Day 1: XDN and the Future of Live Streaming Video

First and foremost, we want to thank everyone that joined us and stuck it out through some of the technical issues we experienced. This kind of cutting-edge technology is prone to have a few hiccups along the way. We’ve been working on those and hope to have everything sorted out for the second day.

The streaming industry’s first virtual XDN Summit took place today, February 9. Examining the convergence of video streaming innovations and experience delivery network (XDN) capabilities across multiple industries, we took a close look at the current needs of modern live streaming and contrasted those with the capabilities of a traditional content delivery network (CDN). As CDNs were designed around the delivery of static content, it turns out they can’t handle the low latency, scalable, multidirectional streaming that is necessary for the next generation of dynamic live streaming experiences.

“The Pandemic did not cause a revolution, it’s an evolution.” —Darren Lepke, Verizon Media

During our first day, we heard from some of the leading innovators of XDN technology, including AWS, Verizon Media, Eventuall™, Xilinx, and DigitalOcean.

Chris Allen (Red5 Pro) kicked off the day with a quick introduction to the XDN concept. We then moved on to an exciting use case with On Air Systems and AWS Wavelength covering their live air show application. Spectators can watch live video feeds from inside the cockpit as the pilots fly the planes in formation.

The first panel with Sean Gardner (Xilinx), Ari Evans (Maestro), Al Sene (DigitalOcean), and Scott Clay (Eventuall™) observed the impact of XDN capabilities on live-streamed events, allowing fans to engage in virtual performances within venues and halls. Like never before, these features are enhancing the experience of back and forth interaction between performer and audience to recreate the electric atmosphere of a cheering crowd. Also discussed were the early deployment of 5G in South Korea where cloud gaming and interactive ecommerce apps are really popular.

Eventuall™ provided an illuminating demo of their live-event platform and all the improvements they offer over traditional — boring — one-way streaming including the ability to bring in a live video feed from an audience member to ask a question.

After presentations from two of our sponsors — DigitalOcean discussing their affordable cloud platform and Verizon Media discussing the ongoing evolution of OTT streaming — we heard from Mike Downey (Microsoft), Andrew Heimbold (Singular), Bruce Zeiper (Southworks), Marc Todd (Skreens), and Darren Lepke (Verizon Media) who demonstrated how the sports industry is using XDN augmentation to greatly increase user enjoyment and participation. They are creating active experiences where fans can select their own camera angles, host virtual watch parties with friends, place micro-bets about what’s going to happen on the next play, and follow along with interactive graphic overlays. All these features really pull people into games and personalize their experience.

XDN technology offers a next-level approach to networking by offering a DevOps environment that allows partners to work with Red5 Pro, and create a personalized iteration of an XDN that is tailored to meet their specific needs. The XDN Summit successfully showcased the importance and need for a widespread implementation of XDN technology, and shared how beneficial it’s been for those who integrate with the Red5 Pro platform.

“There’s a large audience… a global audience… people are now attending an event in an interesting way and feeling like a part of a community. Without having to travel to get to that community.” —Scott Addison Clay, Eventuall™

Of course, one of the most exciting parts of the XDN Summit was that the platform used to host the event was itself built with XDN technology. Participants could directly experience XDN capabilities simply by joining the summit, not to mention all the information shared in the panel discussions, keynotes, and networking opportunities.

A very fun feature was the breakout room where summit participants could move their icon around to join different conversations in different areas like a live video chat messaging board.

We certainly covered quite a lot of ground today, and we still have another day left. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow will reveal as we continue to explore all the benefits of emergent XDN tech. If you missed it, a video recording will be available soon. Be on the lookout for that in the future.Can’t wait until tomorrow to find out more? Take a look at the Red5 Pro white paper The World Needs an Interactive Streaming Infrastructure or contact us directly at info@red5.net.