Next Wave of the Web: Streaming Media Service Providers - Page 10
March 26, 2001
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As audio and video become the dominant forms of Internet media,
more and more Web site owners are adding A/V content to their
Internet properties. Just as most organizations use an ISP to
host their Web sites, most site owners choose to leave the
details of streaming servers, file formats and other A/V arcana
to the experts. In this month's column, we'll look at the issues
involved in hosting streaming media, and consider the benefits of
dedicated Streaming Media Networks.
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Outsourcing the Back End of Your Internet Broadcast
Many simply purchase streaming services from the same company
that hosts their Web site. But of course, some sites need more
specialized services than a generic Web hosting company can
provide, so a wide range of services have become available, from
"turn-key solutions" that spare the user from most of the
technical challenges, to individual streaming media-oriented
production, hosting and network services. Increasingly, an
Internet broadcaster can choose the do-it-yourself route, the
write-a-check-and-let-someone-else-do-it route, or any point in
between. As we shall see, delegating the technical hassles is
only one of many reasons that a broadcaster might choose to
partner with a Streaming Media Service Provider (SMSP).
Vertical Markets and the Internet Food Chain
Streaming media, like many aspects of the Internet (online ads,
e-commerce) exemplifies something that we shall call a vertical
market. The importance of well-developed vertical markets to a
modern economy is a topic that we've harped on at length
elsewhere, so here we'll just explain the basic concept: In order
to make a certain neat thing happen (in this case, a streaming
media presentation), several individual steps have to happen in a
coordinated way. Any one of these steps, or any combination of
them, is available as a service for an appropriate fee.
Today's increasingly friction-free markets make it feasible for
companies to specialize in whatever tasks they are best at, and
to market their services at various levels. Some companies
perform only one small step in the process, while others perform
several and market them as a package. Still other companies
perform no technical tasks themselves, but simply package the
services of others. To complicate the mix still further,
companies in related lines of business may partner with
providers, packagers or both in order to offer their own "package
deals." For example, many ISPs subcontract with streaming media
service providers to include streaming in their Web hosting
plans.
The question for the Internet broadcaster is what point on this
vertical food chain is the best one for their needs. This is akin
to the "age-old" question of in-house vs outsourcing, another
much-milked topic about which we won't go into detail here.
Conventional wisdom is that larger organizations tend to purchase
needed services individually, or to do them in-house, while
smaller companies are more likely customers for one-size-fits-all
package solutions.
Large organizations have large and complex needs, and they tend
to insist on absolute control. They also have the capital,
personnel and expertise to make things happen just the way they
want them to. A large outfit would probably choose some type of
co-location arrangement for their streaming servers, just as most
do for their Web hosting needs, and contract for other services
on an individual basis.
A small company, on the other hand, may very well choose to
purchase streaming media services as part of an overall Internet
hosting package from their ISP, or to partner with a provider
that offers packaged solutions to companies in their industry
(for example, WEBCASTi,
which offers packages tailored for radio stations).
These two extremes, of course, are not the only possible
arrangements. Organizations of medium size, or those with special
needs, may find themselves somewhere in the middle, providing
some services in-house, contracting with specialist firms for
others, and buying yet others as a package. Furthermore, the size
of an organization is only one aspect to be considered. Factors
such as the relative importance of streaming within the overall
Internet strategy, the type of business the company is in (a
media-related company would be more likely to produce content in-
house than would an accounting firm), and simply the
attractiveness of the deals on offer, must all be weighed before
deciding on a strategy.
Contents:
Three Steps to Online Broadcasting
MBONE
Hosting Services for Streaming Media
Next Wave of the Web
Three Steps to Online Broadcasting - Page 11
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