On the heals of Limelight Network’s acquisition of Delve Network which I wrote about last week, Brightcove, one of the leading Online Video Platforms (OVP) in the world, today announced that it is ditching Limelight in favor of Akamai, the world’s largest Content Delivery Network (CDN). The agreement between the companies is presented as a wide-ranging alliance to drive quality, performance, and innovation in the online video industry and represents an end-to-end offer that makes high-quality video publishing and distribution easily available for businesses and organizations of all sizes. The two companies have a combined customer base that includes the leading media, e-commerce, and enterprise companies, as well as small businesses around the globe.  The integrated solution is designed to give customers a fast, seamless path to leverage the proven advantages of Akamai's HD Network and Brightcove's feature-rich online video platform to deliver high quality, adaptive bit rate video across Flash and iOS devices. Going forward, Brightcove will provide the Akamai HD Network as a bundled component of the Brightcove online video platform service. The deal is sure to be a blow to Limelight but hardly a surprising one after its acquisition of Delve Networks last week. Meanwhile, the deal represents a great win for Akamai as Brightcove brings with it a bunch of media customers as well as small and medium sized enterprise customers from around the world. As this deal brings together a leading OVP with a leading CDN it represents the highest profile deal to date in our opinion and give further impetus to the convergence trend between the CDN industry and the OVP industry that we have been predicting for some time. Martin Olausson Client reading: Online Video Platforms: Battling for Supremacy in a Fiercely Competitive Market

Limelight Networks, one of the leading Content Distribution Networks (CDN) in the world, acquired Online Video Platform Delve Networks earlier this week for an estimated $10 million in a mixture of stock and cash. The acquisition illustrates a growing trend of convergence between the CDN and the OVP industry. As we wrote in our recent report on the Online Video Platform (OVP) industry, there’s a growing number of smaller OVPs which generate an increasing amount of revenues by serving Content Distribution Networks (CDN) directly. As many video content owners are reluctant to deal with multiple vendors and suppliers in the video delivery process, CDNs have started to offer their clients bundled video management and delivery solutions by using OVPs' software and paying license fee. It is noteworthy that OVPs and CDNs are both symbiotic and competitive in the value chain as they both provide some parts of the services needed for online video delivery. On one hand, a partnership between OVP and CDN is necessary to serve clients' video delivery needs; on the other hand, both sides are adding new features to their existing services and are trying to commoditize the other so that one can be more differentiated and maintain a premium price when negotiating deals with clients. We expect to see many more deals like the Limelight/Delve one in the coming year as both OVPs and CDNs try to enhance their ability to offer flexible and increasingly sophisticated solutions to a progressively divergent set of customer needs. Martin Olausson

As the US government is investigating Goldman Sachs' case in which the financial titan allegedly materially misstated and omitted facts in disclosure documents for a synthetic CDO product, many financial industry analysts claim that the financial service industry has not innovated anything for its customers in the past 40 years except the ATM machines. Unlike the financial service industry, the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) sectors have been at the forefront of all kinds of innovation for many years. And again at this year's NCTA The Cable Show 2010 in Los Angeles, a myriad of innovation demonstrated here has shown us that the media, cable and technology industry is still marching ahead with strong momentum. The big themes here this year, probably similar to many other media and technology trade shows, are home 3D and TV Everywhere technologies. 3D technology has been hyped for sometime, with the movie Avatar pushing it to a recent peak in real user consumption. Followed by Alice in Wonderland, How to Train Your Dragon and more new 3D movie releases, 3D's initial success in movie theaters is undeniable. But more problems emerge when it comes to the mainstream home adoption of 3D technology, such as the lack of content support, the hassle of wearing a glass and consumers' willingness to pay for 3D. Technology providers are fearless for these problems, with companies like Motorola, Ericsson, NDS, OpenTV and a lot more demonstrating their development and commitment in this realm. Meanwhile, the atmosphere under the theme is a little different from the hyped 3D world. When we talk to executives from various firms in cable and technology industry, most of them acknowledge that the mainstream home 3D adoption will take longer than we think, as the industry makes effort to address the problems pertaining to 3D in the home. Therefore, it is reasonable that 3D technology will continue its evolution as the next growth area for the industry while its entry to most of our homes might take over ten years to be realized. TV Everywhere is another major topic at The Cable Show 2010. TV Everywhere here not only refers to the initiative which the cable industry in working on, but also touches upon anythings that could enable users to watch videos on any device anytime anywhere. Major cable companies continues their progress on the project, which offers their existing cable subscribers to watch the programs they already subscribed to on any device they want. The Wimax-based 4G network provider Clearwire, Sprint, Time Warner Cable and Comcast's 4G service partner, is rolling out its service in increasing number of US cities. The 4G network with higher bandwidth comparing to current 3G network could help users consume more traffic intensive content, such as HD video and video games, on the go. Echostar's Slingbox forges ahead the place-shifting TV service. In addition to the consumer product line, the place-shifting technology is integrated to its set-top-boxes, allowing operators to deliver a seamless place-shifting experience across TV, computer, and mobile devices. Furthermore, the online video platform industry carries forward their services helping cable and media firms improve their online video delivery process. While it is exciting to see all these innovation going on at the show, it is believed that the mainstream adoption of consuming any media content anytime anywhere are still going to take years to consummate. Jia Wu

The "Three Screen Convergence" concept has been getting buzz for years in the telecom and media industry. While all the three screens are important elements in our daily lives now, the TV screen is still quite different from the other two screens - the mobile phone screen and the computer screen. We've all witnessed the abundance of software running on our computers and the exuberance of emerging mobile apps driven by iPhone. But little technological change has happened in the TV industry for decades, merely getting bigger screens and higher resolution. But the trend of connecting Laptops to TV sets has been heating up, with some industry researches showing that about 70% - 80% US Internet users would like to connect their computers to the TVs. Now rumors suggest that technology giants, such as Google, Intel and Sony, are gearing up for an early entry in the TV market. As an open platform advocate, Google's Android OS is getting some momentum and its Chrome OS for computer is supposed to be released this year. So is Google going to launch an OS for TV? It remains unclear whether the platform will work on a set-top-box, on a traditional computer or be embedded in the TV sets, but it is highly likely that Google will do something in the lucrative $378 billion TV market, given the common belief that all TV content will be delivered through IP protocol in the future. I would not be surprised if Google simply modifies Chrome OS to fit in the TV environment, making TV as an extension of your computer at home. No matter how the TV OS is going to be structured, it is vital for the success of the TV OS to have robust apps supporting it. There is no doubt that TV apps will take off quickly once an open TV platform is out in the market, as evidence can be found from the skyrocketing of iPhone apps. "Three Screen Convergence" would be more realistic after we have similar experience on all the three screens. I can't envision how Google will play out in the TV market given so many uncertainties, but if they can successfully implement their strategy, the extended search presence in TV market would lead Google to a rejuvenation of explosive growth. Meanwhile, the new TV platform could be a disruptive force for the traditional cable industry who merely serves as a pipe for delivering TV content. I'm pretty sure that a new TV era is dawning very soon, and my next question will be - Where can I download the Doodle Jump app to my TV? Jia Wu Client Reading: Global Audiovisual Market Forecast

Sony has introduced what it calls a new device category at CES 2010: the “Personal Internet Viewer”. This takes the form of Dash, a small, 7” touch screen internet access device with WiFi access to the home network. It will launch in April 2010 and retail at $199. Dash is based on Flash technology, so, “for Flash, get Dash”. Dash is based on Chumby’s internet service. It currently features more than 1000 internet services and applications across social networking, news, music and video, and can access video from Sony’s Bravia internet video platform. It can run multiple applications simultaneously. One drawback is that it is only mains-powered, so in-home portability is out of the question. Nevertheless we felt this was a very nice implementation of a simple to use, and relatively inexpensive internet access device. At $199 it could well become a favourite for kitchens and bedrooms. We were also impressed with the progress made by Plastic Logic, a company originating from the well-known hub for advanced display technologies – Cambridge in the UK. PL was showing off its QUE ProReader e-reader. At $649 the product is aimed very much at the professional needing to access multiple documents on the move, such as newspapers, books, newsletters and reports. Barnes and Noble is behind the QUE bookstore, and connectivity is via WiFi and AT&T’s 3G network. The device is extremely thin, light and easy to read, and battery life is supposedly several days in normal use. If volume sales lead to cost efficiencies and price declines this technology could find its way into the mass market. In the meantime the company is looking towards adding colour and eventually video capabilities. Client Reading: Consumer Imperatives for Digital TV Media Browsers

How much is a cable-free TV worth? That’s the key question for TV manufacturers and technology vendors as they seek to stir interest once again in the concept of wire-free TVs and peripheral devices. While few consumers will have noticed, it’s been possible for a few years to connect high definition devices like set-top boxes and Blu-ray Disc players to HDTVs without using a cable. The technology has been built in to a few very high-end TVs from Sony and others, but at enormous cost. In fact, with 40” LCD TVs retailing at $600 or less, it can cost considerably more than that just to retrofit a wireless HD set-up. Clearly only those most passionate about clutter-free homes are likely to see the value in spending $1000 or more to remove one cable from their AV system. Until the costs come down dramatically it seems that wireless HD is likely to remain entrenched in its niche market. Those obstacles won’t stop two key wireless HD technology proponents from getting their messages across as CES 2010 approaches. We’ve published several times about this particular tech standards battle over the past few years. The conclusions in our 2007 review look pretty accurate with the benefit of two and a half years’ hindsight. At that time we didn’t expect much standards clarity or indeed volume in the market much before 2010, and that’s more or less how things have panned out. There are two major technology developers: Amimon, which supports the WHDI standard, and SiBeam, which backs WirelessHD. Behind each vendor is a selection of familiar names from the consumer electronics industry, with several appearing on both sides. For this reason alone it’s been difficult to predict the eventual outcome of this battle, if indeed one solution eventually comes to dominate the market. Sony in particular has flirted with both camps, and although it has recently indicated increased support for WirelessHD, executives have suggested they are still uncertain about the longer term potential for wireless HD technologies in general. According to Sony, the price increment is the main barrier to wider adoption. Amimon has also announced progress in the past few days, with the introduction of WHDI PC modules aimed at netbooks and notebooks. WHDI-HDMI adapters will also be launched so that HDMI devices can be enabled for wireless HD. Consumer products are expected to reach the market next year. Apart from the main technical differences between the two standards – one being that WHDI uses 5GHz, WirelessHD 60GHz – a key debating point is whether whole-home signal distribution has significant value. The WHDI camp pushes this as one its main advantages. Personally this strikes me as a strange argument: most peripheral devices will support one display at any one time, wherever they are placed in the home. There may be some demand for devices which support multiple displays (whole-home DVRs, for example), but these are likely to be an expensive alternative to buying multiple devices. The main user advantage of wireless HD technologies seems to me to be removing the wires within a single AV system, and both technologies do this job. The other arguments inevitably have focused on quality and performance, and these are always tough to judge from an independent perspective. I’m sure we’ll hear more from both camps over the coming weeks and during CES itself. But until they can guarantee more realistic consumer price points wireless HD solutions are likely to remain a distant prospect for mass market success. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: HDTV: Standards Muddle Clouds Outlook For Wireless Displays Technorati code: XRKDPAZFT879

Strategy Analytics’ recent user experience study concludes that there is a clear opportunity for developers to fill the need for more advanced TV remote controls, especially as TVs and TV peripheral devices add web functionality to the big screen. In particular we found that there was strong interest in a remote control which integrates a touch screen. Respondents would also value access to a full QWERTY keyboard so that browsing and using web sites becomes slicker than is possible with a standard numerical keypad TV remote. Some specialist manufacturers, such as Logitech, have been developing advanced TV remote controls for many years. While these have done a good job, at a price, of bringing control of multiple products through one handheld device, they have yet to successfully solve the challenge of offering easy interaction with increasingly complex TV interfaces on the big screen. I have also previously discussed innovative approaches from Hillcrest Labs, which we also researched in our latest study. The growing interest in touch screens apparently reflects the increased prevalence of touch screen-based mobile phones and other devices. Consumers are clearly becoming more comfortable with the touch screen experience in general, in spite of certain limitations, and it seems likely that this will find its way increasingly into remote control devices for consumer electronics products. CE manufacturers may protest that people are not willing to pay for these capabilities, but our research suggests that, for more sophisticated users at least, prices as high as $300-400 for an advanced device are not necessarily a barrier to purchase. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: Touchscreen Controllers Set to Drive the Connected TV Experience

At this week’s Ceatec event in Tokyo Sony will introduce a prototype single-lens 3D professional video camera, the first of its kind. The technology operates at a frame rate of 240fps which offers, according to Sony, the smoothest possible motion even with fast-moving sports footage. Our previous posts have identified one of the key challenges of 3D TV and video, namely adapting the production material to the ocular peculiarities of different viewers. When zooming and focusing using the current two-lens approach, human eyes are particularly sensitive to any discrepancies between the two images in quality, vertical alignment or other parameters. Complex processing is required to minimise these problems, and Sony claims that its system removes the need for such procedures. Sony’s prototype system allows incoming light to be separated into left and right images, which are then processed separately. Sony claims that, because the two images are captured at precisely the same time, 3D images are “natural and smooth” and can cope with rapid movement. Whether two- or single-lens, the need for improved 3D camera technologies is clear, so Sony should be applauded for taking 3D another step towards the mass market. Whether this innovation solves the problems it claims to, without introducing others, will only become apparent as it reaches commercial status. We fully expect other professional video firms to be working fervently on their own solutions and look forward to commercial implementations over the coming months. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: Digital Media Devices Global Market Report

The good news for 3D TV proponents, in spite of the technical, business and creative challenges that lie ahead, is that they won’t have to worry about holographic technologies as a competitor for quite some time. Judging by the world’s first public demonstration at NAB by Japan’s NCIT (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) of its electronic holograph, we will be lucky to see any consumer implementations of holographs in my lifetime, and possibly in my children’s as well. The demonstration involved an installation of multiple beams and reflectors across an area the size of a small room, the results of which bleeding edge technology were to produce a tiny holographic image of perhaps a couple of inches across. The image was a poorly defined representation of a revolving cube, and was only visible within a carefully designated viewing angle; any slight deviation meant that it disappeared from view. This is not intended to diminish the efforts of the Japanese researchers, who clearly have a very long term perspective as they evolve advanced technologies for the century ahead. But the NCIT spokesmen were happy to admit that holographs were unlikely to become commercially viable within the next ten years, and then only for limited applications. A major challenge for this technology, as well as for other advanced display techniques, appears to be the lack of ultra high resolution display technologies. It looks like the flat panel display, whether 2D or 3D, is here to stay for many years to come. Twitter: twitter.com/DavidMercer_SA Client Reading: Western Europe Digital Television Forecast: 1H'09