Akamai HD Network

The Akamai HD Network coincides with the next evolution in online video delivery. Delivering on the promise of the Internet, the Akamai HD Network offers the largest video distribution capacity ready for market use today. That means content producers – including large-scale broadcasters and film distributors – can now deliver live and on-demand HD-quality online video using Flash, Silverlight, and high-quality video on the iPhone & iPad.

The platform is designed and optimized to help broadcasters and film distributors increase audience engagement and expand revenues by complementing traditional mediums such as TV and DVD with the Internet.

Akamai HD Network combines our patented HD EdgePlatform, adaptive bitrate streaming, digital video recorder (DVR) technology, and media analytics to offer unmatched scale, quality and a highly interactive viewer experience that matches today's HDTV. Plus we provide actionable intelligence on content usage and audience engagement.

 
Akamai HD Network Demo
Delivering HD quality video in Flash and Silverlight and high-quality video to the iPhone & iPad - at broadcast audience scale with in-depth media analytics
 
 
Learn more about encoding guidelines with an Akamai whitepaper

HD for the
Adobe Flash Platform
HD for iPhone
& iPad
HD for Microsoft Silverlight
   
 
—TV —like experience
The Akamai HD Network combines the power of Akamai’s variable bit-rate streaming capabilities for Flash, Silverlight, and iPhone with the performance and reach of the Akamai HD Edge Platform to enable content producers to deliver uninterrupted HD video playback with the fastest throughput rate to guarantee a great experience.


Because the Akamai HD Network leverages Akamai’s HD EdgePlatform we get your content closer to the consumer. This means content flows over a single network owned by Akamai that delivers out to the most popular run time environments such as Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, and Apple iPhone 3.0 OS.

Interactivity & personalization
DVR (digital video recorder) allows consumers to pause, stop, or rewind live video content for an overall superior online experience that matches today’s TV broadcast experience. Support for features such as multi-camera angle switching enables the consumer to customize their viewing experience for live events such as sports or music concerts.

Broadcast Audience Scale
HD video requires a data stream of roughly 10 Mbps per user—meaning that delivery to one million households would require the ability to support 10 Tbps of sustained traffic.

By leveraging a massive HTTP network, the Akamai HD Network delivers unprecedented scale for all media formats to meet the demands of today’s broadcast scale audiences online. By delivering streams from servers that are closest to end users—often from within their own ISP— the Akamai HD Network better avoids Internet congestion and minimizes network latency.

This means streams enjoy much better throughput and much faster download times, so that consumers can enjoy the highest quality streams their last mile connections will allow.

Insight into audience engagement & quality of service
Media Analytics introduces a highly flexible, customizable solution that enables you to gain meaningful insight into the performance of your media assets in the language and context of your business. Media Analytics also provide real-time and historical quality of service metrics such as start up time, rebuffering, and stream availability.

Security to protect the distribution rights of content
The Akamai HD Network offers "SecureHD", a service that provides several security features that can be used, independently or together, to provide effective content protection while ensuring legitimate users enjoy a smooth and stunning viewing experience. These mechanisms are designed to discourage and disable content and link piracy, while allowing the content owner to successfully monetize their assets—whether through pay-per-view, rentals and subscriptions, ad-supported, or other innovative business models.
in the network packaging
"in the network" packaging eliminates workflow complexity of streaming video to multiple connected devices and runtimes. For example, “in the network” packaging enables you to leverage existing H.264/MPEG4 video workflows and automatically packages content to the MPEG-2.ts segmented format, which is required for playback on iOSTM devices.

"In the network" packaging is designed to simplify video workflows so you can deliver more content to the growing number of iOS devices without added complexity.


Key features of the Akamai HD
Network include:
   
EdgePlatform
Highly distributed and high-capacity network that puts content closer to the consumer to support broadcast audience scale at HD bitrates.
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
Unique network and player streaming process means fast video start-up times and uninterrupted playback at HD bitrates.
   
DVR
Interactive and personalized experience with true DVR capabilities that match HDTV.
SecureHD
Multi layered security to provide effective content protection while ensuring legitimate users enjoy a smooth and stunning viewing experience.
   
Player
Open-source standard-based video player available through the Open Video Player Framework with support for adaptive bitrate streaming and DVR. Simplifies player development so content producers can develop their own player, freeing them from third-party development cycles and upgrades.