Taking more direct aim at multiscreen video services, Vubiquity has launched AnyVU Cloud, a cloud-based platform that it will use to serve up a mix of on-demand and live video to an array of partners, including content owners, MVPDs, and emerging over-the-top players, a category that could include so called “virtual” MSOs.
Vubuiqity, which has tapped Akamai Technologies as a key content delivery network partner for AnyVU Cloud, said it will use the platform to deliver a deep library of licensed content for linear TV, various forms of on-demand (free, subscription, etc.) services, electronic sell-through (EST) offerings, and other “next-generation multiplatform video products” that can be shipped to traditional set-top boxes as well as IP-connected devices.
Aiming for multiscreen scale, Vubiquity, which today supports more than 700 distributors and service providers worldwide, said AnyVU cloud, billed as the “future-state of multiplatform video,” will support a wide range of video formats and profiles as the number of video-capable devices continues to proliferate.
“This is being built with the assumption of supporting hundreds of profiles, not dozens,” said Vubiquity CEO Darcy Antonellis, the former president, technical operations and CTO at Warner Bros. Entertainment, who took the helm of the company on January 2. “We needed a system and platform that could…dynamically scale to meet the needs and demands [for] access to a deep library in multiple formats.”
She said Vubiquity will roll out AnyVU Cloud in multiple phases, and expects to have most of the initial capabilities deployed by the third quarter of 2014, with the expectation that its modular approach will enable the company to tack on new features and functions as needed.
Antonellis also believes the new, higher-scale approach will also enable partners to roll out new services faster. “In many cases, these types of [services] often take months to launch,” she said, hoping that AnyVU Cloud will trim that down to “days and weeks.”
Vubiquity said AnyVU will serve as the foundation of its modular service offering, noting that it will identify a range of ecosystem partners over the coming months.
The first to be named is Akamai. Vubiquity will tap Akamai’s Intelligent Platform to help it handle cloud-based content preparation, management and delivery of video and form the basis of a new content-as-a-service offering that can support both on-net and off-net OTT scenarios.
“Akamai and Vubiquity are responding to growing demand from network service providers and content owners for new strategies and platforms upon which to leverage premium-quality video offerings,” said Bill Wheaton, SVP and GM of Akamai’s media division, in a statement.
