When the big guns are in, you know that whatever it is they’re banding together for is something really important. The Alliance for Open Media has been formed by some of the biggest names in video streaming, namely Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix. Their goal is to now create a single open format that all member companies will be able to adapt for their respective services as the industry continues to grow.
The purpose for the creation of this alliance is to band together in trying to find the next-generation video format that the industry needs in order to meet the demand for “top-quality video, audio, imagery, and streaming across devices of all kinds and for users worldwide.” Whether it’s creating media codecs, coming up with a new format, and sharing technology, all of these need to come together to find that new format that will make streaming video even stronger than it already is now.
Their first step is to create a list of requirements for the next-generation format. It has to be:
• Interoperable and open;
• Optimized for the web;
• Scalable to any modern device at any bandwidth;
• Designed with a low computational footprint and optimized for hardware;
• Capable of consistent, highest-quality, real-time video delivery; and
• Flexible for both commercial and non-commercial content, including user-generated content.
Now as to how long it will take them to come up with this new format and how well these competitors will play well together, that is still up in the air. But having that single format would be great not just for them but for the customers as well. However, some are already skeptical about the true nature of this alliance, saying that “open media” is just a fancy term for DRM.
VIA: SlashGear
