Flash of genius

Industry newcomer Recast Digital has developed an affordable Flash-based compression technology capable of delivering low-bandwidth, high-definition content via the web. Aaron Greenwood spoke to Recast Digital director Luke Wheeler about the technology and the company's ambitions in the Middle East.The simplicity and efficiency of Recast Digital's Adobe Flash-based high-resolution video delivery platform belies the company's unconventional approach to re-engineering a technology initially conceived to deliver low-resolution multimedia content.

While the company is understandably reluctant to divulge technical details, the proprietary Flash-based technology employed by its eponymously titled digital video player delivers crisp visuals at connection speeds ranging from 860kb/s to 3.2Mb/s.

At the upper-end of the scale, Recast claims the quality of the digital source files is virtually indistinguishable from high definition video.

Having sampled source files at half that speed via the company's demonstration website, located at www.thisisvideo.tv, this claim stands to reason.

According to Luke Wheeler, co-founder and director of Recast Digital, the technology is "less computer-intensive, requires less bandwidth and doesn't require any special software download" to work.

"Basically, we have re-engineered the manner in which Flash handles media, and we've combined that with some special encoding techniques," he explains.

"We've also established a global content delivery network to stream media reliably and efficiently to mass audiences that includes significant security measures so clients can be assured that the high bit-rate, high-resolution digital media we develop on their behalf remains secure and commercially viable."

Wheeler says Recast Digital is pitching its encoding service to online media businesses as "an end-to-end managed live and on-demand video solution for high quality content - which includes encoding, storage, security, and high bandwidth global delivery".

He explains that the technology enables video to be delivered as a true stream or as a progressive download. Integration and design can be heavily customised to complement client requirements, branding and websites, he adds.

"We are currently talking to a number of ad agencies which are looking to distribute high-resolution content online," he explains. "Separately, our player also supports all other forms of Flash media, so third-parties that are encoding Flash video and distributing it across advertising networks can use our technology to develop intelligent targeting services.

The technology supports any combination of video or audio or flash-enabled banners, for example. The inherent flexibility at the core of Flash is still there, as is the interactivity."

While Recast Digital is initially pitching the technology at ad agencies, premium brands and media content owners, the company also harbours ambitions to secure partnerships with broadcasters in key markets where there is a demand for video-on-demand and other interactive technologies. This factor, in addition to the rapid spread of IPTV networks across the region, makes the Middle East a key market in the company's plans.

"In regards to the trend towards IPTV, the Middle East and particularly the Gulf region provides many commercial opportunities, given the involvement of du and Etisalat in the sector," he says. "We're very keen to work with Middle East-based content owners, providing them with encoding facilities and an opportunity to develop new revenue streams.

Our preferred partner for global content delivery is Level 3 Communications, which also supplies rest-of-the-world IP connectivity to Gulf-based telcos. "Our content delivery throughputs are already very efficient in the Gulf. The only cause for concern would be the high cost of bandwidth, but as the market becomes more developed this should become less of an issue."

One could be forgiven for thinking there would be more pressing concerns for a company launching operations in the midst of the worst global economic downturn in decades. Interestingly, in an era of cutbacks and closures, Wheeler remains optimistic.

"[The prospect of recession] is not really an issue for us apart from the obvious challenges every commercial organisation faces in this climate," he says.

"We are not beholden to our investors. We're fortunate in that we can adopt a more flexible approach to working with prospective clients and we're not under pressure to pay back massive investments. Our services are also very affordable compared to some of our competitors."

Forging ahead, Wheeler says Recast Digital is keen to develop other content delivery technologies based on Flash, particularly in respect to the latest iteration of Flash Media Server, which is set to become commercially available in the next quarter.

Key highlights of the latest release, known as version 3.5, include H.264 video and AAC audio encoding support, as well as digital video recorder (DVR)-like capabilities for live content streaming.

The Server's H.264 video capability is being hailed as a major breakthrough by many pundits, given that it will enable content to be encoded in a single format that can be used for distribution across broadcast, online and mobile networks.

"We've got loads of ideas we want to explore - everything from developing higher-resolution video to more efficient bandwidth ratios, and we're expecting to make significant progress in these areas now we can leverage the new Server software suite," says Wheeler.

"Mobile video is another area we're keen to explore. Apple's 3G iPhone is H.264 compatible and there are quite a few other PDA-style handsets coming to market which boast high-resolution, large-screen displays."

Arguably one of the company's more exciting prospects - particularly in respect to the Middle East - is a new Flash-based set-top-box, which it is developing in conjunction with two unnamed US-based firms.

The STB is being designed specifically for IPTV network service provision and will provide a cost-effective solution for the delivery of interactive services, such as video-on-demand and e-commerce facilities.

"This is an area of the market that remains relatively untapped in terms of Flash-based products," says Wheeler. "We're currently trialling prototypes of the STB in conjunction with our partners, who are two well-known specialists in the sector. The adaptive bit-rate technology which is intrinsic to Flash Media Server will also prove intrinsic to the capabilities we foresee inherent to the final product."