Videon Becomes New Member of Akamai Media Technology Partner Program; EdgeCaster Passes MLS 4.x Qualification Testing

Videon is now part of the Akamai Media Technology Partner program through its offering of EdgeCaster, a 4K30 HEVC/H.264 encoder that supports low latency, HTTP streaming. In conjunction with being a member of the Media Technology Partner program, Videon is also pleased to announce EdgeCaster has achieved qualification as an Akamai MSL 4.x qualified encoder. Streaming customers can now use Videon’s EdgeCaster with Akamai’s Media Services Live 4 as a direct ingest from EdgeCaster to support ultra-low latency HLS and DASH workflows with chunked transfer CMAF support. Additionally, Videon’s EdgeCaster supports multiple bit rate representations, eliminating the need for costly and time laden cloud transcoding/transrating. Now that Videon’s EdgeCaster is Akamai qualified, Videon customers can stream directly to Akamai, a feature that non-qualified encoders cannot do.

“Akamai represents the gold standard for video streaming quality and delivery. Videon’s goal has been to both qualify our EdgeCaster Encoder to the rigid standards of Akamai while dialing up yet another notch to achieve inclusion as a Media Technology Partner,” says Todd Erdley, CEO and Founder of Videon. “We are very appreciative of Akamai’s support in this process and are pleased to enable Akamai customers to confidently use Videon’s EdgeCaster encoder in support of low latency workflow applications.”

To become an Akamai MSL 4.x Qualified Encoder, EdgeCaster had to undergo Akamai’s rigorous live encoder qualification testing process. Throughout this process, the Videon team interfaced directly with Akamai to meet the standards for qualification testing. The Videon team was able to address all of the questions that surfaced during testing, which resulted in Videon’s Akamai MSL 4.x qualification based on a HLS, DASH, and CMAF ingest methodology.

Taking the qualification a step further, Videon has also achieved status as a Media Technology Partner. This level of integration with Akamai ensures key features like CMAF and HTTP are available with EdgeCaster. The result is a solution that affirms the rigid demands of Akamai streaming quality and assurance of being able to have a uniform streaming methodology across all qualified encoders, all done to provide customers the best possible experience with the lowest level of risk.

“We’re pleased to add EdgeCaster to Akamai’s roster of qualified encoders and welcome Videon, which has demonstrated a strong commitment to innovation in ultra-low latency streaming and CMAF workflows, as a Media Technology Partner,” says Jon Alexander, Senior Director, Media Product Management, Akamai. “The availability of EdgeCaster as a qualified encoder gives customers even more flexibility in selecting the technology that best suits their streaming workflows and confidence that the encoder has passed a rigorous evaluation to help ensure its compatibility with Akamai’s Media Services Live delivery solution.”