Streaming Video Technology Alliance gathers in Portland, Oregon, for Q1 2023 member meeting

The Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA), a global technical association developing solutions to address critical technical challenges in delivering a high-quality video experience at scale, kicks off its Q1 Member Meeting today. The members-only event takes place Wednesday, February 8, and Thursday, February 9, 2023, in downtown Portland, Oregon. The meeting features a robust lineup of working group sessions, several networking events, and a talk by Andy Beach of Microsoft about the showcase displayed at IBC 2022, where in partnership with the NBA, Microsoft created a live basketball game and delivered it from the show floor. The solution featured multiple SVTA member companies.

Additionally, the SVTA made its first open-source software available to members as part of a new multi-CDN project in the Players and Playback Study Group. This code, a client-side load balancer donated by Lumen Technologies, is available for members to use under the MIT license. The code will be further refined and improved over time as part of the on-going work in the Players and Playback group.

The SVTA also released the industry’s first Streaming Video Wiki, which will become a repository for information about the industry, including relevant people, technology, specifications, terms, and more. The wiki subsumes the previous Streaming Video Industry Glossary.

“We’re looking forward to starting off 2023 with a fantastic in-person event at our first-ever member meeting to take place in the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon,” said Jason Thibeault, Executive Director at the Streaming Video Technology Alliance. “The year is already off to a promising start with the availability of the SVTA’s first open source application. The collaboration with Lumen Technologies is one of the first available projects through SVTA LABS, and I want to personally thank Lumen for the donation of code that helped make the project a reality.”

SVTA explores multi-CDN measurement techniques and harmonization between client-side and server-side approaches
Multi-CDN switching is a critical component of the streaming video technology stack, but there is currently no industry consensus on which approach works best. Additionally, gathering data about different CDN switching approaches requires considerable time and effort on the part of streaming operators. Today, companies that choose a CDN switching solution must either develop their own code or work with a commercial provider. The client-side CDN switching solution used and provided to SVTA by Lumen Technologies includes a basic JavaScript implementation with the open-source Shaka player. For streaming cases where a client-side solution is best—or when combined with server-side—SVTA members can use this code, available under the MIT license, to deploy a fully operational, royalty free client-side software solution.

“We’re very excited to share the Lumen CDN Load Balancer with the industry to promote transparency on CDN measurement and harmonize this device-side multi-CDN technique with recent server-side standards such as MPEG-DASH and HLS Content Steering,” said Glenn Goldstein, Consulting Product Strategist at Lumen Technologies.

SVTA launches the streaming video wiki
The Streaming Video Wiki will become a well-established industry resource and the online equivalent of an encyclopedia for the streaming industry. While dedicated wikis exist for many major topics and industries, the streaming video industry lacked a similar resource. The SVTA developed this wiki with the objective of providing a simple and information-focused resource for technologies, standards, people, events, and more within the streaming video industry. The wiki is a combined effort from multiple SVTA members working under the leadership of the Industry References Committee. In addition to future glossary terms, the committee will also source information from working groups and external resources to include in the wiki. Submissions will go through a review and approval process within the committee. They will be published as “draft” articles on the wiki. Anyone can sign up for a wiki account to provide comments on draft articles using a Google Docs-like commenting system. The window for comments on a draft wiki article will be 15 days. Once that is closed, the committee will review, incorporate any approved suggestions, and formally publish the article. Maintenance of all entries and articles will also be handled by the committee. The wiki can be accessed here: https://wiki.svta.org/

Members of the SVTA include companies from across the streaming video ecosystem such as network operators, technology providers, service providers, and content owners. Current members are: Adobe, AERQ, Agile Content, Alibaba, allt, Amazon, America’s Boating Channel, ARK Multicasting, ATEME, Bitmovin, Blockcast, Brightcove, Broadpeak, Cadami, CBC, Ceeblue, Charter Communications, Cisco Systems, Comcast, CommScope, Compira Labs, Conviva, Datazoom, Deutsche Telekom, DidjaTV, Disney Streaming, Dolby, Edgio, Eluvio, Ericsson, Fastly, Friend MTS, Globo, Google, Harmonic, Hughes Satellite Systems, IdeaNova Technologies, Infuse Video, INKA Entworks, Intel, Intelsat, InterDigital, Interra Systems, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Lumen Technologies, Mainstreaming, Nagra, NCTA, Netskrt, Neustar, Nice People at Work, NTT East, Optus, Orange, Panasonic Avionics, Paramount, picoNETS, Qualabs, Qwilt, Siden, SiriusXM Radio, Sky, SSIMWAVE, ST Engineering iDirect, Stackpath, Streaming Global, Synamedia, swXtch.io, Telefonica, Telekom Malaysia, Telestream, Thales, The Football Association Premier League, THEO, Touchstream, Unified Streaming, Varnish Software, Vecima Networks, Velocix, Verizon, Viasat Inc., Vionlabs, WarnerMedia, Western Digital Corp., and Wowza.

The SVTA also sees participation from other brands owned by, or associated with, member companies which include Globecast, Hulu, NBCSports, Peacock, PlutoTV, Prime Video, Twitch, Verizon Media, Viaccess-Orca, and Virgin Media. Business Wire