Technology at Work

It’s a fact. Technology is making life easier. At the same time, technology can sometimes be frustrating. And technology in the workplace is no different.

Streaming video is one technology that’s making work life easier. It’s being used for everything from onboarding and executive communications to training and digital signage. It saves time, money and it’s way more interesting than reading an email or instruction manual.

Although some organizations are just dipping their toes in the (streaming video) water, others have embraced it and are searching for new ways to use video within their organizations.

No matter how you’re using video, here’s a hot tip. Your videos are meaningless if people can’t watch them. It takes more than just creating a great video and sending it to people. You need to consider how that video will impact your enterprise network.  

Wainhouse Research’s Steve Vonder Haar talks about the role networking plays in a successful enterprise video strategy. Watch “Strategies for Streaming Success: Enterprise Video Requires Smart Networks” by clicking on the image below.

Video
Distribution

As Steve said, “If no one
sees a video, does it really make an impact on day-to-day business?”

Networking is the foundation for creating the best experience for everyone watching your videos. If you don’t take the steps to protect your network, your viewers could experience buffering or delays. Poor quality makes your video frustrating to watch and the message and/or training hard to absorb. As a result, you’ve missed the opportunity to reach everyone in your organization.

But the impact on
day-to-day business goes beyond viewer experience. It can also have a negative
impact on business-critical operations.

IT executives recognize the risk video has on their network. According to Wainhouse Research, four out of five IT professionals say that it is “very important” or “somewhat important” to “distribute video without harming the corporate network.”¹

So how can you protect your network from live and on-demand video? You could buy more bandwidth, or tell people, “No more videos.” But those aren’t great options for solving your problem. Instead, you could consider an enterprise content delivery network (eCDN).

Choosing the Right eCDN

An eCDN adds software or hardware to the network to help manage and optimize the distribution of bandwidth-intensive video. By routing the flow of video traffic with an eCDN, you can improve performance and reduce or eliminate congestion.

Your audience will enjoy less latency and buffering, faster video start times, and an overall better viewing experience.

What kind of eCDN is right for your enterprise depends on a variety of factors, including the network topology, the type of video(s) you stream, budget and IT policies. The different types of eCDNs are not mutually exclusive and can be deployed in combination with one another.

The three most common eCDN solutions are multicasting, video caching and peer-to-peer distribution. 

Multicast

Multicast solutions
distribute a single video stream across the enterprise network to be watched by
hundreds or thousands of viewers simultaneously.

• Highly-predictable
  network
• Reliable
  over WAN links and Wi-Fi networks
• Requires
  multicast-enabled network
• Requires
  client software on viewing devices

Caching

Video caching solutions
store and distribute video from strategic locations around the network,
typically  close to concentrations of
viewers near the edge of the enterprise WAN.

• Single
  solution for live and VOD
• Supports
  mobile devices
• No
  client software required
• Low
  cost of entry and scales easily

Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

P2P solutions decentralize
video distribution by utilizing resources available in connected personal
devices already on the network. Peers in the network host and distribute
segments  of the video to one another.

• Scales
  based on demand and device availability
• Requires
  firewall access to cloud controller to operate
• Requires
  client software on viewing devices
• Potential
  security risk transmitting data among 
  connected devices

If you want a deeper dive into the different types of eCDNs, read our whitepaper Approaches for Deploying an Enterprise Content Delivery Network .

Ramp
and Enterprise Video Distribution

At Ramp, our sole focus is video distribution behind the firewall. We help organizations of every size deliver unlimited, high-quality video streaming to everyone in their organization. Using multicasting, video caching, or a combination of both, Ramp significantly minimizes the bandwidth required to distribute video.

Our software deploys
entirely behind your firewall for maximum security, scales easily as demand for
video grows, and works with virtually any modern video platform, including industry-leaders
such as Brightcove, Kaltura and Microsoft Stream.

With centralized management, monitoring and analytics, you get unprecedented visibility into and control over network performance to deliver the highest-quality viewer experience.

Learn more about our
solutions:

>> Multicast+

>> OmniCache

Making Video Work Better in Your Workplace

Beyond choosing the right eCDN, there are a number of factors that make streaming video work better in your workplace. Read Wainhouse Research’s Building a Scalable Strategy for Enterprise Streaming . Learn how using the right technology can help you make the most out of video and deliver business impact.

¹Survey Insight: Enterprise Streaming Viewership and Adoption Trends – North America Q4 2019

The post Streaming Video and
Your Network appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Happy Multicast Monday! It’s been a hot minute since our
last Multicast Monday, but it’s time to get back in the swing of things. New
year equals new opportunities. Am I right?

Next week, Ramp is heading to Kaltura Connect: The Video Experience
Conference , from January 22-23, 2020 in New Orleans. So it’s a great time
to talk about Ramp’s commitment to making sure our enterprise video distribution
solutions work well with others.

Interoperability is Important

Demand for video is on the rise. Yet, the type of video
platform you need for global learning and development programs may not work for
all-employee webcasts, executive communications or digital displays in retail
locations.

Like most, you probably have more than one video solution. In
fact, almost two-thirds of respondents to a Wainhouse Research survey say they
agree with the statement that “our organization prefers implementing
best-of-breed video solutions from multiple vendors versus an end-to-end
turnkey platform developed by a single vendor.”¹

So how do you broadcast high-quality video and protect
your business-critical operations? An enterprise content delivery network
(eCDN) is one solution. It optimizes the flow of video travelling across your
network at the infrastructure level. But deploying and managing multiple eCDNs
to cover each streaming platform is an IT nightmare—and fortunately not
necessary.

Ramp eCDN to the Rescue

Ramp’s architecture makes it easy for enterprise streaming
platform providers to integrate Multicast+ into their solutions.
As a result, it’s integrated with a number of enterprise streaming solutions,
including Kaltura, Microsoft, Brightcove and Intrado.

These integrations remove the manual effort involved to
configure Multicast+ to work with deployed instances of a particular platform.
Depending on the level of integration, it also streamlines the experience of
ongoing event management and monitoring.

Some video platform providers offer multicasting as part of
their solution, but most work only with their platform. Multicast+ is the only
vendor-neutral multicast solution for HLS and DASH. It supports any live HTML5
video stream, can generate HLS from encoders supporting RTP, or be combined
with a media server such as Wowza Streaming Engine to ensure complete coverage
from a single enterprise delivery solution.

Multicast+ has also been tested and verified for
compatibility with all the major browser-based video players as well. But here’s
the real kicker. Multicast+ has the ability to optimize video from more than
one platform—at the same time.

Click here to learn more about our growing partner ecosystem . Upon request, we can share with you a complete list of compatible streaming video platforms.

Let’s Not Forget About the Future

We believe an eCDN can and should be able to retrieve and
redistribute video from any video source. That’s the value we bring to our customers.
We give them the freedom to put their existing streaming solutions to work
today, but also have the flexibility to add something new in the future.

You can learn more about the benefits of Multicast+ by reading, Next-Generation Multicast in the Age of HTML5.

Heading to Kaltura Connect?

If you’re heading to Kaltura Connect, we’d love to tell you
more about our solutions in person. You have a few opportunities to meet us at
the event:  

• Visit our booth
• Join us for “Save Your CEO: Broadcasting
  Flawless Live Events Every Time” at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday
• Schedule
  a meeting

¹Survey Insight: Enterprise Video, ITDM Perspectives – North America Q3 2019

The post Multicast+ Integration appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Streaming Video’s Rise in the Enterprise

Demand for enterprise streaming video is growing at an exponential pace. According to a survey conducted by Wainhouse Research, 39% of organizations with 500 people or more are producing live webcasts on a weekly basis¹, which is up from 35% in 2016.

A number of factors are contributing to streaming video’s rise in the enterprise. For some, use of video is driven by the organization’s goals. Whether the goal is to save money on travel, increase employee engagement and development, or usher in a digital transformation, video is typically in the strategy mix. Regardless of the goal, it’s an effective way to reach large, geographically dispersed audiences at once. 

Consumer habits are also driving demand. When was the last time you watched a video on the internet or Facebook? (I bet it was within the last half hour!) According to Cisco’s Visual Network Index (VNI) Forecast, 2017-2022 , total internet video traffic (business and consumer, combined) will be 80% of all Internet traffic by 2022, up from 70% in 2017.

Video has become—and will continue to be—one of the primary ways we consume information both at home and at work.

Technology Made Easier

Probably one of the most significant drivers is the technology itself. Streaming video is more reliable, easier to use and less expensive than it once was. A prime example is Microsoft Stream. Included with the Office 365 productivity suite, Microsoft Stream is making it easier than ever to create, share and access video.

Many of our customers tell us they’re using or plan to use Microsoft Stream for live and on-demand streaming video. Some are using Microsoft Stream for everything. While others will use it along with their existing streaming solutions to meet the various needs of the business. For example, using Microsoft Stream for employee webcasts and separate video players for learning programs and digital signage.

Regardless, Microsoft is garnering a lot of attention with Microsoft Stream. In Wainhouse Research’s Strategies for Streaming Success: Streaming Market in Transition , Steve Vonder Haar takes a close look at the increasingly important role Microsoft is playing in the evolution of enterprise video.

Your
Network on Microsoft Stream

Microsoft
Stream allows you to upload, organize and share both live and on-demand videos
across your organization. But before you unleash the power of Microsoft Stream,
you need to consider what it could do to your network.

Video uses a massive amount of bandwidth, and your network probably isn’t sized to handle hundreds or thousands of video streams at one time. Too much video, and your network gets congested. As a result, business-critical applications slow to a snail’s pace. All of a sudden, you have a new set of problems. 

A sluggish network also means poor quality of experience (QoE) for viewers. A little buffering or latency, and employees will complain, or even worse, stop watching altogether. So much for meeting your company’s goals.

To fix
the problem, you have a handful of options, including:

1. Buy more bandwidth
2. Tell your internal customers, “no more video”
3. Wait and see if your network can handle the
   demand
4. Deploy an enterprise content delivery network
   (eCDN)

Since option “1” could decimate IT’s entire 2020 budget, and options “2” and “3” put your job at risk, “4” is the answer. Let me say that again for the people in the back. You need an eCDN if you’re going to get the most out of Microsoft Stream.

An eCDN optimizes the delivery of bandwidth-intensive media on your network. By intelligently routing the flow of video traffic around the network, it minimizes or eliminates congestion to improve network performance. As a result, your audience enjoys less latency and buffering, faster video start times, and an overall higher quality experience.

Ramp’s Approach

Ramp is 100% focused on video distribution behind the firewall. Our eCDN software reduces network congestion created by live streaming and on-demand video by 90% or more. It’s integrated with Microsoft Stream, Microsoft Teams, Yammer and Skype Meeting Broadcast.

Unlike our competitors, Ramp offers vendor-neutral multicast and video caching solutions. They deploy entirely behind your firewall on existing infrastructure, scale easily as demand for video grows, and maintain your enterprise security policies. With centralized management, monitoring and analytics, you get visibility and control over network performance and an uninterrupted, high-quality viewer experience.

>> Learn more about Multicast+

>> Learn more about OmniCache

Building Your Streaming Strategy

Want to learn how to make streaming video work better in your workplace? Read Building a Scalable Strategy for Enterprise Streaming . In this paper, Wainhouse Research’s Steve Vonder Haar explores how the right technologies can help you leverage the power of video in a way that delivers substantial business impact.

>> Download Wainhouse Research’s whitepaper

¹Survey Insight: Enterprise Streaming Viewership and Adoption Trends – North America Q4 2019

The post Your Network on Microsoft Stream appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Video is playing one of the most important roles for organizations building a digital workplace. With Kaltura’s enterprise video solutions, you can power any video experience, whether you’re responsible for communications, marketing or learning and development.

Layer in Ramp AltitudeCDN , and you can efficiently manage the impact video traffic has on your corporate network. Our integration creates a seamless solution resulting in a high-quality viewer experience.

Join us at Kaltura Connect , taking place January 21-23 in New Orleans, to learn how Ramp is helping every organization tap into the power of streaming video.

Want to learn more? Meet us at Kaltura Connect.

The post Meet us at
Kaltura Connect appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Enjoy a warm cup of holiday cheer—on us!

Although every organization is different, we all strive for continuous improvement. Measuring key performance indicators—or KPIs—is one way to monitor improvements made over time.

Whether you’re using streaming video every day or only using it a few times a year, you’re most likely evaluating your success with a specific set of metrics.

Ramp is solely focused on helping organizations like yours tap into the power of streaming video for business communications, online training and more. That’s why we’re conducting a survey to understand how you measure the success of your internal live and on-demand videos.

Please take our survey, and as a token of our appreciation, we’ll email you a $5 Starbucks electronic gift card.

The survey should take you no more than 5 minutes to complete. At the end, simply provide your email address to claim your electronic gift card—and enjoy a cup of holiday cheer on us.

The post A Coffee for
Your Thoughts appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Are you looking for ways to use video to engage and build deeper connections with your audience? Uncover tools, strategies and resources to achieve your communications and marketing goals at the Intrado Digital Media Showcase on December 4 and 5.

During this virtual event, Ramp will showcase our enterprise content delivery network (eCDN) solutions and answer any questions you have about delivering uninterrupted, high-quality video on your corporate network.

Want to learn more? Meet us at the Intrado Digital Media Showcase!

This event is designed specifically for Marketers, Public Relations, Investor Relations, and Internal Communications professionals who want to engage your audiences in more impactful ways.

Just register online , login and BYOD (bring your own device).

About Ramp

Ramp solutions optimize the way video travels across your company’s network to alleviate network congestion and ultimately improve viewer experience.

Our team will introduce you to Ramp AltitudeCDN , our eCDN solutions for multicasting and intelligent video caching.

Why Ramp?

• Optimizes both live video and video on-demand (VOD)
• Supports mobile, Wi-Fi, VPN and VDI
• Platform neutral–supports virtually any video source, including Intrado
• Solves delivery problems at the infrastructure level
• Insightful analytics
• Deploys 100% behind the firewall
• Enterprise-grade security with end-to-end encryption
• Centralized management and monitoring

See you online!

The post Virtual Event:
Intrado Digital Media Showcase appeared first on Ramp .

To view our Partner blog, click here