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 has announced the rollout of a new cloud-based service for the contribution, distribution and secure sharing of live video.

Just emerging from a private beta, AWS Elemental MediaConnect is already touting a client list that includes The Pac 12 Network, Discovery, ITV and Arqiva,

The “console”-based workflow service allows broadcasters of live content to ingest their video into the cloud, securely transmitting it to distribution parters, or replicating it to multiple destinations.

“Basically, it’s a robust, flexible secure, transport service for sharing video into the cloud, around the cloud and out of the cloud,” said Aslam Khader, chief product officer for AWS Elemental, speaking to MCN. “It’s a console service, with fully managed capabilities. It’s auto scaling and self healing, and you pay as you go. Customers only pay when they turn on the service, and they stop paying when they turn it off.”

Content creators are increasingly turning to cloud-based service providers for video workflow management, given the efficiency and cost saving relative to building and managing expensive production workflow infrastructures.

Among the service’s users, AWS said UK communications infrastructure company Arqiva has been using MediaConnect to power its recently launched virtualized OTT and on-demand media management services.

Discovery, meanwhile, has also transitioned most of its workflows to AWS.

“The cloud helps us reduce physical infrastructure spending and we are excited to use the capabilities of AWS Elemental MediaConnect to reliably bring broadcast quality content to the AWS Cloud. It opens the door more fully to leverage cloud-native distribution to partners and affiliates as we take our content around the globe on all platforms,” said Brinton Miller, exec VP of technology ttrategy for Discovery, Inc. 

Amazon is denying a Bloomberg Businessweek report that said the Internet company’s AWS Elemental cloud video unit unwittingly integrated servers with spy chips secretly inserted by the Chinese government into the networks of clients including the CIA.

The report said that AWS Elemental, Apple and other U.S. companies purchased motherboards from San Jose, Calif.-based Super Micro Computer Inc. (aka “SuperMicro”) that, without their knowledge, included tiny chips inserted by Chinese operatives in the manufacturing process.

"As we shared with Bloomberg BusinessWeek multiple times over the last couple months, at no time, past or present, have we ever found any issues relating to modified hardware or malicious chips in SuperMicro motherboards in any Elemental or Amazon systems," Amazon said in an emailed statement. "Additionally, we have not engaged in an investigation with the government.”

Related: Amazon Web Services Snaps Up Elemental

Amazon purchased Elemental Technologies for $296 million in September 2015, adding a cloud video company that had a client list that included media companies Comcast, HBO and CBS Interactive, as well as national security ties to the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Navy.

As part of that purchase, Bloomberg reported, Amazon asked Elemental to ship some of its servers to a third-party security auditor. That auditor reportedly found tiny, rice-grain-sized chips on motherboards manufactured by Super Micro—chips that security experts said could only be included in the manufacturing stage.

These chips would allow malicious operators backdoor access to the networks that integrated them. Bloomberg said a “top secret” investigation into the matter is still ongoing.

In a separate statement provided to Bloomberg, Amazon said, “It’s untrue that AWS knew about a supply chain compromise, an issue with malicious chips, or hardware modifications when acquiring Elemental.”

Apple, meanwhile, told the news service, “On this we can be very clear: Apple has never found malicious chips, ‘hardware manipulations’ or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server.”

A Super Micro spokesman, meanwhile, added. “We remain unaware of any such investigation." 

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.

Sam Blackman, the founder of Elemental Technologies, a Portland, Ore.-based cloud video startup acquired by Amazon Web Services in 2015, died over the weekend “from apparent cardiac arrest,” The Oregonian reported. He was 41. 

Founded in 2006, Elemental Technologies tabulated a client list that included Comcast, Sky, HBO, DirecTV and CBS before it was acquired Amazon Web Services for $296 million. Elemental had almost 250 full-time employees at the time the deal was announced.

RELATED: Amazon Paid $296M for Elemental Technologies

Blackman stayed with the company as CEO following the deal. Elemental Technologies rebranded as AWS elemental in mid-April.

AWS Elemental has been asked for comment. "Right now we are focused on supporting Sam's family,” the company said in a statement to The Oregonian, which noted that the company last week had moved into a new headquarters building located in downtown Portland. The paper added that Blackman was an “enthusiastic runner and ultimate disc player” and “typically biked to work at Elemental from his home in Northwest Portland.”

Update: The Blackman family released this statement on Tuesday: 

“Sam died peacefully yesterday surrounded by his loved ones. In his private life, he cherished his family, and in his public life he cherished his community and the business he founded, Elemental Technologies. He was a passionate advocate for community service who rallied so many towards a greater good for the environment, hunger, education and inclusion. We are thankful to all those who have shared their thoughts and prayers for Sam. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time of grief.”

Blackman’s company has been on the cutting edge of OTT and video streaming. In April at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Blackman was on hand when AWS Elemental played a pivotal role in delivering a live 4K stream from the International Space Station that was a co-production of the vendor, NAB and NASA.  

Prior to co-founding Elemental, Blackman designed integrated circuit products for Pixelworks, and was previously an engineer at Silicon Graphics and Intel Corp. He earned an M.B.A. from University of Oregon, an M.S. in electrical engineering from University of California at Berkeley and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Brown University.

 Oregon Governor Kate Brown commented on Blackman’s passing, calling him a “beacon of Oregon’s tech community.”

"Sam brought energy, innovation, and jobs to an important and fast growing sector of Oregon's economy,” Brown added. “But, more importantly, he did so with a commitment to Oregon's values. As CEO of Elemental and later with Amazon, he led the company to grow financially while engaging civically on issues like education, hunger, and the environment. Sam's approach made Oregonians stronger while helping build the economy that they rely on. My heart is with his family and friends today, and I thank him for the important contributions he made to the entire state."