Highwinds and Octoshape Tee Up High Quality Streams for PGA TOUR

Highwinds Network Group, Inc., a multiplatform IP services and content distribution provider, and Octoshape, a provider of streaming solutions for high quality and large-scale events, announced that their technologies have been used for online streaming of the four PGATOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup events on PGATOUR.COM.

PGATOUR.COM’s signature LIVE@ franchise offered live streaming from marquee holes at all four of the Playoff tournaments which included The Barclays (Aug. 27-30), Deutsche Bank Championship (Sept. 4-7), BMW Championship (Sept. 10-13) and THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola (Sept. 24-27). Streaming of the month-long PGA TOUR Playoffs utilized the Highwinds-Octoshape solution and helped deliver quality streams of this high-profile event to global online audiences.

As the demand for high-quality video and an enhanced feature set grows in the online media sector, Highwinds and Octoshape continue to work together to deliver robust, resilient solutions through the Octoshape live streaming solution running seamlessly on the Highwinds content delivery network (CDN). The PGATOUR.COM video player, which is fully customizable and enables golf fans to enjoy enhanced features, including digital video recording, leaderboard overlays, scorecard overlays, social network interaction and more, integrated the Octoshape high-quality video streaming solution for the four FedExCup events. For the same events, all live PGATOUR.COM coverage was streamed over the Highwinds CDN.

“Highwinds is quickly becoming recognized as the go-to CDN for the streaming of high-quality, large-scale news, entertainment and sporting events,” said Steve Miller, president and CEO of Highwinds. “Our partnership with Octoshape, which has included the streaming of such live events as the Presidential Inauguration, the Michael Jackson Memorial Service and now the 2009 PGA TOUR Playoffs, continues to grow to support the future of online video. Octoshape’s live streaming solution is a perfect complement to our robust CDN infrastructure and live delivery services.”

“The streaming infrastructure offered by Octoshape is designed to deliver high quality video, DVR, and instant on playback to global audiences,” said Scott Brown, CEO of Octoshape U.S. “Events of this quality and scale only come from the magic combination of ‘Class A’ production and technology integration like that of PGATOUR.COM, our proven, leading-edge technology and Highwinds’ high-performance CDN.”

AOL Adopts Brightcove Platform for Online Video

Brightcove Inc. and AOL announced AOL will adopt Brightcove for online video content management, publishing and video playback throughout the AOL Network. This partnership will combine AOL's video content offerings with Brightcove's market-leading online video platform. Beginning in early 2009, AOL Programming and AOL Video, http://video.aol.com, programming partners will use Brightcove to deliver video to the millions of people who visit AOL sites each day. Brightcove's integration with AOL's global advertising platform, Platform-A, will also expand opportunities for content partners to monetize video with online advertising.

"Implementing Brightcove as the video platform across the AOL Network will help us deliver a richer experience for users and more powerful publishing tools to the editors and programmers who are engaging millions of people every day on sites like AOL Video, AOL Music, Moviefone, Asylum, Lemondrop and Engadget," said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. "Working with Brightcove will accelerate AOL's ability to bring new consumer product features and advertising capabilities to market. The partnership with Brightcove is a strong complement to AOL's strategic focus on making it easier for users to find the videos they are looking for through our network of online video properties, the AOL Video portal and video search services like Truveo.com."

Brightcove recently announced a new version of their service, Brightcove 3, which includes an enterprise edition to address the specific needs of aggregators, portals, carriers and operators. AOL Video is the first major portal to take advantage of Brightcove 3.

"AOL's adoption of Brightcove signals a shift in the market where even the largest online video publishers are using online video platforms to help drive quality, while also reducing costs," said Jeremy Allaire, chairman and chief executive officer, Brightcove. "This partnership allows AOL to shift attention away from platform software development and focus instead on core competencies such as aggregating content, creating compelling user experiences, and selling advertising. Rather than building out capabilities on their own, features like Brightcove 3's new player framework can be easily tapped to improve AOL's online video initiatives."

Today's announcement extends the relationship between the two companies, which began in 2006 when AOL became a minority stakeholder in Brightcove.