Tagboard said it has added integrations with Adobe Photoshop and real-time production analytics from Amazon Web Services to its cloud production studio.

The new version of the product also features automated production workflows with APIs enabling producers to create dynamic content from any data source.

Tagboard will unveil its latest software and production tool at NAB Show, which starts April 15.

“In an industry that works in milliseconds, there’s absolutely zero excuse for the inefficiencies of traditional workflows and outdated processes,” Tagboard CEO Nathan Peterson said. “Not only are we turning today’s broadcast and in-venue screens into two-way communication devices that keep audiences engaged with partners across channels, but with these new releases, we’re drastically reducing the operating overhead for production teams to do so. The phrase ‘that’ll take too much time’ should never be spoken again.”

Tagboard works with numerous media companies including Fox Sports and Sinclair Broadcast Group. Fox Sports used Tagboard for its digital coverage of the Qatar World Cup.

“We first partnered with Tagboard in 2018 and quickly found a teammate eager to help us increase interactivity & innovation within our productions,” Fox Sports senior VP of digital Mike Bucklin said. “Tagboard already has the most versatility of any product we’ve utilized, but the features announced today will allow us to be far more efficient, bringing ideas to life much faster without sacrificing quality.”

Tagboard was also recently selected for NBA Launchpad, the league’s initiative supporting emerging technologies.

The company’s new integration with Adobe allows producers to eliminate duplicative work involved in bringing a graphic design to a screen, Tagboard said. Tagboard’s graphics studio automatically imports files from Photoshop, creating a seamless handoff process from designers to production teams.

“In most production environments, the process of building new graphics can involve multiple people handing off design files to one another and rebuilding them in separate platforms — essentially building the same thing multiple times,“ Peterson said. “But today’s content demands can’t afford to be held back by yesterday’s processes. Our clients take great care in hiring the most creative teams in the industry, and with our new Adobe integration, their incredibly talented producers get to focus on bringing the world’s best stories to life instead of doing duplicative work that good technology should handle.”

Tagboard worked with Amazon Web Services to launch its new production suite. 

Working with AWS Tagboard is able to process real-time data and provide a fast, safe, and reliable graphic interface,

Tagboard media and sports telecasters also can see real-time engagement data across their key media properties. By better understanding viewer behavior and exactly when, where and how fans are interacting with content, producers can improve editorial decision-making and monetization.

“Our clients are able to scale their storytelling with new channels, new content, and alternative streams to create more personalized, more highly-engaged stories,“ Peterson said. “Not only does this create more content production than we’ve ever seen before, but it also drives a flywheel of audience engagement that activates the sponsorships more deeply as well.” 

The term “metaverse” has become a thing again because Mark Zuckerberg has decided to wholeheartedly embrace the idea of a 3D, interactive world where users can work, play and be entertained, even changing Facebook’s holding company name to Meta. 

So while the social media mavens continue to tout how the cool kids will use whatever Silicon Valley can throw at them to interact with content, create creepy little avatars of themselves while they talk to and text their friends’ equally creepy-looking avatars and play games and whatnot using advanced augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology, just remember that this is really nothing new. 

It’s being touted as a revolution but for me, a person definitely way outside the target audience for these products, we’ve been down this road before. Interacting with content is nothing new for media watchers — we’ve been talking about it ever since Time Warner Cable launched the Full Service Network back in the 1990s. And with streaming and ultra high-speed broadband outpacing more traditional forms of entertainment consumption, media types have long prepared for this inevitable evolution.  

But the media business has never met a buzzword that it couldn’t beat to death and for the moment, “metaverse” appears to fit that bill. According to Bernstein Research, “metaverse” mentions on public company conference calls rose from just one in Q2 2020 to 449 in 3Q 2021.

Even actor Keanu Reeves, an owner of bitcoin and enthusiastic embracer of technology — he’s Neo, for gosh sakes — has asked for the metaverse hype to be turned down a notch, telling The Verge during the press tour for the upcoming Matrix: Resurrections movie that the term is decades old. 

Also: Meta May Not Be Betta But it Still Matters to Streaming Video’s Future  

“Can we just not have metaverse be like invented by Facebook?” Reeves told The Verge. “The concept of the metaverse is like, way older. It’s like, c’mon man.”  

Bernstein Research hosted a conference call with its clients about the metaverse on Dec. 10 (a transcript was provided on Dec. 16) and for software developers and hardware manufacturers it appears that momentum is going their way.

According to Bernstein, the metaverse could represent a $2 trillion annual revenue opportunity, but there is a big question regarding timing: nobody knows exactly when that opportunity will come. Still, that revenue is expected to come from multiple sources — advertising, gaming, software, mobile apps and more — and some is even being spent to some extent today.  

“Companies are already spending to build it [the metaverse] and that costs real capital dollars,” Bernstein Internet analyst Mark Schmulik said on the call. “As they build it, we're already starting to see certain companies like Meta gain traction in hardware sales and related software sales. While it's still too early to draw a line of whether that's going to be successful or not, it's certainly underway.” 

That includes cable and telecom companies, which see the metaverse as another catalyst to drive the need for higher speeds. On the Dec. 10 Bernstein call, cable and telecom analyst Peter Supino noted that he expects 80 million U.S. homes to have at least one way to purchase Gigabit symmetrical service by 2025. 

And while wireless has been capacity constrained in the past, Supino noted that about 500 megahertz of mid-band spectrum has been reallocated by the Big Three carriers (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) to 5G. 

The metaverse also is important to the cloud services business, because connecting as many machines as possible is a big priority. And that need for connectivity could be a potential boon for Dish Network, which has about 100 MHz of fallow wireless spectrum and partnership possibilities with Amazon Web Services, Azure or Google Cloud. 

“Dish is an unencumbered, high capacity link between the industrial metaverse and the cloud service providers that would like to serve and foster it,” Supino said.

But on the media and entertainment side, the benefits of the metaverse aren’t so clear.

Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger admitted he was a “card-carrying” cynic when it comes to the Metaverse, adding that with all the hype surrounding the industry’s latest buzzword, he’s feeling more than a little déjà vu.  

Also: A Deeper Look At the Netflix VR Environment 

“The reason I'm cynical is that I feel like I've seen this before in media and entertainment,” Juenger said according to the transcript. “To me, the metaverse just sounds like a new word to describe an evolution that's naturally happening anyway.”

He then went on to offer an example. Remember 3D? Not too long ago, in the wake of James Cameron’s Avatar, the most successful 3D movie ever made, all content was supposed to be 3D, movies, television, networks began springing up all over the place. In 2010, ESPN was set to launch a 3D channel, Discovery was teaming up with Sony and IMAX to launch a 24-hour linear 3D network with movies, documentaries and children's programming and electronics vendors were scrambling to introduce 3D TVs to satiate what they expected to be tremendous demand. 

I don’t have to tell you what happened, but I’ll let Juenger tell you why it did anyway. 

“A couple years go by and where is 3D, right?,” Juenger said. “It was just [that] consumers didn't like it. They didn't benefit from it. It was almost being forced upon them.”

Sound familiar?

Also: A New Reality Check for VR and AR 

Juenger went on to talk about AR, which was all the rage a few years ago, fueled by Pokémon Go, the mobile game that had young and old alike wandering into traffic to capture little AR anime figures. That was supposed to take the video game business by storm and again, it didn’t. Juenger recalled that while Pokémon Go was a massive success and its still going relatively strong, it remains the go-to example of AR’s supposed takeover of the video game business a half decade after its introduction. 

“It's funny that when we talk about AR when it relates to media, we still have to use Pokémon Go as the example, right?” Juenger said, noting that in the entertainment business, everybody copies everybody else, but so far that hasn’t happened with AR. 

“If AR is a big idea, where are the other AR video games?” Juenger said. “Why do we still have to point to Pokémon Go?”

Juenger wasn’t denying the opportunity that a new and improved metaverse presents. He just believes that the concern as to whether media and entertainment companies will take advantage of it is a bit misplaced.They already seem to be doing it. 

Also: Ripley Says Bally Sports Net DTC Offering Will Be Lean-Forward Experience 

“When it comes to entertainment, I will say the content creation will follow the technology platforms.” Juenger said. “I don't deny that there will be a big advancement in devices people use and [are] using social elements of entertainment, which incorporates elements of what we call the metaverse.”

Juenger, who also follows the video game industry, said that Roblox, the online platform that allows people to play games created by other users, already bills itself as a metaverse. The difference between Roblox games and more traditional games like Grand Theft Auto, he said, is that a user can move his Roblox avatar through different games. 

“I'm not sure you even want to take your GTA persona and move it into a different game, so maybe those will just stay separate,” Juenger said. “In terms of VR and AR games — in VR games, every major publisher makes some — but they all tell you that they just earn the minimum. And the only reason they do it is not really to make money, it's really just to stay involved and to build capabilities in case this takes off.” 

Even Disney has jumped on the metaverse bandwagon, envisioning a merger of the physical and virtual worlds in its theme park experiences, which Juenger said, although a  bit cringe-worthy, probably makes sense. 

“To me, that just sounds like an idea of a Disney video game,” Juenger said, adding that the prevailing wisdom that only huge conglomerates can afford to take advantage of metaverse opportunities may not hold true. 

Sure, the mega-media giants like Disney have all the money, technology and resources and have managed to build huge communities with their brands, but their size can make them slow to react to changes in the business. With development getting easier and faster and distribution barriers being shattered across the landscape, Juenger said some believe it is time to consider smaller, faster, more advanced startups to displace some of their older, larger competitors.    

“This is all still new enough and video games are inherently innovative,” Juenger said. “I would bet on the big IPs. But I think it's an evolution, not a revolution. Video game manufacturers — they've gone through a lot of change already. I think this is just another one.” 

Other analysts have delved into the metaverse conversation, with Evercore ISI Internet analyst Mark Mahaney issuing a 33-page report on December 10 that highlighted the pros and cons of the technology. Pros: there is a lot of money to be made. Cons: It’s going to take a big change in consumer behavior to realize that revenue.

On the plus side, Mahaney said Meta (the former Facebook) is putting its money where its vision is, investing more than $10 billion annually in the concept, has about 3.5 billion monthly users in its family of apps that are already engaging in what is most likely the core use of the metaverse (social media); and has the majority of the VR device business through Oculus Quest. And the pandemic has shown that consumers are willing to interact more online -- Zoom went from 10 million data meeting participants in 2019 to 300 million by April 2020. Roblox has more than 47 million DAUs that average 2.6 hours per day on the platform in Q3 2021, and while VR adoption is still nascent -- about 2% of monthly users on Steam -- it is rising.

But there’s a downside too. According to Mahaney’s report, the biggest question is whether enough consumers will swap “real” reality for virtual reality or whether VR will just be another niche product. And then there is the technology part of the metaverse. Zuckerberg has said that the biggest challenge for the industry is cramming a super-computer into the frame of normal-looking eyeglasses. 

“Ultimately, we need high-fidelity graphics, low latency, with hundreds of millions of concurrent users in real-time at a relatively cheap price point,” Mahaney wrote.

That, to me, is going to be the real deciding factor in this. People have different expectations as to how the metaverse will look and feel and I will bet you that none of them has a basis in the current reality.

The technology industry is really good at driving interest and excitement about technology, but it takes time for these things to deliver what’s being promised. And now they are talking about a technology that in order to work as promised is literally going to have billions of users accessing servers and whatnot simultaneously. Just think of how annoyed you get when Netflix takes too much time to load a movie and multiply that by 1,000 or so when your virtual jaunt through the rainforest crashes into a sea of pixels. 

And then there are the social and privacy aspects. It’s probably a safe bet that to keep the cost of these products and services down, people are going to have to give up a load of personal data. Sure many are doing that already, but you’ve got to wonder how much more everyone is going to have to surrender to make a low-cost metaverse worthwhile. 

And as far as the social impact, while most people have spent a year in isolation, when they get a chance to go out and interact with actual people, they do it in droves. The news is full of stories of people, young and old, that risked going to large gatherings during the outbreak. Heck, just yesterday (December 16), AMC Theaters said that 1.1 million people went outside to an actual movie theater to watch Spiderman: No Way Home, the second largest box office day in AMC’s history  (The Avengers: Endgame was No. 1). 

So I guess what I’m saying is that for the metaverse to really be worth the hype, it has to deliver on its promises. If it doesn’t, it risks turning consumers off of the concept, or at least substantially delaying its acceptance until it resurfaces years later with another name -- my vote is for  Vitametamegaverse (“It’s So Tasty Too!”). And that’s another thing that this industry has seen before.  ■ 

Evergent said its revenue and user management platform will support the Amazon Web Services for Media & Entertainment initiative.

The collaboration will enable Evergent clients to leverage AWS capabilities and services to improve customer management and monetization.

“Our mission at Evergent is to enable our customers to more effectively manage their relationships and improve their monetization processes through a pre-integrated platform tailored to each customer’s business needs,” said Vijay Sajja, founder and CEO of Evergent. 

“Our collaboration with AWS aligns perfectly with this mission by connecting our customers not only with Evergent’s agile monetization solutions, but with the full portfolio of products and solutions available through the AWS for Media & Entertainment initiative,” Sajja said.

For media companies focused on launching and rapidly growing direct-to-consumer (D2C) services, time to market is critical. Working with AWS helps us enable flexible and agile monetization in weeks, not months.”

AWS for Media & Entertainment is an initiative featuring new and existing services and solutions from AWS and AWS Partners, built for content creators, rights holders, producers, broadcasters, and distributors.

The initiative focuses on five areas: Content Production; Direct-to-consumer and Over-the-top (OTT) Streaming; Broadcast; Media Supply Chain & Archive; and Data Science & Analytics. 

With two years to go before it has to light up 70% of the country with its proposed 5G wireless service, Dish Network said it has inked a “strategic collaboration agreement” with online giant Amazon’s Amazon Web Services, selecting Las Vegas as the first city to receive service. 

Dish shares were up 5.4% ($2.01 each) in early trading April 21 to $38.90 per share on the news. The stock was priced at $38.70 per share, up 5% as of 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday.

Dish has been amassing wireless spectrum for years to build out its network, and last year agreed to buy another $3.6 billion worth of spectrum from T-Mobile over three years, part of the conditions imposed by the feds on the larger wireless company’s purchase of Sprint. As part of that deal, Dish has to build out its network to at least 20% of its footprint by 2022 and 70% by 2023, or risk losing those licenses. 

Also Read: Dish: No Partner Needed for 5G Wireless Dance  

The satellite company is basing its 5G offering on Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology, which utilizes a series of small antennas and base stations to deliver service via the cloud. With that tech focus, AWS, the most popular cloud provider on the internet, is a natural partner.   

Also Read: Dish Wireless Pushed Forward 

The selection of AWS is the next step in the long process of building the network. In an email message, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett likened the deal to a similar arrangement AWS has with Verizon. 

“It’s certainly far short of the big strategic partnership people so many people have been waiting for,” Moffett said in the email. “ Strip away the marketing-speak, and the press release is really just an announcement that Dish has chosen AWS as a vendor.  What’s missing is any serious reciprocal commitment from AWS. If anything, it reads as less of a strategic partnership than the one that Verizon already has with AWS.”

Dish said the cloud-based service simplifies the process for developers to create new applications. 

“Through this collaboration with AWS, we will operate not just as a communications services provider, but as a digital services provider harnessing the combined power of 5G connectivity and the cloud,” Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said in a press release. “Together, we will enable our customers to take full advantage of the potential of 5G. Our approach will revolutionize wireless connectivity by giving customers the ability to customize and scale their network experience on-demand. 

“As a new carrier, leveraging AWS and its extensive network of partners enables us to differentiate ourselves by operating our 5G network with a high degree of automation, utilizing the talent of AWS-trained developers and helping our customers bring new 5G applications to market faster than ever before,” he continued.

Dish has been under the gun to start building the service -- it has to build out 20% of its footprint by the end of 2022 -- and in December issued about $2 billion in convertible notes to help fund the buildout. On its March earnings conference call with analysts, Ergen said that offering, coupled with about $4 billion in cash on hand, gives the satellite company sufficient firepower to build the network.

Dish has said it would cost about $10 billion to build its 5G network, a figure that some analysts have feared is too low. 

“DISH’s cloud-native and truly virtualized 5G network is a clear example of how AWS customers can use our proven infrastructure and unparalleled portfolio of services to reinvent industries,” Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy said in a press release. “This collaboration means Dish and its customers can bring new consumer- and enterprise-centric services to the market as quickly as they’re created to deliver on the promise of 5G. Together, we’re opening the door to new technologies that will transform factories, workplaces, entertainment, and transportation in ways people have only dreamed.”

ViacomCBS has agreed to migrate its entire broadcast operational footprint to Amazon Web Services. 

The deal calls for the company to move its complete linear TV wherewithal, including 40 global data and media centers and 425 channels, to the world’s biggest cloud services operation. 

The shift, Amazon said, will enable the broadcaster to “spin up new channels faster, dynamically assemble live content to optimize delivery over any distribution channel, add image and video analysis to applications and automate workflows.”

More Tech: HBO Max’s Forssell on Roku Deal: ‘We’ll Get It Done’ | Google TV Can Now Aggregate From Over 25 Third-Party Apps

ViacomCBS plans to use AWS Elemental media services as well as AWS machine learning technologies. These include Amazon Rekognition, an AWS service that adds intelligent image and video analysis to applications. Also featured is Amazon SageMaker, AWS’s service for building, training, and deploying machine learning models, to quickly scale video processing resources, automate workflows and predict audience preferences.

“With AWS, we will be able to automate and streamline our processes for content production, licensing and distribution to consumer streaming services and innovate faster to deliver improved customer experiences,” said Phil Wiser, executive VP and chief technology officer at ViacomCBS, in a statement. “We are thinking and acting aggressively to build on the major disruptions that ViacomCBS is bringing to the market with our leading global content and services. AWS’s deep portfolio of services will help us unleash the power of content in new and interesting ways that benefit our advertisers, licensing partners and streaming services.”

Video software provider Synamedia has announced that it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services in an effort to accelerate the adoption of cloud TV service worldwide.

Already, Synamedia’s Infinite cloud TV platform is being used by AWS’ Astro in Malaysia and E-Vision, a subsidiary of Etisalat Group, which operates a multicountry, multitenant OTT service.

Infinite is designed to allow video service providers to process, secure, distribute and monetize premium video across all devices, Synamedia says. The platform uses machine learning and AI to deliver a personalized TV experience.

Astro is utilizing Infinite to enhance its service to deliver premium video experiences to its subscribers across all devices. Subscribers can upgrade to new hybrid DTH and IP-enabled 4K UHD set-top boxes with a new UX and Synamedia Cloud DVR.

With E-Vision, the AWS platform currently live in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Infinite provides operators with a state-of-the-art platform to launch and run multiscreen OTT services.

Synamedia and AWS have also announced that they will host a webinar on June 10 at 10 a.m. ET titled “How to Build the New Pay-TV Bundle.” Registration is available online.

This story was originally published in Next TV sibling publication TV Technology.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a new device intended to simplify connecting a live video source to the technology giant’s cloud-based video processing hub.

Retailing for $995, the Elemental Link device sends all video, audio and metadata streams that arrive on its built-in 3G-SDI or HDMI connections to cloud-based AWS Elemental MediaLive servers, with automatic, hands-free tuning that adapts to available bandwidth. Once video is in the cloud, users can access the full lineup of AWS Elemental Media services to process, store, distribute and monetize it.

“In sophisticated environments, dedicated hardware and an associated A/V team can capture, encode, and stream or store video that meets these expectations,” said Jeff Barr, AWS’s chief evangelist. “However, cost and operational complexity have prevented others from delivering a similar experience. Classrooms, local sporting events, enterprise events and small performance spaces do not have the budget or the specialized expertise needed to install, configure, and run the hardware and software needed to reliably deliver video to the cloud for processing, storage, and on-demand delivery or live streaming,” Barr said.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a new device intended to simply the connection of a live video source to the technology giant’s cloud-based video processing hub.

Retailing for $995, the Elemental Link device sends all video, audio and metadata streams that arrive on the built-in 3G-SDI or HDMI connectors to AWS Elemental MediaLive, with automatic, hands-free tuning that adapts to available bandwidth. Once video is in the cloud, users can access the full lineup of AWS Elemental Media services to process, store, distribute and monetize it.

“In sophisticated environments, dedicated hardware and an associated A/V team can capture, encode, and stream or store video that meets these expectations,” said AWS’s “chief evangelist,” Jeff Barr in a company blog post. 

Amazon purchased video tech company Elemental for $500 million five years ago. 

“However, cost and operational complexity have prevented others from delivering a similar experience. Classrooms, local sporting events, enterprise events, and small performance spaces do not have the budget or the specialized expertise needed to install, configure, and run the hardware and software needed to reliably deliver video to the cloud for processing, storage, and on-demand delivery or live streaming.”

Amazon Web Services said it has locked in a deal to be the “preferred” cloud provider for Turner, which will move “thousands” of virtual machines to AWS to create cloud-native apps for networks and partners such as TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, CNN, NCAA and the NBA.

Tied in, Turner will move “decades of content” to the cloud, including a 15-petabyte sized library or CNN archive videos.

Turner, which acquired iStreamPlanet in 2015, will also use AWS for services spanning compute, storage, networking, databases, developer tools, analytics and machine learning.

RELATED: Turner Snaps Up iStreamPlanet

Turner is also tapping into AWS’s cloud as it embarks on an IP and virtualization migration/strategy that will enable the programmer to be more agile and launch a mix of more personalized services.

RELATED: Turner’s Unification Theory (subscription required)

“We’re going through the largest technology transformation since Ted Turner started the company, and the advancements we’re making today are enabling us to reimagine what television can be for our viewers,” Jeremy Legg, Turner’s CTO, said in a statement. “We’re changing our broadcast technology stack to a fully digital, cloud environment built on AWS, which will enable us to adapt to new video delivery models, as well as provide our viewers with more personalized content and advertisements.”

Examples of other AWS partners include corporate cousin Amazon Video, AOL, BBC, C-SPAN, Discovery Communications, Hearst Corporation, Hulu, Lionsgate, Netflix, and PBS.

AWS this week introduced a new suite of media services for its streaming video partners.

RELATED: AWS Unit Introduces Media Services Suite

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a new AWS Elemental Media Services offering that is made up of five integrated services for its wide range of OTT and multiscreen video streaming partners.

AWS, which will use Media Services to tighten competition with companies such as Microsoft and Google, said its latest offering will lean on an on-demand, pay-as-you-go approach for video processing and storage capacity.

The five services comprising Media Services included three based on existing product lines from AWS Elemental and two new ones that “solve bigger challenges” faced by the market, Keith Wymbs, AWS Elemental’s chief marketing officer, explained in media briefing.

The first three include MediaLive (a live compression engine), MediaPackage (just-in-time packaging technology), and MediaConvert (a file-to-file transcoding engine).

Two total new components include MediaStore (video delivery from storage that is optimized for media), and MediaTailor, a targeted ad insertion platform.

MediaTailor, Wymbs pointed out, has been key to the ad delivery Amazon has been using for its streaming coverage of NFL Thursday Night Football.

All five components that make up Media Services can be integrated with third-party business and control systems, he said.

AWS is launching AWS Elemental Media Services about two years after acquiring Elemental Technologies.

RELATED: Amazon Paid $296M for Elemental Technologies

“We believe this is the first time such a deep set of capabilities for media processing and delivery resides in the cloud for native services,” Wymbs said in a statement. “They can be used by any company in the video ecosystem as a core building block for their, or their customers’, video offerings.”

AWS said more than 50 customers are already on board with AWS Media Services. Examples include corporate cousin Amazon Prime Video (including the Thursday night NFL streaming package); BT; Pac-12 Networks; Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited; Nine of Australia; M2A Media; Cinépolis; Imagica Corp. (a Japan-based post-production company for movies and TV shows); and fuboTV, the sports-focused virtual MVPD.

AWS introduced the new offering in tandem with its re:Invent event in Las Vegas.

Stacy Mitchell, an industry vet and long-time public relations and marketing exec at JLM Partners, is leaving the Seattle-based firm to join the PR organization of Amazon Web Services, the cloud video and data unit of Amazon.

Mitchell is joining AWS after 17 years at JLM, formulating and executing communications strategies and managing PR, marketing and events over that span for clients that have been key technology players across the cable, broadband, wireless and telecom industries, including Metrological, NDS (now part of Cisco Systems), Clearwire, BigBand Networks and C-COR (now both part of Arris), VOD tech pioneer nCUBE, Ucentric (sold to Motorola in 2005), thePlatform (now part of Comcast), NetShelter, big data specialist Guavus (sold to Thales earlier this year), and, of recent note, DimensionalMechanics, an A.I. startup, and RDK LLC (the Comcast-Liberty Global-Charter Communications J.V.).

RELATED: Startup Paves Easier Path to A.I.

"Stacy has been a huge part of the JLM heart and soul for over 17 years now,” Louise Mooney, JLM Partners’ co-founder and CEO, said in statement. “She has been at the center of the introduction of new technologies that many consider common place now: VOD, nPVR, multi room DVR, advanced advertising, all the way to today’s industry focus on big data, RDK and artificial intelligence.  She has helped so many companies achieve their goals, whether it was getting acquired, reaching revenue goals, or reshaping their image. Amazon is very lucky to have her, smart, witty and a good soul. Her impact on our team and the industry can't be overstated, and she will be sorely missed.”

Elemental Technologies, the streaming video specialist acquired by Amazon Web Services last year, said shomi is using its cloud-powered platform to power its multiscreen SVOD service for over-the-top devices and set-top boxes.  

Elemental said shomi, the joint venture of Canada’s Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, helped the SVOD service launch and pass subscription targets during its first year of operation. Shomi launched across Canada in August 2015, but has not announced subscription figures for the C$8.99 per month offering. 

Elemental Cloud’s platform, in conjunction with the Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon CloudFront, is helping to underpin shomi’s streaming service, which recently added the Xbox One to its growing list of supported devices. 

Elemental noted that shomi uses the vendor to manage, process, and package large batches of file-based video content for both OTT and VOD delivery. Adaptive bitrate assets are then packaged with corresponding digital rights management (DRM) schemes and stored on Amazon S3 for output to an Akamai content delivery network for a variety of connected devices. 

Comcast Business said it now provides enterprise customers direct links to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

That linkage, via AWS Direct Connect, gives Comcast Business customers private network connectivity to the AWS Cloud services that perform critical processes like production compute and storage, backup, dev/test, collaboration and billing or website hosting, Comcast Business said.

Comcast currently provides business customers with up to 10 Gbps of dedicated Ethernet connectivity to AWS.

"Connecting to a leading provider of cloud services is an advanced IT asset for our enterprise customers, and as CIOs and IT leaders look to expand their use of AWS, our integration with AWS Direct Connect will give them a new Ethernet network option to connect dispersed office locations and data centers," said Denice Hasty, senior vice president of Marketing and Product Management for Comcast Business, in a statement. "A key part of our cloud and data center initiative is to give businesses direct access to cloud providers for increased options and flexibility as they customize their hybrid network strategies."

As a member of the AWS Partner Network (APN), Comcast Business also can connect more than 1 million Ethernet-enabled buildings in the Comcast network to additional AWS services like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Solution (Amazon S3) and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

Comcast Business, which recently launched a unit focused on large enterprise business customers in the Fortune 1000, pulled in $1.25 billion in revenues in Q4 2015, up from $1.05 billion the year-ago quarter.  Comcast ended 2015 as the nation’s fifth-largest U.S. provider of carrier Ethernet services, according to Vertical Systems Group. AT&T was tops, followed by Level 3, Verizon, CenturyLink and Time Warner Cable.

Amazon Web Services, the retailing giant’s cloud video unit, paid about $296 million to acquire video specialist Elemental Technologies, per a 10-Q document filed by Amazon on October 23 (hat tip: @DanRayburn).

That total is well below the $500 million value pegged to the deal by The Information when the agreement was announced on September 3. It also puts it a bit closer in line to the $125 million that Ericsson has put up for Envivio, another multiscreen video processing company.

Founded in 2006, Elemental has raised $41 million, and works with several large customers, including HBO, DirecTV and CBS Interactive, and Comcast, which is using the vendor’s processing and encoding software for its in-home live TV streaming app and cloud DVR for the MSO’s X1 platform. 

Elemental had almost 250 full-time employees when the deal was announced. Amazon is reportedly in talks with programmers about a live OTT video service.