2016企业视频平台买家指南

Enterprise video platforms (EVPs) are finally catching up with the rest of the world. After a decade or more of reliance on older Windows Media solutions—along with the combination of end-of-life support for these older streaming solutions and a significant uptick in employees using mobile devices to conduct company business—it seems that enterprise customers are finally being forced to evaluate solutions that come from more than just one vendor.

Some of these solutions use open standards, while others use proprietary approaches. 仍然, whether it’s a lecture capture system or a mobile chat application, the needs of enterprise customers can often be defined by a few key criteria.

我们将研究其中的四种标准格式, 位置, 流动性, 和安全——在今年的EVP买家指南中.

格式

While the average media and entertainment video platform (MEVP) might only rely on H.264作为唯一的编解码器, packaging content into various adaptive bitrate (ABR) technologies to deliver it out to consumers, the enterprise often doesn’t have the luxury of jettisoning its existing infrastructure and starting fresh.

As such, formats have become a significant part of the decision process. From the legacy RealVideo and WindowsMedia formats to today’s open-standards formats such as MPEG-DASH and H.这通常是一个多步骤的过程. 毕竟, it’s not just the video codec itself that has to change; even the basic players in legacy enterprise video are incapable of playing any form of ABR, 有些甚至不能处理H.264.

If your legacy enterprise video library falls into this category, there’s no need to panic. 市场上有很多工具, some standalone and some part of integrated EVP solutions, are designed to transcode legacy content into newer codecs (H.264) and delivery formats: ABR, DASH, and even Apple’s HTTP over 在线直播 (HLS).

位置

In real estate, the adage of “位置, 位置, 位置” remains king. 但在企业视频平台的世界里, the three-位置 chant doesn’t quite capture every possibility. 换句话说, the two options for EVPs are a product located on-prem at key company 位置s (typically called an eCDN approach) or hosting the EVP service in the cloud. 第三种可能, 混合解决方案, is more a variation on the two themes rather than a separate choice.

当涉及到基于云的解决方案时, there’s a fairly strong reason to consider a cloud-based EVP: initial capital outlay. When it comes to capital expenditures (capex) there’s a large upfront cost in buying an on-prem EVP. 从长远来看, 运营费用(opex)可能会更低, but to truly understand the total cost of ownership (TCO) requires both a strong design and an initial cost model for the on-prem EVP, in order to have an accurate break-even analysis to power the TCO model.

The primary reason to choose a cloud-based enterprise video platform, based on customer requirements and several surveys I’ve analyzed for 流媒体 and Unisphere研究, is an intent to lower overall capex while still gaining (or retaining) the ability to deliver to multiple devices.

另一方面, 从安全的角度来看, some companies choose to keep their entire solution on-prem. 对于这些公司, eCDN方法工作得很好, allowing content to be cached at various regional and satellite offices, with the option to prepopulate content to each 位置 before making it available for use in digital signage, 培训, 甚至是人力百家乐软件测试场景.

对于那些考虑混合解决方案的人, pay attention to what functions can be performed locally versus which ones must be performed in the cloud. 代码转换, 例如, 可能不是在每个位置都可用, or it might have a significant charge associated with it, as hybrid vendors attempt to create recurring revenue opportunities by limiting on-prem functionality.

流动性

That ability to deliver to multiple devices could be summarized in one word: 流动性. 你的大部分员工都是流动的, 你的内容获取团队是移动的, 你的行政管理团队当然是流动的.

To meet the dual demands of acquiring content on the road as well as reaching out to employees that are on the go more than they are at their desks, 考虑以下三个方面.

设备类型

Very few smartphones have full HD screens, and fewer still have 4K-capable screens. 但是越来越多的平板电脑, 包括那些内置蜂窝数据功能的手机, 分辨率为1920x1080或更高. 小尺寸平板电脑也是如此, such as the Apple iPad mini or the Samsung Galaxy Tab series.

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