In an effort to capitalize on the web’s increasing push for video, Amazon Web Services has launched five integrated video workflow solutions in the cloud, dubbed AWS Elemental Media Services.
These are MediaConvert (a video transcoding service for VOD content), MediaLive (broadcast-grade media processing), MediaPackage (creates video streams for smart TVs and mobile platforms), MediaStore (storage), and MediaTailor (targeted advertising).
As TechCrunch points out, services like this allow media companies to host their own videos without going through sites such as YouTube or Twitch.
Amazon Web Services acquired multiscreen software provider Elemental Technologies in 2015. At the time, Senior VP of AWS Andy Jassy said that Elemental would be used to provide services “so that media and entertainment companies can evolve their hybrid and cloud models as they continue to innovate their services for viewers.”
The combination of platforms available in the Elemental Media Services package allows customers to create professional and broadcast-quality video that can be delivered across a variety of devices, without a huge upfront capital investment. The suite is bundled in a way that allows customers to pay individually for the type of resource they plan to use. It is designed to be able to scale for peak demand and support revenue-generating business models.
“We built AWS Elemental Media Services to let customers focus on delivering top-quality video reliably to any device, everywhere, without the undifferentiated heavy lifting of managing infrastructure,” says Alex Dunlap, general manager at AWS Elemental, in a press release. “This not only helps traditional video providers innovate faster, but it also opens up new opportunities for startups, government agencies, schools, and multinational enterprises that, before today, had limited access to premium-quality video technology.”
BT adopted the platform to run its next-generation video headend infrastructure across the UK and 170 other countries.
“Rationalizing our on-premises converged headend and extending that infrastructure widely across the BT enterprise requires an all-in shift to the cloud,” says Ian Parr, director of TV and Broadband Infrastructure for BT. “AWS Elemental has played a key role in our TV and Sport platform evolution over the past few years.”
Other groups using AWS Elemental Media Services include fuboTV, Cinépolis, and, unsurprisingly, Amazon Prime Video.
AWS currently enjoys a 42 percent growth rate and $18 billion revenue run rate. In an interview with Forbes, Jassy expressed confidence that the business is positioned to grow even further as more and larger companies migrate to the cloud.
