Our many multiscreen customers around the world rely on us to stay ahead of the game on the latest industry developments and we’re proud to say we’ve done that again by being one of the first to incorporate support for MPEG DASH into our TransAct Packager.

Today’s announcement of our support for this new adaptive streaming standard highlights our commitment to keeping up with the rapidly changing world of multiscreen delivery in order to provide our customers with the most comprehensive solutions for delivering video to any device.

We’re also eager to emphasize that RGB’s TransAct Packager is the only product to support all four adaptive streaming protocols – Apple HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe HDS and MPEG DASH for both live and on-demand video delivery. This is just one of many unique attributes of this industry-leading product (find out here what else it can do to help make your multiscreen implementations faster, easier and more robust).

And we’re not going this alone. We’re working closely with many industry stakeholders to ensure the rapid adoption of MPEG DASH. RGB is an active member of the MPEG DASH Promoters Group, and we’re also integrating the Packager with MPEG DASH clients, including those from AuthenTec and Netview Technology.

We’ll be exhibiting at several trade shows in the coming months and invite you to stop by our booth for a live MPEG DASH demonstration, as well as other new developments. We look forward to seeing you in Las Vegas, Boston, Cologne or wherever our paths may cross.

It’s going to be a busy few days for us at next week’s SCTE Canadian Summit in Toronto and we couldn’t be more excited!

In addition to showing off our multiscreen IP video solutions at our booth, our CTO (and IP video visionary), Yuval Fisher, is making the journey north of the border to speak about the benefits of a key new RGB development in IP video delivery—just-in-time packaging. Don’t miss this educational presentation on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. during the breakout session: Beyond Over-the-Top Content, Directions to a CDN Near You

And because we do truly believe that this new technology is noteworthy, we submitted our just-in-time packaging solution to the SCTE’s team of experts for consideration for their annual Technology Challenge and they agreed—we’re in! So, please mark your calendar to attend Tuesday’s keynote session at 9:15 a.m. where we’ll go head-to-head (led by our TransAct Product Director Andy Salo) with four other highly innovative tech vendors and vie for selection as the “Technology Most Likely to Succeed.” Get ready to text in your vote!

We’ve had much success lately with operators throughout Canada (from the largest on down), helping them to add new capabilities to their networks, and we look forward to speaking with you about how we can help you bring the latest video services to your subscribers.

To answer all your questions about our solutions (transcoding, adaptive streaming, statmuxing—we do it all!), you’ll find our Canadian team—Stephen Sacks and Ron Polsky—manning our booth (#107) throughout the show. Please stop by and learn more.

See you next week!

2012 is set to be one of the most notable years in sports broadcasting history. We’ve already seen America’s biggest sporting event – the Super Bowl – streamed live to a record-setting 2.1 million viewers, and here in London at the IP&TV World Forum, we have heard much buzz surrounding the upcoming high-profile European events, including Euro 2012 and the greatly anticipated London Olympics – already being heralded as the “first truly digital Olympics”. These must-watch events, with their inherent time zone challenges that accompany their global audience, offer video service providers a tremendous opportunity to increase subscriber appeal and loyalty by providing access to high-value content whenever and wherever the viewer desires.

With the scale and international reach of these landmark occasions, content will not just include the coverage of the events themselves, but will also encompass analysis, as well as supporting documentary and entertainment-value video, presenting a 24/7 treasure trove of content primed for live and on-demand viewing anytime, anywhere over the duration of these multi-week competitions. However, with the importance of an event like the Summer Olympics, viewers are not going to tolerate any delay or jitter, especially in races where a difference of milliseconds can separate gold and silver medallists.

As such, providers will have to ensure that their network infrastructure is ready and able to support high consumer demand to play out these IP video services to such high numbers of viewers across their growing array of devices.

Given the speed at which video-enabled devices have become a consumer necessity, any provider without a plan to deliver video beyond the television will certainly get left behind. Even the traditional television is going IP, with 80 percent of all TVs shipped in 2014 expected to be smart devices, compared to only 27 percent in 2011 (Futuresource Consulting, TV Market Report, January 2012).

Most providers have legacy infrastructure originally intended to target only one type of device. But with the right knowledge and the latest technology, they can easily and cost-effectively integrate IP infrastructure that will give them a future-proof multiscreen solution without major infrastructure overhaul needed, allowing them to provide their subscribers with the ultimate flexibility in terms of how and when they view all the action of this year’s premier events.

With the granddaddy of all TV viewing events going digital, all providers should be looking to reach as many viewers as possible with both live and on-demand content, to fully capitalize on such a huge opportunity. And as such, the IP&TV World Forum is a great opportunity for us to meet with you to discuss how to do just that. See us at stand #236 to learn more.

Or if you’re not in London this week, please let us know here how you’re looking to capitalize on the digitization of TV’s biggest sporting events. What are your biggest challenges?

2012 is the golden – or should that be diamond – year for broadcasters. With a series of high profile events happening across the summer that include the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Euro 2012 and – the biggest of all global events – the London Olympics, the year ahead presents tremendous opportunities for video service providers (VSPs) – especially when it comes to monetization.

Thanks to the explosion of video-enabled devices, including a dizzying array of smartphones and tablets, consumers already expect to access and watch premium content whenever they want, wherever they want, and on whichever device they happen to be using at that moment.

Delivering high-quality content, in conjunction with its time- and place-shifting consumption, is already tough in its own right. Add several highly anticipated broadcasting events into the mix and operators are left with an entirely new set of challenges, which they must battle out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

With key events just around the corner, the focus must of course be on delivering first-class multiscreen video services to satisfy eager end users who want to experience the landmark celebrations as they happen. But there’s also much to be said about making the most of a captive audience – a task our Enhanced Video Intelligence Architecture (eVIA) is well-equipped to meet – by simplifying the challenges multiscreen deployments bring, but also enabling revenue-generating opportunities that drastically increase subscriber appeal (read more).

We’ll be gearing up for the excitement of the upcoming events this week at the IP&TV World Forum at Olympia, London (March 20-22), demonstrating the simplest way for VSPs to transition to a multi-device IP video environment and speed and monetize deployment through RGB’s award-winning VMG and TransAct Packager, so make sure you stop by stand 236!

We’ll also be able to talk to you about recent deployments and proof-of-interoperability testing with our growing list of ecosystem partners (here’s just one example with nangu.TV and Swisscom Broadcast). As the run-up to this year’s exciting line-up of broadcast events accelerates, we’re doing everything we can to help take the worry out of IP video deployments. Don’t miss out and stay tuned for more details to come!