(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Extending NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games to the web, Akamai (www.akamai.com) and iStreamPlanet (www.istreamplanet.com) are powering live and on-demand video feeds to online audiences. The end-to-end solution leverages iStreamPlanet’s managed services and the Akamai HD Network to stream high quality video using Microsoft’s Silverlight platform.
NBC’s online coverage will use Microsoft IIS Smooth Streaming to deliver an uninterrupted, high-quality streaming experience to deliver both live and on demand streaming to broadcast-sized audiences with a personalized and interactive online experience and quality designed to match and complement the TV experience.
“With consumer appetite for online video increasing and quality improving, we expect the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games will prove to be a milestone in innovation and online video,” Akamai global sales, services and marketing executive vice president Robert Hughes said in a statement. “Akamai is thrilled to support NBC’s innovative coverage of this global event. The Akamai HD Network is designed to let broadcasters enhance television coverage by enabling the highest possible online video experiences, complete with interactivity and at broadcast scale.”
iStreamPlanet will be providing turnkey satellite downlink encoding and production services to the Smooth Streaming for Silverlight format, and the video will be delivered to online audiences over the Akamai HD Network. iStreamPlanet will be encoding 23 video feeds including nine venue feeds, four broadcast feeds, one Olympic News Channel, six “Beauty Cams,” two Victory Ceremonies and one Press Conference. All the feeds originate from Vancouver, British Columbia, and are transported to iStreamPlanet’s Las Vegas Webcast Operations Center over OC12 via IP multicast.
iStreamPlanet president and CEO Mio Babic said his company is honored to be chosen to assist NBC and Microsoft. “Drawing on our vast experience in live events, we have worked closely with Akamai and NBC to put together a solution that we believe will provide a unique experience for viewers of the Vancouver Winter Games,” he said in a statement.
A key feature of Akamai HD for Microsoft Silverlight is adaptive bitrate streaming based on IIS Smooth Streaming, which enables uninterrupted video playback at HD bitrates that seamlessly adjusts to available bandwidth fluctuations. Akamai’s HD EdgePlatform offers adaptive bitrate streaming capabilities leveraging Akamai’s entire HTTP footprint, which lets video be delivered from servers closer to audiences around the world.
“NBC has chosen the best combination of partners in iStreamPlanet and Akamai to enable its online coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics,” NBC Olympics digital media senior vice president Perkins Miller said in a statement. “iStreamPlanet’s automated architecture for downlink and encoding combined with Akamai’s HD Network ensure our coverage will be the best possible quality available for our viewers during the Vancouver Winter Games.”
