Akamai to open up for rich media

Akamai Technologies plans to publicly offer reference designs for its new rich-media distribution system this summer.

The system, called Stream OS, outputs rich media such as video automatically in multiple formats, so content providers don't have to manually reformat outgoing content for each type of recipient. It was officially made available on Monday.

Opening up the reference designs will enable content providers to create customized media players, using players like Windows Media or Flash, for receiving content via Akamai's Stream OS system.

CBS announced on Thursday that Akamai will provide the delivery platform for its new content distribution network.

"I think everyone realizes that not everyone will come to them, to their site. Viral distribution is not something that is going away," said Suzanne Johnson, senior product marketing manager at Akamai.

The content management and distribution system for rich media allows content producers to auto-code and distribute video to partners while retaining control over digital rights management. It has Web-based forms for scheduling updates and dealing with link-based syndication.

Akamai acquired the technology for the media distribution tool when it recently purchased Nine Systems, according to Johnson.

The metadata attached to video and audio content in the Stream OS system includes rules and cues for how the content should be distributed, as well as descriptions for search engines. The system is compatible with Yahoo's MRSS, the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) equivalent for video and audio, among others. Stream OS also does metrics reporting, so content producers can track where their content goes and what kind of customers read it.

"Metadata is the key to how data gets searched, but it is also the key to who has access to it and how," said Johnson.

Stream OS also supports widgets. People can make widgets with changing video to use with their desktop or MySpace page, as long as the content provider allows it in its distribution rules.