gets done. (The key is active and aggressive follow-up after the dust settles ...)

CES 2011 -- It's Baaaaaaaaaaack!

Just 6 weeks before CES 2011 I was doubtful that my company, Sorenson Media, would attend in any meaningful way. There are so many conferences, and so little time. And, quite frankly, the last few CES's were fairly unproductive (I have attended over 10 CES's at this point in my career).

But, then we thought about it -- and we changed our tune. Attend we did (8 of us at the company for virtually the entire event). And, I am glad we did.

I will try to write more later -- but, in a few words, CES 2011 was the single most productive conference I have ever attended in my career (and that's a lot of conferences). Most in our group felt the same way.

Why was it so productive? Because -- this time -- virtually "everyone" seemed to be there. For that reason, we engaged in a non-stop string of business meetings with some of the biggest and best names in technology and the overall video eco-system. Literally it was a non-stop. I barely had a chance to walk the floor (in fact, I essentially didn't).

I expect real tangible and meaningful business resulting from this event -- announcements that will flow later this year.

I am bullish -- very bullish.

CES 2011 -- glad to have met you.

THE Hot Story for CES 2011 -- TV Everywhere

CES 2011's big story will be scores (hundreds?) of new gadgets and devices to watch your favorite TV programming anywhere -- on your smart phone, on your new tablet, and in your living room via connected devices. Given the competition, few of these will gain real meaningful consumer traction. But, those that do will be massive winners (and we are still early, early, early in the mobile and online video game).

Other winners in this brave new world of TV everywhere? Certain service providers of course (although the competition will be legion). Content providers as well (although "winning" will be a long-term proposition until winning business models are proven out via a combination of on demand purchases, subscription services, and ad-driven models; but, make no mistake, although the prospects for effective content owner monetization now may seem daunting, the coming ubiquity of video -- anytime, anywhere, on demand -- will prove to be a boon and all of us will look back at all the angst right now as being a moment in time).

And, of course, all of this video must be encoded ... all of it. And, quality, flexibility and expertise matters because making video look great -- and making it look great across all platforms and all new devices -- is hard, hard, hard.

I like where we at Sorenson Media stand in this equation (and apologize for this blatant plug, but these are exciting times). Our new enterprise-grade server-side video transcoding solutions can be the necessary enablers.