Video enters the Cloud at IBC 2011

IBC 2011 will be a conference about the Cloud. I’ve heard from multiple video vendors that their plans and offerings for the show will focus on cloud delivery of services.

The multiscreen / TV Everywhere world has created a number of new challenges in video processing. For instance, operators need to have the ability to rapidly process large content libraries (VOD libraries are now 40,000 assets and greater) by creating new formats for new device types (i.e., the new penetration of HP TouchPad ;), new codecs (i.e., WebM) or new delivery standards (i.e., MPEG DASH). Smaller operators can’t afford to deploy the same vertically-oriented solutions with high integration costs as large operators can; yet need to offer the same types of services to customers.
Vendors’ solutions to these problems will include offering cloud services, in addition to traditional in-house or managed offerings. In addition, announcements will be made about how to apply service oriented architectures (SOAs) to video – including the unveiling of technical specifications for the Advanced Media Workflow Association’s Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS 1.0). A good explanation of the history and role of FIMS is at available from Broadcast Engineering.