Juniper Unveils Media Flow Publisher For Online Video

Juniper Networks has introduced Media Flow Publisher, an application that will facilitate delivery of high-quality video online, the company said on 14 October.

The Media Flow Publisher application must be deployed in conjunction with the company’s Media Flow Controller, Juniper’s content delivery and caching software for rich media content.

“Delivering content to multiple devices over the Internet or unmanaged networks requires a different approach than that of traditional TV and VOD,” said Rajan Raghavan, vice-president and general manager of Juniper’s Content and Media Business unit.

Adaptive streaming

To address the variables in device capabilities and connection quality, cable operators, Internet Protocol Television providers and content producers and distributors need to use adaptive bit-rate streaming to ensure a smooth viewing experience for online video, said Juniper.

Customers can use Media Flow Publisher to segment the video stream and package the content for delivery. The application can handle metadata publishing and translating the content into an adaptive stream format required for adaptive bit-rate delivery.

Media Flow Publisher supports major adaptive streaming formats, including Apple’s apple http, Adobe’s dynamic streaming, and Microsoft’s smooth streaming. It can also convert content between these formats. It also supports up to five times the scale of traditional adaptive streaming encoders, said Juniper.

By performing these various publishing tasks, Media Flow Publisher can eliminate the costly, specialised adaptive encoders and servers to accomplish each function, as well as the skilled operators to deploy the hardware. Publishing and delivery of multiple video streaming formats are consolidated onto a single platform, which lowers costs and allows customers to be more efficient when delivering the content to multiple devices, Raghavan said. This enables customers to monetise the video content much more easily, he said.

Growing demand for premium content

Delivering premium content to multiple devices – not just TV – is a tremendous opportunity, but a costly and difficult undertaking, according to Raghavan.

The demand for premium online video content is rising, spurred in part by the growing popularity of tablet PCs, mobile devices with large high-resolution displays and high-definition screens. Customers can get on a wireless network or connect to their cellular provider’s data network practically everywhere, making it much easier to view entertainment content over the air.

The new application complements and extends the Media Flow Controller, part of the Media Flow system, which maximises content delivery performance, scale, and efficiency, said Juniper. Flow controller optimises cache storage efficiency using hierarchical caching. The Media Flow Controller can be deployed on standard x86-64 servers or purchased pre-installed on the VXA Series Media Flow Engines. The Media Flow Publisher, available now, is an optional add-on for existing and new customers.