Zixi Joins Industry Leaders to Debate and Discuss the Future of Media
From April 27th -29th, Zixi participated in the 2021 Devoncroft Executive Summit, a biannual event that offers a unique opportunity for audiences to hear from media executives discussing the strategic drivers of technology investments and the most important commercial issues facing the media and entertainment industry. Throughout the event Zixi hosted and participated in a variety of conversations and breakout sessions with a global audience of senior executives from top broadcasters, media companies, service providers, technology suppliers, cloud platforms and investment firms. Over the three days hosts Josh Stinehour and Joe Zaller of Devoncroft Partners debated and discussed the most important commercial issues facing the industry with industry thought leaders, outlined their strategic plans for success and shared best practices and use cases.
While the first day focused on overall industry updates, the second day centered on data-driven solutions, and the final day brought together speakers debating the future of the broadcast vertical. In each session, speakers from around the industry shared their individual stories and unique experience, use cases and deep insights to identify best practices while setting the stage for 2021 and beyond with a series of one-on-one to panel-based discussions.
In his keynote address Principal Analyst at Devoncroft Partners Josh Stinehour emphasized the importance of forward-thinking media companies embracing new technology to improve quality of service and quality of experience for end consumers. As an example of one such company, Stinehour showcased Zixi’s Intelligent Data Platform which employs advanced analytics, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to provide better monitoring of stream health and predict stream anomalies and failures by analyzing and interpreting billions of historical and real-time datapoints, a feat that would be impossible for humans to replicate in the same time frame.
Zixi hosted live breakout sessions on each day of the Summit where attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from Zixi leadership about the latest product enhancements, new technology offerings, and customers who have transformed their businesses through incorporating the SDVP into their live video workflows.
On day 1, Technical Partner Manager Naytram Deonarain gave a live demo of Zixi’s ZEN Master control plane, demonstrating how users can command and control live video workflows from anywhere, across integrated hardware and software devices using this could-based interface.
On day 2, Zixi CEO Gordon Brooks introduced Zixi’s new Intelligent Data Platform and explained how the company is pioneering the use of advanced analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to interpret vast amounts of data to expose patterns and insights that help customers focus their resources, perform predictive maintenance to fix errors before they occur, and better conduct root cause analysis.
On day 3, attendees had the chance to hear from Michael McCrackan, SVP of Engineering and Operations for American television music service Music Choice as he described how his company made the switch from satellite to primary distribution over IP using Zixi’s Software Defined Video Platform to deliver broadcast quality video over IP networks securely, reliably, and cost-effectively at scale.
What’s Next? Upcoming Advancements in the Streaming Media Industry
Throughout the Devoncroft Executive Summit, hosts Josh Stinehour and Joe Zaller spoke with high level executives from across the media industry to give their perspective on innovation and technology advancements. With Zixi’s decades of domain expertise in delivering live video over IP networks, CEO Gordon Brooks provided valuable insight on the impact of market developments to the future of broadcast media, particularly video delivery over IP and how Zixi has evolved its technology to address changing customer needs and behaviors.
On the topic of 5G, Brooks explained that it is most definitely worth the hype and will transform the way video is created, captured, delivered and consumed. While a lot of people think of 5G solely at the consumer level, he explained that there is a great deal of potential to transform B2B live video workflows as well. Brooks explained, while 5G and 4G LTE are noisy networks, Zixi is stress testing those environments to prove resiliency so that they can be leveraged for large scale distribution deals.
A pioneer in delivery over 5G, Zixi is currently in production with a major broadcaster for delivery over Verizon 5G networks using AWS Wavelength Zone technology to allow distribution of 4K UHD streams to commercial targets at ultra-low latency. In addition to live newsgathering and sports use cases, Brooks sees other growing industries where live streaming at low latency over 5G can have a significant impact. Live streaming for online gambling requires the lowest latency possible, and is a tremendous opportunity for betting companies that Zixi works with.
The Devoncroft Executive Summit provided all attendees insight into the major shifts occurring in media and entertainment, and at the same time allowed Zixi to demonstrate its expertise in an industry that is rapidly changing because of the flexibility and agility provided by its innovative software-defined video solutions. To read more about the Devoncroft Executive Summit, please visit the Devoncroft Website.
