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Wowza has provided the backbone for online video streaming for many years, more often than not behind the scenes for streaming platforms using their engine. They have come forward to offer a complete, cloud-based solution for streaming, taking your input as source to giving you worldwide coverage with unlimited streams.

In time with the NAB conference in April 2015 I had the chance to get a pretty complete demo by Chris Knowlton, VP and Streaming Media Evangelist for Wowza Media Systems, of setting up and running a streaming broadcast that can work from a wide variety of sources, including mobile devices, in a matter of minutes.

You can watch the entire demo, which also takes in changes to the Wowza Streaming Engine that make it easier to set up, to get to the heart of the matter: the Wowza Streaming Cloud.

Wowza Streaming Cloud visual

In brief, the Streaming Cloud starts from your input feed, transcodes it, and then offers it for anywhere from local to worldwide delivery in player configurations that range from their own (including a customizable web page) to any player of your choice. If it seems simple, I would say it is, requiring filling out some online screens to set up, and then generating the feed.

This is not an editing suite, that would all need to be done before your content gets into the stream, but there are options to manage branding and advertising within the stream as it goes out to your audience.

If you want to go directly to the demo of setting up and sharing a stream, go to the 10:33 minute mark in the video above. You’ll see that a streaming instance was created and online for viewing (with an explanation of each step) in less than 10 minutes.

Simplicity and control for the user (small sized or large) is Wowza’s goal and they very open to your feedback.

Try the trial at http://cloud.wowza.com, and let us know what you think.