October 24, 2011
Volume XXXVII, Issue 1
Cloud Computing: A Bright Light for Business
Excerpted from The Guardian Report by Charles Arthur
Cloud computing services, such as Facebook, are now part of our lives, but the technology could make an even bigger difference to the UK's economy.
One of the most successful business people of our time, Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs, was one of the first to recognize the benefits of the "cloud", which put simply is a term used to describe a model of computing which enables on-demand network access to a shared pool of resource. When Jobs rejoined Apple in 1996, one of his first acts was to move all of the company's data - including fiercely protected information about the business's future plans - to Apple's servers, rather than entrusting that valuable information to individual computers.
Flash forward to 2011 and Apple's iCloud service is pushing the idea to customers that the cloud is an actual place where photos, documents, calendars, and contacts can be stored. In fact there's a unity of message from the three best-known names in technology, with Google also pushing the cloud through its five-year-old Google Docs offering, which lets users collaboratively edit documents from different devices, and Microsoft following up years of cloud talk with a serious commitment to pushing take-up of its cloud services.
While consumers might not need to understand how a Hotmail account is accessed through a smart-phone, or why Facebook information is available on any device connected to the Internet, the same delivery principle powers many of the most popular consumer web services. Many business solutions are also now delivered in the same way; however risky or radical it may once have seemed to store important company data on remote servers in the cloud.
The simple argument for businesses in favor of cloud computing is that buying expensive new servers is left to the cloud computing provider, which will also keep software updated and look after security.
Those are powerful plus points and cloud computing is now being considered in every corner of every business. For many start-ups, it's their first resort: Twitter, Foursquare, and dozens of others turned first to Amazon's cloud computing service to store and process data because it meant they didn't have to buy servers to store anything; they would just pay for the storage and bandwidth they used. That turns computing from a capital expense into an operating expense, with direct benefits for cash-flow - key for a small business.
Andy Burton, chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum, an industry group, cites the case of LawWare, based in Edinburgh, which writes software for legal practices: it wanted to speed up implementation, and so turned to cloud providers so it could rapidly develop projects for customers. "The time taken to implement a new system went from weeks to hours," says Burton.
He says that the problem with the word "cloud" is that many people find it ambiguous: is it about flexibility, or speed, or cost? He argues that "it makes you a more competitive organization" and that the key question to ask is which of those three is the most important to improve, and focus on how cloud systems can help.
In June 2009, just after Michael Jackson's death, Twitter saw traffic peak at 456 tweets a second but, by August 2011, following news of Beyonce's pregnancy, it was generating 8,868 tweets a second. Flexible cloud-based servers meant that Twitter could handle that explosive growth - few companies could forecast and manage such expansion on internal systems.
But what is cloud computing? The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) formally defines cloud computing as "a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources - networks, servers, storage, applications and services - that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."
There are five essential characteristics: on-demand self-service, so you decide how much power you need; broad network access, so it's available across the network; "resource pooling", so you don't care where the computers storing the data are; "rapid elasticity", so that computing power available can ramp up as demand grows; and measured service, so that you're only charged for what you use - which might be storage, bandwidth, processing, user accounts, or some combination of those.
The idea that cloud services will make a big difference to businesses has been a recurrent theme of technology discussions for the past 10 years or so. Certainly, UK businesses have indicated that they are ready to adopt cloud computing. A study in the first half of 2011, which polled IT and business decision-makers across the private and public sectors, found that almost half already use cloud services.
The private sector leads the way, with those employing more than 20 people ahead of smaller businesses in adoption (52% v 38%) - even though the latter could gain more because of the lower capital spending cloud computing requires. The driver for adoption is overwhelmingly cited as flexibility, with only 16% citing cost savings, though that figure rockets up to 69% among those already using cloud services.
In the public sector, the UK Police crime maps use a combination of Amazon and Google Maps, while Transport for London (TfL) is a high-profile user of Microsoft's Azure platform. TfL uses Azure to host its data feeds, which allows developers to create real-time travel information applications. Technology industry analysts Gartner says that by 2014 at least 10% of all businesses' e-mail services will be cloud-based and the tipping point to broad-scale adoption will have been reached.
It's not just going to be about Hotmail any more. The cloud is coming, and the only question soon might be why your business isn't on board.
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 If you're already registered for the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), you can now sign-up for the CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference at CES taking place on Wednesday January 11th in the Las Vegas Convention Center.
If you still haven't registered for CES, you can click here and do it now.
Then look for the "Add to Cart" button as you browse the 2012 Conference Program to find CONTENT IN THE CLOUD and other sessions or tracks you want to attend this January. When you're ready to check out, the system will tabulate the best purchase option based on your choices.
The DCIA's CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Conference will take you on an insider's tour of the many ways cloud computing is revolutionizing entertainment delivery, and enable you to come away with a deeper understanding of the impact of this technology on content distribution.
Whether you create, deliver, or store content - or just want to know more - don't miss these sessions!
Our opening keynote will be "A Vision for Content in the Cloud" by Mike West, Founder & CTO, GenosTV. This presentation will set the stage for the entire conference program that follows, which will delve into the many ways that cloud computing is transforming content delivery.
Our first panel will explore "The Impact on Consumers of Implementing Cloud Computing for Media Storage." What does cloud storage mean to users in terms of accessing entertainment content and owning copies of movies, music, TV shows, and games? Panelists will include Sean Barger, CEO, Equilibrium; Jim Cady, CEO, Slacker; Keith Friedenberg, Head of Research & Consumer Insights, WME; Ed Haslam, SVP, Marketing, YuMe; Gigi Johnson, Executive Director, Maremel Institute; Mike Lewis, Co-Founder, Kapost; Jostein Svendsen, CEO, WeVideo; and Dave Toole, CEO, MEDIAmobz.
Our second keynote will be "Consumer Benefits of Cloud-Delivered Content: Ubiquity, Cost, Portability Improvements" by Shahi Ghanem, EVP, Strategy, BitTorrent. Cloud-based solutions are being applied to popular entertainment properties. What are the advantages to users versus older methods of online distribution?
Our third keynote will be "Consumer Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Privacy, Reliability, Security Issues" by Jim Burger, Member, Dow Lohnes. Cloud security is raising serious questions: What experiences have other industries had with inadvertent leaks or intentional hacking of confidential data? What can users do to mitigate not having access to their applications or accidentally losing their data when they go offline? What happens if a cloud provider goes out of business?
Our next panel will discuss "The Impact on Telecommunications Industries of Cloud Computing." How will cloud computing affect the way broadband network providers manage their intellectual property, utilize network resources, and provision new services? Panelists will include Sean Jennings, VP, Solutions Architecture, Virtustream; Wayne Josel, Counsel, Media & Entertainment, Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Bill Kallman, President & CEO, Scayl; Tom Mulally, Principal Analyst, Numagic Consulting; Donita Prakash, Chief Marketing Officer, Acumen Solutions; Monica Ricci, Director of Product Marketing, CSG Systems; Mark Taylor, VP, Media and IP Services, Level 3; and Richard Yang, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Yale University.
Our fourth keynote will be "Telecommunications Industry Benefits and Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: New Opportunities vs. Infrastructure Challenges" by Mark Peterson, GM AppGlide, Alcatel-Lucent. What advantages do cloud-based solutions applied to popular entertainment properties bring to broadband network operators? How does the on-demand, always-accessible nature of cloud-based entertainment delivery challenge conventional distribution systems? Will older distribution methods disappear?
Our next panel will explore "The Impact on Entertainment Industries of Cloud Computing." How will cloud storage and distribution affect the ways in which content rights-holders manage their intellectual property (IP), realize new cost savings, and implement new business models? Panelists will include Kris Alexander, Chief Strategist, Connected Devices & Gaming, Akamai; Saul Berman, Partner & VP, IBM Global Business Services; Peter Csathy, CEO, Sorenson Media; Mark Friedlander, National Director, New Media, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) ; Jonathan King, SVP, Business Development, Joyent; Ty Roberts, SVP & CTO, Gracenote; Ramki Sankaranarayanan, CEO, Prime Focus Technologies; and Robert Stevenson, SVP, Business Development, Gaikai.
Our fifth keynote will be "Entertainment Industry Benefits and Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Innovation and Flexibility vs. Disruption and Accountability Issues Keynote" by Scott Brown, US GM & VP Strategy Partnerships, Octoshape. What improvements does cloud computing offer the content distribution chain? What issues do rights-holders face in adapting their internal content management processes to cloud-based media storage?
Our final keynote will be "Consumer Electronics (CE) Manufacturer Benefits and Drawbacks of Cloud-Delivered Content: Expanded Opportunities for Products with New Features at a Range of Costs; New Challenges Related to Interoperability and Data Security" by Lucia Gradinariu, Chief Market Strategist, Huawei. What unforeseen impacts, both positive and negative, do cloud-based solutions applied to popular entertainment properties bring to CE manufacturers?
Our closing panel will address "The Impact on CE Manufacturers of Cloud Computing Deployment." Remotely accessing applications and data affects everything that must be integrated into networked end-user devices. The same holds true for servers and other edge storage hardware products. What new hurdles must be overcome with these technological solutions? Panelists will include Stefan Bewley, Director, Altman Vilandrie & Company; Shane Dyer, President, Arrayent; David Frerichs, Strategic Consultant, Pioneer Corporation; Kshitij Kumar, SVP, Mobile Video, Concurrent; AJ McGowan, CTO, Unicorn Media; Michael Papish, Solutions Architecture Director, Rovi Corporation; Jordan Rohan, Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus; and Chuck Stormon, CEO, Attend.
Please click here to register now for the 2012 International CES and then add CONTENT IN THE CLOUD. We look forward to seeing you there. Share wisely, and take care.
Cloud Computing Excitement for Content Consumption
Excerpted from Moving at the Speed of Creativity Report by Wesley Fryer
Microsoft's recent advertisement, "Airport - To the Cloud - Windows 7" closes with the tagline, "To Create and Share - Anywhere." The activity in the 30 second spot, however, doesn't have anything to do with CREATING digital content, it's all about CONSUMING it via Slingbox-like functionality included in Windows7. The man and woman in the ad are thankful for an airport delay because it gives them a chance to access a recorded television show on their home computer, via a virtualization interface on their laptop.
A large percentage of excitement over "cloud computing" these days focuses on content consumption, not creation. AT&T personified this in their advertising campaign a few years ago, "Your World Delivered." That tagline isn't included in the AT&T ads I've seen lately, but it's interesting Microsoft is using that idea ("Cloud computing on our platform means you get to ingest your digital content more places") but calling it "creating and sharing."
I definitely enjoy consuming digital content whenever and wherever I want, which is increasingly possible with mobile devices and high speed cellular connectivity. I'm also a big advocate for (and enjoyer of) content creation and sharing, however. Since I finished writing my first eBook this summer, "Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing," my wife has often declared as she watches Netflix on our iPad, "Look honey! I'm playing with media!" Watching a pre-recorded movie or television program doesn't qualify as "playing with media" in my book, however, and I don't think it should qualify as "creating and sharing" for an advertising campaign for a company like Microsoft, either.
As we see, support, and use a wider variety of computing devices in our schools and homes, it would be interesting to study the amount of time we spend actually CREATING on these devices versus CONSUMING content. My own informal observations of my children indicate MOST of the time, we're consuming. My 8th grade son has recently started playing Minecraft on my laptop, since the processor on his netbook isn't nearly as fast, and that activity (while still a game) DOES seem to fit into the definition of "creating." My girls, however, don't seem to create much on the computer without encouragement from me. They'd rather watch something on Netflix or play a game.
The Kindle Fire appears to be a device 99% dedicated to content consumption. I'm guessing it will let users check and send e-mail, but I don't know about word processing or blogging. Are people really going to want to word process on a seven-inch tablet device? I doubt it. At $200, however, I'm expecting the Kindle Fire to sell like hotcakes in advance of the December 2011 holiday shopping season. I'm even contemplating one for my wife, to update her "aging" 1st generation Kindle. (It still works great and she loves it, however, so there's no guarantee we'll do this.)
In our classrooms, as we see in the consumer electronics marketplace today, I think most teachers and students are FAR too focused on content CONSUMPTION rather than creation. Many of our classrooms are worksheet factories. What would many teachers do today if the copy machine was removed PERMANENTLY from the teacher workroom? Here's the announcement the principal could read over the PA system:
Attention teachers. Starting today, a copy machine will not be available in the workroom. Our days of supporting a worksheet-driven learning culture at school are over. From now on, create your content digitally and encourage your students to do the same. Student digital portfolios should reflect student learning on a daily and weekly basis. No mass-copied notes will be sent home to parents anymore, all communication will be via in-person conversations, e-mail, text messages and phone calls.
I know, the digital divide is real and not all parents have access to e-mail. So this is a pipe dream. But perhaps it isn't too far off for schools which have made the 1:1 computing plunge.
It's worthwhile to consider how much we're using digital tools for content CREATION versus CONSUMPTION. Left to their own devices, many students (and teachers) would likely choose consumption. Watching movies is far easier and less intellectually challenging than making a movie. Many of us are addicted to information flows on the web, and it's far easier (in most cases) to sip from those rivers of information and contribute piecemeal (click a "like" button or write a 140 character comment) than make a more thoughtful and time-consuming digital creation.
Are educators in schools or academic researchers measuring this respective mix of content consumption versus content creation activities? I think that would be a worthwhile avenue of inquiry for research and evaluation.
Cloudification: Bringing Cloud Computing to the Masses
Excerpted from ComputerWorld Report by Jean-Marc Seguin
Cloud computing - everyone's talking about it, a good number of organizations want to adopt it, but how do you get there? We are on the cusp of "cloudification" -- cloud computing for the masses -- but to get to that state there are many things to consider, such as people, processes and technology, before cloud computing becomes as mainstream as virtualization technology.
Building out a cloud requires a strategy. The first step to ensure that cloud initiatives don't fail is to create a vision and a plan. The intention of this blog is to help you build out a plan, determine where you may run into some roadblocks, figure out how to overcome them, and then how to build out your plan(s).
Here are a few things to think about as we get started:
Cloud options: Private cloud? Public cloud? Hybrid cloud? Where do you begin? Do you implement one of them or do you implement all three? Which is the best option for your organization? How can you tell?
Virtualization Maturity: How far into virtualization adoption are you? Are you still in a data center consolidation phase trying to get a handle on what you have? Was this a development project that just became the problem of IT? Are you farther along and have thought of topics like virtual DR or Cloud Bursting?
Corporate Culture: How ready is your organization to adopt a cloud strategy? What are the indicators to let IT know it's time to start looking? How willing is your organization to help take you from vision to execution?
Changes in People: Once you adopt a cloud strategy, what does that mean for the people in the organization? Do roles change? Do you have all the domain expertise you need? Does the structure of the organization change?
Changes in Process: Have you been able to adapt your current processes to support the dynamic nature of virtualization? Do you need to revisit them? Do you need to re-write them?
Changes in Technology: With new cloud vendors appearing in the market daily, how do you know which is the right vendor for you? How do you assess the strengths and weaknesses of each? How do they fit in with your current IT investments? What makes a strategic cloud partner that will not only take you to the cloud now, but will continue to change with you as your processes change?
This is only the beginning. The purpose of this blog is to get you past the hype and buzz words of the cloud. Looking for a frank and open discussion? Want to leave the FUD behind? Want to really know "what is the cloud and what will it do for me?"
I will try to answer all those questions and clear the confusion. Topics that will be covered range from a basic definition of the cloud and cloud concepts, to ensure we are all on the same page, to how to take advantage of this technology in a crawl, walk, then run manner, to more advanced concepts such as Cloud Service Management/Service Catalog, IT as a Service, Self Service and Delegated Administration.
But cloudification isn't just about me telling my story. We can only learn and move forward by sharing ideas, exchanging concerns and questions about cloud adoption. I'd like to hear your thoughts, experiences and best practices on how virtualization and the cloud have affected your enterprise and the way you deliver IT services. And, if you have any questions or want to start a discussion, I welcome that, too.
Nielsen: Half of Americans Watch Online Video
Excerpted from Multichannel News Report by Todd Spangler
Internet video streaming is officially mainstream -- with 48% of US consumers now watching some video online -- but TV remains the great American pastime, according to Nielsen's quarterly report on media consumption.
Monthly time spent watching traditional TV in the second quarter of 2011 climbed 1.9%, to 146 hours and 20 minutes, a year-over-year increase of 2 hours and 43 minutes of monthly viewing, according to the Nielsen Cross-Platform Report for Q2 2011.
By contrast, time spent watching video on the Internet was 4 hours and 26 minutes per month on average, up 15% from a year ago - just 3% of the time parked in front of the TV.
And Americans spend more than four times watching time-shifted TV - on DVRs and video-on-demand - than watching online video, according to the Nielsen study.
Compared with the second quarter of 2010, time-shifted TV viewing rose 11% among all TV homes, primarily the result of increased DVR penetration. The number of TV households with a DVR increased to 39% (up nearly 13% year-over-year). Over the past two years, time-shifted TV viewing per month has jumped 31%, Nielsen said.
Broadband penetration continued to grow, with households that have both pay-TV and broadband increase 6.6% year-over-year. About 72% of US TV homes pay for both a subscription to cable, satellite, or telco TV as well as broadband Internet, according to Nielsen.
Cable's share 55.4% of TV households - up from 53.4% a year ago - while telcos' share was 5.6% (down from 6.9% last year) and satellite TV represented 29.7% (down from 30.5% last year), based on Nielsen's National People Meter panel.
Broadcast-only homes represent 9.3% of TV households. The number of broadcast-only homes in the second quarter was 11.1 million, up slightly from 10.9 million a year ago, Nielsen found.
Meanwhile, Internet video streaming is still concentrated among a group of hard-core users: 83% of all streaming taking place among the top 20% of consumers who watch online video. The heaviest online-video users watch an average of 18.9 streams per day, amounting to 58.7 minutes. The next quintile watches 2.6 streams on average for 39 minutes daily.
Consumers in the East South Central region (Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama) spend the most time watching video on the Internet, according to Nielsen.
In other local data points, Nielsen found that consumers in the South spend the most time watching TV, with New Orleans taking the top spot as the city that watches the most primetime TV.
Baltimore has the highest videogame console penetration, and Dallas has the highest DVR penetration. Boston households have the highest Internet-enabled computer penetration, according to Nielsen, while Miamians are most likely to have a mobile phone.
Skype, Rdio Creator Tries Again at Online Video
Excerpted from paidContent Report by Robert Andrews
The world is about to get another online video service. Janus Friis, who co-created Kazaa, Skype, Joost, and Rdio, is setting up a service called Vdio.
The stealth start-up has $5.6 million, is kick-started by the same company behind the unlimited-music service Rdio and is helmed as CEO by Europlay Capital Advisors' Semion Smushkevich, GigaOM discovered.
What is Vdio? That's unclear. But, if its likeness to Rdio is anything to go by, Vdio could be an unlimited movie subscription service like Netflix.
Currently in closed beta, the service is "coming soon" and scheduled to launch first in the UK, where the primary movie subscription window is locked up by News Corp.'s Sky Movies, a fact which moved Amazon's Lovefilm to complain to the Competition Commission.
Lack of content was the biggest factor in Joost's downfall. The connected TV opportunity could transform online video's fortunes. Vdio's preview site displays stills from movies/series including "The Dark Knight," "Karate Kid," "Mad Men," and "The Tudors."
The team includes Joost, Apache Foundation, NBC, and Napster alumni including Joost director Mark Dyne (director), former TV Guide president Ian Aaron (director), former Joost CTO Justin Erenkrantz (CTO) and Apache Foundation's Sander Striker (technical), GigaOM found.
IPTV Continues to Resound with Telecoms
Excerpted from Network World Report by Bob Brown
Technology Review's annual Emtech event at MIT always bursts with fresh-faced innovators awkwardly touting their world-changing breakthroughs. However, the 2011 event held this week at the new MIT Media Lab also included plenty of established companies, from Google and IBM to Verizon and Polycom, promoting lots of new ideas backed by their significant financial and human resources.
I started off my day at Emtech by meeting with Jeff Rodman, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist for Polycom, the conferencing and unified communications company that has been on a financial roll and using a chunk of that change to snap up companies (including web conferencing company ViVu this week) and technology assets to expand its reach. The last time Network World had an extensive conversation with Rodman, in early 2009, the topic was mainly HD voice - a topic that has somewhat taken a backseat to HD video given some of the latest advances on that front, although he says the incremental cost of including HD voice in handsets these days means it is well on its way to wider adoption.
Rodman had to tiptoe around some subjects on Tuesday because Polycom - which now boasts nearly a $4 billion market cap - was announcing its quarterly results late Wednesday. But Rodman was able to shed light on some of the Polycom's direction. The company's big push right now is technology called RealPresence Mobile that enables videoconferencing to extend from big room systems to tablets, initially the Apple iPad, Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Asked about whether it might also open the company's customers up to new security threats, Rodman said Polycom puts significant R&D investment into security, in part because the federal government is a big customer. He said security is built into the platform via root-level interfaces and that endpoints communicate with the platform and each other using standards like SIP and H.323. "Security is always a valid question though," Rodman said.
Other Polycom R&D investment is going into areas such as expanding mobile platforms that RealPresence will work with, though Rodman didn't indicate that Cisco's Cius business tablet would necessarily be high on the list (he referred to the device as a "misstep" by Cisco). Rodman said even though they are competitors, Polycom and Cisco have a good working relationship and sit side by side in standards outfits like the ITU and IETF.
Polycom is also investing in immersive telepresence systems, including the Halo technology it bought from HP (as part of that deal Polycom's apps were to be made available on HP's webOS, but that might be another story now that the mobile OS is being phased out.
Please click here for the rest of this report including Verizon's next-gen television technology.
Are Music Listeners Ready to Move to the Cloud?
Excerpted from eMarketer Report
New options for media consumption on the web as well as mobile and smart devices are continually emerging, and Spotify's launch in the US is just one of the latest changes to shake things up. With Apple's iCloud debuting in iOS 5, what do consumers think of storing and streaming their music from the cloud-and the concept of renting vs. owning it?
A September 2011 survey of US online music consumers conducted by Insight Research Group for digital music subscription service eMusic found that more than half of respondents preferred to purchase music files online, the top way of consuming music. Even buying physical copies of CDs or vinyl edged out free online streaming options, though the three choices were grouped closely together. Only 13% of online music consumers preferred to pay for online streaming.
Overall, the survey found that ownership of music had strong positive connotations for music listeners: 91% said they preferred to own music so they could listen to it as they pleased, and nearly as many considered it more secure.
Many saw streaming, instead, as a "try before you buy" option - 76% said they use online streaming to find new music before deciding to purchase.
This finding is supported by results of a December 2010 TargetSpot survey conducted by Parks Associates. Nearly seven in 10 US Internet radio listeners said they preferred to purchase music after hearing a song on an online radio station.
The research suggests a mix of behaviors will continue. eMusic asked about future plans to listen to and purchase music, and most respondents believed they would continue to stream music for free but never give up on also owning it outright. About 40% would want to store their owned files in the cloud for convenience, but just 14% said they thought they would pay for streaming in the future.
For music listeners, streaming options have become key to discovering new artists or songs, but those options must be free of charge to the consumer to facilitate the music purchase process they prefer-a process marketers will be critical to enabling.
Sean Parker: Spotify to Finish What Napster Started
Excerpted from CBS News Report by Rachel King
Sean Parker's interests in revolutionizing the music industry, so to speak, are well known from his early days as a co-founder of Napster. His current efforts on this horizon are focused on Spotify.
"These historical limitations that defined the dynamics of the record business no longer make any sense," said Parker.
Parker described Spotify as an "attempt to finish" what he started with Napster - a "dream of frictionless-free, tiered service that enables music sharing."
"We're all trying to figure out what is that next music industry," Parker admitted. "There's a whole set of things we have to figure out when moving to digital distribution."
In the physical world, you can only make so many CDs and there's only so much shelf space, Parker explained. There's also only a limited number of radio stations per market, so there's even less room to promote new artists.
Continuing on, the "traditional gate keepers of music" as Parker described them, ranging from radio stations to MTV, that were "not selecting the music that met the best needs of the public" have been replaced by the online social world.
"The dream with Spotify was ultimately to integrate Facebook and Spotify so that viral distribution could be unlocked," Parker said, asserting that that less than half of music sold today is done on CDs.
Parker offered the example of the band "Foster the People," which he said came out of "virtually nowhere," and then within three months of online publicity and promotion on services like Spotify, the once-indie group is now a huge hit.
"I don't think we're ever going to get it completely right," Parker acknowledged. "The world is changing so quickly that it's very hard to get anything right for long."
Parker's aspirations to fix the media industry might not be limited to just music.
"On-demand TV is so screwed up," Parker argued.
Moving back to one of Parker's more notable time and money investments, Facebook, he had plenty of good words to say about the world's social network, but acknowledged that its problem is the "glut of information" that users have to deal with.
"There's good creepy and then there's bad creepy," Parker said, pondering if "today's creepy is tomorrow's necessity."
Abacast Releases Case Studies on Profitable Radio Streaming
Abacast, a provider of streaming and advertising management software and services to the radio industry, announced the availability of two recent case studies illustrating how radio broadcasters are generating significant profits in streaming using Abacast digital ad sales programs and ad monetization tools.
"The online radio industry has been waiting for case studies like these that clearly illustrate that online radio streaming can be a robust profit center," said Rob Green, Abacast CEO.
Each of these case studies discusses the challenges, solution, and results for a radio broadcast group that uses the Abacast Digital Ad Sales Program and the Abacast Clarity Digital Radio System.
The first case study features Federated Media, a privately held company with 15 radio stations in Indiana. Wanting to be profitable "out of the gate," Federated researched solutions and chose the Abacast Digital Sales Program for their digital sales strategy and the Abacast Clarity Digital Radio System as its streaming and ad management solution.
Federated launched their streaming sales initiative in September 2011 with a digital "one-day sale." This sale resulted in Federated selling over 50% of their annual digital inventory, achieving annual streaming profitability, and generating an annual gross profit margin of 83% which included all streaming and SoundExchange royalty fees.
"The digital revenue was almost entirely incremental," said James Derby, Chief Strategy Officer at Federated Media. "We signed many new and existing customers that were excited about digital and wanted to jump in with our digital package."
The second case study features Neuhoff Media, a privately held company with 12 radio stations in Illinois, including the 5 station Decatur cluster. With a desire to be innovative to advertisers and to capture a share of the growing online and mobile audience, Neuhoff selected the Abacast Digital Sales Program and Abacast Clarity Digital Radio System for its Decatur streaming provider.
In the first month of using the Abacast Digital Sales Program, Neuhoff Decatur sold 40% of the available yearly digital ad packages, covering their annual streaming, bandwidth, and SoundExchange royalty costs and achieving annual profitability. Gross profit margins from streaming totaled 50% after the initial month.
"Our advertisers saw the value of the digital ad plan, and our AEs are super excited at the results," said Michael Hulvey, VP of Operations, Neuhoff Decatur. "It's great to see black numbers next to digital."
The Abacast Digital Sales Program provides three key elements: 1) digital sales training for managers and AEs, 2) station-brandable sales tools that outline the value propositions of in-stream advertising and the growth of digital audiences, and 3) a "share of voice" advertising product that provides premier exposure for advertisers to digital audiences in a bundled, cost effective package.
The Abacast Clarity Digital Radio System provides a complete solution for online radio streaming and includes the following services: Scalable, reliable online streaming; Ad insertion; Campaign management and ad trafficking; Audience analytics which adhere to Arbitron guidelines; SoundExchange-compliant royalty reports; and Listener Player including social networking and other interactive features.
A key component of the solution is the Abacast Clarity Ad Insertion System, which directly supports the Abacast Digital Sales Program and simplifies the trafficking, administration, and reporting of locally sold ad campaigns.
"Digital revenues are projected to grow at a 24% CAGR for the next 5 years," said Rob Green, Abacast CEO. "Abacast has built mature systems that enable our customers to build profitable digital businesses that take advantage of this growth trend."
Dropbox Gets Cloud-Size $250 Million B Round
Excerpted from SYS-CON Media Report by Maureen O'Gara
Dropbox, the four-year-old start-up that reportedly turned down a nine-figure takeover offer from Steve Jobs in 2009, said Tuesday that it got a nine-figure $250 million B round and a reported valuation of $4 billion for a product with a dicey future facing scads of competition, some from brand names like Apple and its gunning-for-Dropbox iCloud, Microsoft and its Mango-integrated SkyDrive, Amazon and its Cloud Drive, and Google and its rumored Drive.
Dropbox' edge is that it's unaligned but there's a lot more competition behind that first wave.
By way of reassurance, Dropbox said that 45 million users in 175 countries are saving a billion files on its cloud every three days and it's on track to triple its user base this year.
It's going to use its haul to make acquisitions, pursue strategic partnerships and grow its team.
The money came mostly from Index Ventures, with new investors Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs, Greylock Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, RIT Capital Partners and Valiant Capital Partners kicking in. Early investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and Hadi and Ali Partovi also took a piece of the action.
Dropbox has raised $257.2 million so far.
Index Ventures thinks Dropbox has the making of an icon, letting people store, sync and share their documents, videos and photos across devices including PCs and Macs, iOS, Android and Blackberry widgets.
It's unclear what Dropbox' revenues are though it reportedly has hopes of $240 million this year. It told Forbes in a cover story that it's profitable, doesn't need the money and that sales should double next year. Among other things Dropbox is cutting deals with device makers like HTC to make its online storage a default.
The first 2GB of its storage is free and is used by 96% of Dropbox' clientele. A 50GB plan runs $9.99 a month, and a 100GB plan costs $19.99 a month. It's targeting business as well as consumers.
PPStream Lands $29 Million in Funding from PCCW
Excerpted from Marbridge Consulting Report
Shanghai-based peer-to-peer video (P2PTV) service provider PPStream revealed today that it received $28.6 million from Hong Kong telecom operator Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) as part of a fourth-round funding sought in Q2 2011. PPStream declined to reveal the amount received in its latest round of funding.
An industry source has revealed that PCCW received nearly 2.4 million shares in exchange for its investment in PPStream, which according to the source comprised only "a fraction" of what PPStream was able to raise through a fourth round of funding.
Cloud Innovator Virtustream Expands Silicon Valley Presence
Virtustream, a leading cloud solutions provider, today announced that it will open an office in San Francisco, CA. The new space is in response to increased interest in the company and its offerings from potential customers and partners, an indication of Virtustream's success selling enterprise cloud computing solutions that combine superior private cloud performance guarantees with the economics and elasticity of a public cloud.
Virtustream's San Francisco office will headquarter the company's Cloud Advisory Services unit. This unit offers cloud analysis, design and migration strategies for complex enterprise IT landscapes. The Cloud Advisory Services unit deploys Virtustream's Advisor, a software tool that provides fact-based analysis of a company's current IT environment and delivers specific recommendations based upon its proprietary algorithms.
"Virtustream's Cloud Advisory Services are unique in the industry and result in tailored cloud computing designs that meet the most demanding enterprise needs while recommending precise resource configurations," said Michael Hoch, who leads the Cloud Advisory Services unit. "We can provide these designs without bias as we are technology vendor agnostic."
The new office will also house a part of the company's product development team working on next generation releases of xStream, the company's enterprise cloud platform. By creating SLA-based resource pools normalized to containers of virtual compute referred to as Infrastructure Units, Virtustream xStream can offer compelling guarantees of CPU, memory, network and storage I/O resources. xStream supports on-premise, off-premise or hybrid cloud deployments as customer needs warrant.
The new San Francisco office will be located at 455 Market Street; move in is expected in early November. Virtustream also currently owns and operates a data center in San Francisco, providing customers with enterprise class facilities, security, power, connectivity and access to the company's west coast xStream cloud node. As part of its global growth strategy, Virtustream recently opened offices in Atlanta, GA and New York, NY and plans additional openings worldwide including a London, UK office already in process and expected to be completed next month. For information about employment opportunities, please contact careers@virtustream.com.
Coming Events of Interest
Future of Film Summit - November 7th-8th in Los Angeles, CA. An exclusive group of industry thought-leaders discuss the current state of the industry, and how film and transmedia deals will be struck in the coming years. This is a unique opportunity for creatives, producers, buyers, and film financiers.
Streaming Media West - November 8th-9th in Los Angeles, CA. Attended by more than 2,500 executives last year, SMW covers the entire online video ecosystem from content creation and management, to monetization and distribution. The number-one place to come see, learn, and discuss what is taking place with all forms of online video business models and technology.
World Telecom Summit 2011 - November 9th-11th in Singapore. The 2011 program will focus on topics that demonstrate innovation across the telecommunications industry, both on a commercial and technical level, to improve profitability and quality of next generation technologies and customer experiences.
Future of Television - November 17th-18th in New York, NY. Top television and digital media industry executives discuss the increasing importance digital media for the future of the television industry. Topics include viewer trends; programming for non-traditional platforms including online video, VoD, HD, IPTV, broadband and mobile.
2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) - January 10th-13th in Las Vegas, NV. With more than four decades of success, the International CES reaches across global markets, connects the industry and enables CE innovations to grow and thrive. This is the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow.
CONTENT IN THE CLOUD at CES - January 11th in Las Vegas, NV. Gain a deeper understanding of the impact of cloud-delivered content on specific segments and industries, including consumers, telecom, media, and CE manufacturers.
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE at NAB - April 16th in Las Vegas, NV. Don't miss this full-day conference focusing on the impact of cloud computing solutions on all aspects of production, storage, and delivery of television programming and video. |
