Top 7 Benefits of Migrating to a Cloud Streaming Platform (Update)
More and more video producers are choosing to migrate their streaming solution from on-premises servers to cloud-based platforms. Why? A cloud-based infrastructure is less expensive, more secure and increases efficiency. One of the most important reasons for video publishers is being able to quickly scale up or down in a variety of resolutions, which results in a higher quality streaming experience for your viewers. By 2025, 85% of enterprises will have used a cloud-based approach for the following reasons:
Fewer IT Costs
- Less development and IT management required from your team.
- A cloud streaming platform eliminates the need to build your own cluster of servers for scaling.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Less server maintenance & fewer hardware requirements.
- Decreased operating expenses (OpEx). Convert instead to a capital expense (CapEx) model of business.
- Only pay for what you need with SaaS.
More Secure
- Cloud SaaS providers maintain current security regulations & standards with built-in protection.
- Eliminates need to build your own security solution.
Here at Wowza, our Streaming Engine is a robust and reliable on-premises server, but our new integrated cloud platform, Wowza Video, can simplify your workflow and allow you more time to focus on what you want to accomplish with your video streams. Because it’s built on the Wowza Streaming Engine software, you benefit from the same power and features of Streaming Engine, but with the efficiency of streaming on a SaaS service.
For anyone looking to integrate video into their products and services, Wowza Video has it all.
You may be surprised to find there are several advanced Streaming Engine workflows that you can configure directly in Wowza Video. The added bonus? These require less development time and fewer costs.
Some of these features and capabilities include:
- Video on Demand Streaming
- Digital rights management (DRM)
- End-to-end WebRTC workflows
- Schedule a stream within Cloud’s UI
- Ingest metadata
- Support for MPEG-DASH
- Closed captions using onTextData and CEA-608
- Stack multiple streams on a single server to optimize costs
- Managing your stream easily via our REST API
Wowza Video accepts video from nearly any encoder or IP camera, transcodes that video in the cloud, and delivers a high-quality stream in multiple bitrates that can be watched in a customizable player on virtually any device. You don’t have to purchase or maintain hardware or install or run software locally. You pay only for the resources you use, and broadcast to audiences large or small with speed and reliability. In addition, because Wowza Video is built on a CDN, you can leverage features such as token authentication, geo-blocking, and redundant playlists.
As you can see, you certainly have a lot of strong reasons to make the switch to the cloud, but here are our top seven reasons to consider migrating your streaming architecture to Wowza Video:
1. The Scaling Power of a CDN
Potential spikes and surges in viewership require a scaling plan. This is where a CDN can be your best friend. Because Wowza Video is built upon a CDN, it can deal with unpredictable demands in real time and swiftly accommodate your scaling needs. Rather than build your own distribution plan with the CDN of your choice, you can let Wowza Video do all the work for you and leverage the power of our global distribution points. The CDN which Wowza Video is built upon uses a large network of edge servers placed strategically around the globe to distribute content quickly.
This is another powerful example of where you can reduce the amount of time spent managing your streaming solution and let us handle the scaling for you.
The Wowza Video algorithms will monitor and adjust accordingly, letting you spend more time interacting with viewers or building revenue-generating features. A poor scalability plan can result in a low-quality streaming experience, so this should be a top priority in your streaming strategy.
2. Easily Configure Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR)
Wowza Video offers a great deal of agility. Its automatic creation of ABR files ensures a seamless streaming event for viewers — no matter their device or network conditions. As opposed to manually creating a SMIL file with multiple bitrate and resolution renditions in Streaming Engine, our Wowza Video service does the work for you.
It’s worth noting that adaptive bitrate streaming can also help minimize distribution costs. By limiting the bandwidth required to deliver streams across a CDN, distributors optimize connectivity expenses.
3. Larger Bandwidth and Speed
Having sufficient bandwidth is critical for video producers so viewers don’t experience a choppy or buffering stream. One of the most powerful benefits of streaming on a Cloud platform is they typically provide a fairly large amount of bandwidth for your scaling needs and hi-definition streams. If you’re doing adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), where you create multiple renditions of your source video, it adds to the bandwidth requirements for distribution of your video. It’s typically recommended you have at least twice the bandwidth of your source bitrate or even higher for 4K resolutions.
Wowza Video offers an efficient advantage over securing enough bandwidth through your local internet service provider (ISP) or potentially dealing with unhappy viewers because you couldn’t offer the stream quality they expected. Keep in mind that with Wowza Video, you’ll only pay for the bandwidth you use, which can potentially be a more cost-effective approach.
4. Built-In Security and Content Protection
Wowza offers content protection at every step of the workflow in both Streaming Engine and Wowza Video. You can be sure that your content is safe no matter which product you use.
Recent news stories drive home the reality that faster and more effective bot and hacker technology is constantly emerging. That’s why securing your video stream has never been more important. If you have a subscription service, security is also critical to ensure that your streaming playback link can’t be shared with unauthorized viewers.
Building a robust and secure streaming solution can require a combination approach for both on-premises servers and cloud-based features. We suggest integrating several security options for the highest level of stream protection. This is where Wowza Video can really save you a sizable amount of time. Configuring security through the UI or the Wowza Video REST API can be both straightforward and easy.
Rather than building out each security component in Wowza Streaming Engine, you’re able to utilize several built-in security options in Wowza Video.
These include:
- SSL (publish and playback)
- HTTPS streaming
- DRM encryption
- Token Authentication
- IP Blocking/Allowing
- User Authentication
- Geo-blocking
5. Cost-Effective Solution
We’ve highlighted a few of the benefits of using Wowza Video above, but it always depends on your specific use case and streaming needs. Some streaming organizations with more advanced security needs or customization might find Streaming Engine to be the better choice.
The most important points to consider when deciding between an on-prem or cloud server are your resources and desired cost model. With a cloud-based platform, you’re able to simplify your architecture and reduce the amount of time internal resources spend monitoring your streaming solution.
Simply put, a cloud streaming platform lowers your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and allows you more time to build the streaming solutions your customer needs. Some customers have even been able to save 30% or more on their streaming.
Without having to manage every detail of their streaming event, video publishers have more time to interact with their viewers in live chat or focus their attention on revenue-generating ads and subscriptions. With minimal setup, fewer hardware requirements, and the option to pay for only what you need, Wowza Video can certainly be a cost-effective solution.
6. Single-Vendor Platform/API
Our new CMS feature means you no longer have to manage multiple vendors to set up your live stream or VOD application. Our real-time analytics are available in one dashboard for live, VOD, and live to VOD. In a fast-paced business world, streaming needs to be simple and our new Wowza Video UI is the solution for any business integrating video into their overall strategy.
Wowza Video uses one common API, which this reduces the complexity of your overall streaming architecture. We’re excited to announce that we now offer the Wowza Video REST API in multiple languages such as Python and Java, streamlining your workflow even further. A single-vendor platform allows you to seamlessly integrate new features and capabilities. Last but not least, it allows you to monitor the quality of your stream from one location. The advantage of viewing the stream health data metrics in one single dashboard is that it allows you to troubleshoot more efficiently should an issue arise with your video stream.
7. More Time to Focus on Revenue
Without managing every detail of their streaming event now they’ve migrated to the cloud, video publishers have more time to interact with their viewers in live chat or focus their attention on revenue-generating ads and subscriptions. Live streaming monetization comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, but whichever approach you use, you’ll have more time to focus on generating revenue through your streams.
Summary
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to consider shifting from an on-premises streaming server to a cloud-based solution.
Luckily, we’re here to talk you through the process.
Book Time With Our Experts
Right now, we’re offering a free one-hour technical consultation with a solutions engineer to evaluate your workflows and see if migrating to Wowza Video is the right move for you.
Book time with a solutions architect today.
You can also explore our new Wowza Video platform including the REST API with our free 30-day trial.