Akamai Technologies this week provided some details on its new video delivery platform, dubbed the Akamai HD Network, which is its next-gen method of providing HD video online to viewers using an array of established IP player venues such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and iPhone apps.
Coinciding with the steady acceleration of online viewing of content typically first aired on broadcast and cable networks, Akamai said its goal is to achieve a “broadcast-level audience scale” for both live and video-on-demand HD streaming by providing an “interactive online experience” that will complement regular HD television viewing.
As a new streaming platform, the firm said its Akamai HD Network was designed to operate as a single comprehensive system able to reach multiple playback environments and devices.
Akamai said it will be able to leverage the global scale of its existing platform of more than 50,000 servers to enable HD content providers to deliver more video content than in the past.
The Akamai HD Network platform was designed, the company said, to take advantage of adaptive-bitrate streaming “to enable uninterrupted playback at HD bitrates that seamlessly adjust to fluctuations in available bandwidth,” as well as to provide “instant response” to viewer play-commands.
