Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA Tel: +1 617.613.6000 | Fax: +1 617.613.5000 | www.forrester.com The Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms, Q1 2013 by Philipp Karcher, March 8, 2013 FOR: Application Development & Delivery Professionals KEY TAKEAWAYS Businesses Use Video Platforms To Manage Their Online Video Presence Organizations in all verticals turn to commercial platforms to serve their online video publishing needs because they want the scalability, customizability, enterprise soſtware integrations, and multichannel delivery capabilities that do-it-yourself solutions and YouTube can’t provide. Vendors Are Focusing On Extensibility, Portfolio Integrations, And Analytics OVPs innovate with content targeting and personalization features to help customers with large video libraries maximize engagement. ey’ve added or improved integrations with web content management (WCM) and web analytics platforms. And they are improving the extensibility of their platforms with open APIs to expand partner ecosystems. In A Maturing Market, Mobile, Customizability, And Partner Ecosystems Differentiate All OVPs in this Forrester Wave are capable of serving the majority of online video publishing needs. However, some have better support for mobile device formats and for customizable workflows. Some vendors provide end-to-end functionality in a single SKU, while others rely on integrations with complementary products.
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Forrester research, inc., 60 Acorn park Drive, cambridge, mA 02140 UsA
The Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms, Q1 2013by philipp Karcher, march 8, 2013
For: Application Development & Delivery professionals
key TakeaWays
Businesses use Video platforms To Manage Their online Video presenceOrganizations in all verticals turn to commercial platforms to serve their online video publishing needs because they want the scalability, customizability, enterprise soft ware integrations, and multichannel delivery capabilities that do-it-yourself solutions and YouTube can’t provide.
Vendors are Focusing on extensibility, portfolio integrations, and analyticsOVPs innovate with content targeting and personalization features to help customers with large video libraries maximize engagement. Th ey’ve added or improved integrations with web content management (WCM) and web analytics platforms. And they are improving the extensibility of their platforms with open APIs to expand partner ecosystems.
in a Maturing Market, Mobile, Customizability, and partner ecosystems differentiateAll OVPs in this Forrester Wave are capable of serving the majority of online video publishing needs. However, some have better support for mobile device formats and for customizable workfl ows. Some vendors provide end-to-end functionality in a single SKU, while others rely on integrations with complementary products.
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
Why Read This RepoRT
Video is integral to many consumer-facing websites, not just from traditional media providers but from brands, companies, and organizations without a history of content creation. In Forrester’s 21-criteria evaluation of online video platforms (OVPs), we identified the five most significant software providers in the category — Adobe Systems, Brightcove, Kaltura, Limelight Networks, Ooyala — and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report details our findings about how well each vendor fulfills our criteria and where they stand in relation to each other to help application development and delivery professionals select the right partner for their online video publishing needs.
table of contents
oVps are a Critical piece of your Customer engagement Toolkit
vendors Focus on extensibility, portfolio integrations, And Analytics
online Video platforms evaluation overview
A Focus on consumer video publishing tools For enterprises narrows the Field
all Vendors effectively support Core Video publishing Needs
Vendor profiles
leaders: Brightcove, ooyala, And Kaltura
strong performers: Adobe And limelight
supplemental Material
notes & resources
Forrester conducted product evaluations in october and november 2012 and interviewed five vendor and user companies: Adobe systems, Brightcove, Kaltura, limelight networks, and ooyala.
related research Documents
the Forrester Wave™: video platforms For the enterprisemarch 8, 2013
online video Best practiceAugust 5, 2010
introducing Forrester’s online video product scorecardApril 30, 2010
The Forrester Wave™: online Video platforms, Q1 2013Kaltura Joins leaders Brightcove And ooyala in A maturing marketby philipp Karcherwith stephen powers and Andrew smith
oVps aRe a CRiTiCal pieCe oF youR CusToMeR eNgageMeNT ToolkiT
Companies increasingly recognize the value of using online video to engage and inform consumers, create brand awareness, and even drive direct action (such as in an eCommerce setting). Online video platforms are end-to-end software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to publish video on the Internet. They include integrated encoders, video players, lightweight video editing tools, and basic media management, complete with hosting and distribution through partnerships with content delivery networks (CDNs). Many organizations start with custom do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions, YouTube, or other consumer video sites to serve video publishing needs. However, as they scale up their video publishing operations, they typically find they need a commercial video platform to help:
■ Manage video presence across channels. Whether they are experienced with online video but have multiple disconnected publishing processes or are adding it to their website for the first time, companies want a single interface to manage videos across their websites in different geographies with different languages on PC and mobile platforms and across social sites like YouTube and Facebook. Marketers and eBusiness professionals increasingly need control over the design of the video player to reflect their company’s branding and maintain consistency with the look of their websites.
■ Overcome delivery complexity and extend reach. OVPs free nontechnical users from worrying about things like HTML5 compatibility across browsers and transcoding videos to a multitude of mobile device formats. They also address the performance concerns of global delivery through bundled partnerships with Internet CDNs like Akamai Technologies and Limelight. These are complex issues that cause organizations starting with a DIY approach to struggle with escalating development costs and fall behind on innovation and core features. Customers emphasized to Forrester over and over again the importance of customer service and technical support — something that users of free video sharing sites don’t get.
■ Integrate with enterprise systems. Many organizations need customized approval workflows and customized content ingestion processes. OVPs integrate with popular web content management, digital asset management, and web analytics platforms. Customers also have the flexibility to choose encoding or content stores on-premises (while the management software remains in the cloud), if desired for security or performance reasons.
Vendors Focus on extensibility, portfolio integrations, and analytics
As basic content management and support for multichannel delivery become table stakes, vendors differentiate with video platforms that can:
■ Drive engagement through personalized experiences. Vendors hope to differentiate with features aimed at helping businesses maximize engagement with their online videos. Ooyala has a recommendations engine that presents users with content based on their consumption
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 3
behavior. Adobe offers marketers a way to create variable offers and promos within video by leveraging content targeting and personalization. OVPs can also provide insights into video viewership, which are key to helping businesses improve engagement. For example, Brightcove is bolstering its analytics capabilities with “conversion rate” and “engagement score” metrics.
■ Provide integrated end-to-end publishing capabilities. This evaluation only looks at core video platform capabilities (see Figure 1). However, some vendors differentiate by offering more components in an end-to-end publishing solution. Limelight is integrated with its proprietary WCM, Dynamic Site Platform (formerly Clickability), for publishing workflows and with the Limelight Network to optimize publishing to a CDN. Brightcove recently acquired Zencoder, a leading cloud encoding service. Adobe provides marketers with an end-to-end video solution from content creation (with Adobe Creative Cloud), to content management (CQ5 DAM and WCM), to analytics (SiteCatalyst) and optimization (Test&Target).
■ Offer more access to discrete capabilities through APIs. As platforms, Brightcove and Kaltura have successfully built extensive tech partner ecosystems to enable complementary functionality through integrations and extensions. All vendors are taking the “platform” aspect of their solutions further by expanding the breadth of functionality available via APIs. They are focused on improving customer access to these APIs and are pursuing more partner opportunities with WCM, third party analytics, and ad network providers.
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 4
Digital rights management,advanced monetization,analytics, and considerationsfor regulatory compliance
Consumers; brands andorganizations without ahistory of content creation
Brands and organizationswithout a history of contentcreation
Traditional media providersand digital media companies
oNliNe Video plaTFoRMs eValuaTioN oVeRVieW
To assess the state of the online video platforms market and see how the vendors stack up against each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of top video platform vendors. After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we developed a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria. We evaluated vendors against 21 criteria, which we grouped into three high-level buckets:
■ Current offering. To assess the strength of the video platform offerings, we evaluated the vendors along 16 criteria including player embed features, syndication to social sites, integration with WCM, video file ingestion options, workflow, reporting, and security.
■ Strategy. We reviewed each vendor’s product strategy in three areas: 1) differentiation and road map; 2) enterprise track record; and 3) partners and support.
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the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 5
■ Market presence. To determine a vendor’s market presence, we considered each vendor’s revenues and number of customers on the product.
a Focus on Consumer Video publishing Tools For enterprises Narrows The Field
Forrester included five vendors in the assessment: Adobe, Brightcove, Kaltura, Limelight, and Ooyala. Each of these vendors has (see Figure 2):
■ A focus on consumer on-demand video. The vendors evaluated for this Forrester Wave primarily enable organizations to create on-demand video experiences for external consumers or constituents (although most can and are improving their support for live feeds). We did not include vendors that have a primary focus on webcasting or internal enterprise communications.1 Kaltura is an exception because it focuses equally on internal and external communications.
■ A product that enables marketers and web developers. We did not include products that primarily focus on the high end of the market such as thePlatform and Adobe Primetime in this evaluation — although some of the vendors we evaluated also compete in that space. Adobe Primetime and thePlatform have advanced support for digital rights management, regulatory compliance, scalability, monetization, and analytics required by premium content providers. Vendors in this Forrester Wave work with enterprises in different verticals, not just media and entertainment companies.
■ Enterprise customers and at least $10 million in revenue. The OVP market is filled with dozens of competitors you can use to put a video player up on your website. Vendors evaluated in this Forrester Wave have the management features, integrations, customizability, and scalability demanded by enterprises. They have years of experience serving Fortune 1000 customers and are frequently mentioned in competitive scenarios by Forrester clients.
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the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 6
Figure 2 Evaluated Vendors: Product Information And Selection Criteria
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Company
Adobe Systems
Brightcove
Kaltura
Limelight Networks
Ooyala
Product
Adobe Scene7
Brightcove Video Cloud
Kaltura Core Platform
Limelight Orchestrate Video
Ooyala Backlot
Version
6.5
N/A
Falcon (5.0)
Orchestrate Video 2012
Ooyala Backlot Enterprise License
Release date
September 1, 2012
June 27, 2005
July 1, 2012
2012
January 1, 2013
Vendor selection criteria
The vendor has a focus on consumer on-demand video.
The vendor has a product that enables marketers and web developers.
The vendor has enterprise customers and at least $10 million in revenue.
all VeNdoRs eFFeCTiVely suppoRT CoRe Video puBlishiNg Needs
The evaluation uncovered a market in which (see Figure 3):
■ Brightcove, Kaltura, and Ooyala check all the boxes. These vendors have extensible platforms with more integrations and technology partners than others in this evaluation. They have also added support for things like customizable workflows, reporting features, and the option to have some components of the video platform on-premises due to their experience addressing the needs of enterprises with various video publishing requirements. Among the three Leaders, Kaltura has the most feature-rich platform, Brightcove has the best enterprise track record and partner and support ecosystem, and Ooyala has the most differentiated strategy with its focus on analytics.
■ Adobe’s true value lies in its customer experience management ecosystem. Although we evaluated Adobe Scene7 as a standalone product in this report, the true value of the Adobe video platform is in the combined functionality and integrated workflow of its Marketing Cloud, which adds audience targeting, social distribution, monetization, and measurement capabilities.2 Scene7 by itself doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that video platforms in the Leaders category do, but it meets core online video publishing needs.
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 7
■ Limelight has an intuitive tool set but a weaker track record. Limelight’s video platform wins many deals on the merit of its iTunes-like interface and tight integration with Limelight’s WCM. However, Limelight doesn’t have the same breadth of support for video formats, integrations with third-party WCMs, and enterprise track record of some established players. However, Forrester spoke with Limelight enterprise customers that are very happy with the solution today. Limelight is building out its platform and continues to pick up wins.
This evaluation of the online video platforms market is intended to be a starting point only. We encourage clients to view detailed product evaluations and adapt criteria weightings to fit their individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool.
Figure 3 Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms, Q1 ’13
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Go online to download
the Forrester Wave tool
for more detailed product
evaluations, feature
comparisons, and
customizable rankings.
RiskyBets Contenders Leaders
StrongPerformers
StrategyWeak Strong
Currento�ering
Weak
Strong
Market presence
Adobe
Brightcove
Kaltura
Limelight
Ooyala
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 8
Figure 3 Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms, Q1 ’13 (Cont.)
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
CURRENT OFFERING Player embed and sharing features External publishing features Playlists, channels, and content discovery Video �le ingest options Video editing features Monetization features Player customization Extensibility Search and metadata support Work�ow Reporting and analytics File format, video codec, and protocol support Deployment models Content delivery network (CDN) support Scalability Security STRATEGY Di�erentiation and road map Enterprise track record Partners and support MARKET PRESENCE Total revenue Customers
■ Brightcove’s best-in-class platform provides strong enterprise support. Boston-based Brightcove has the biggest installed base among online video platforms, a reason why some customers concerned with vendor viability and global support choose its platform in this highly fragmented market. Customers also choose Brightcove for its fast publishing model, attractive player experience, and integrations with popular third-party WCMs. Brightcove has an extensive tech partner network of more than 250 partners to enable complementary functionality. It has added depth in transcoding with the recent acquisitions of Zencoder, a cloud transcoding company, and Video.js, a leading open source player with strong HTML5 support.
■ Ooyala differentiates with content targeting, dashboards, and analytics. Silicon Valley-based Ooyala has a leading video platform that enterprise customers choose for its comprehensive functionality and attractive user interface. Ooyala differentiates with its focus on content targeting and personalization, which is useful for publishers interested in maximizing viewer engagement with their large libraries of content. Ooyala also has best-in-class analytics and dashboards to give publishers a real-time view of what videos are trending so they can decide what content to feature and understand why some videos are more popular than others. While Ooyala will continue to serve enterprise customers, its strategic direction is to pursue more business with premium content owners — broadcasters and media companies — that would benefit the most from its sophisticated analytics and monetization capabilities.
■ Kaltura’s extensible open source platform is a midpoint between build and buy. New York City-based Kaltura’s API-driven approach, open source platform, and large ecosystem of third-party extensions are attractive to customers looking for flexibility in how they deploy video publishing capabilities. Many customers choose Kaltura for the strength of its in-house engineering and professional services organization. Enterprise customers also cite Kaltura’s ability to work with industry standard content management and analytics systems and its ability to deal with different video formats as reasons to choose the platform. Unlike other video platforms in this Forrester Wave with a narrower target market, Kaltura targets media and entertainment, enterprise (both internal and externally facing use cases), and education. Kaltura has customers using its platform for both internal corporate communications and external purposes like eCommerce at the same time.
strong performers: adobe and limelight
■ Adobe offers an end-to-end solution for marketers via integrations with its other products. San Jose, California-based Adobe’s reputation in the creative, publishing, and digital marketing spaces is attractive to companies looking for a familiar name to help with their online video needs. It is also attractive to customers using other Adobe products — such as its CQ content
For ApplicAtion Development & Delivery proFessionAls
the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 10
management and SiteCatalyst analytics products — to benefit from integrated workflows. Scene7, its standalone video publishing product, is an effective tool for marketers to create and deliver rich media experiences across multiple channels. It differs from other video platforms as a single solution for publishing both videos and images. Scene7 also has advanced video editing features, allowing marketers to design clickable offers and promos within videos that dynamically appear based on information about the viewer. Scene7 has fewer customers than other products in this Forrester Wave, but as a component in the integrated Adobe Marketing Cloud, it serves as a competitive solution from a trusted provider.
■ Limelight delivers an intuitive video platform integrated with its WCM and CDN. Tempe, Arizona-based CDN provider Limelight Networks acquired the Delve Networks video platform in 2010 and has seen impressive customer growth over the past two years. It acquired Clickability, a SaaS WCM provider, in 2011 to complement its online video publishing offering. Limelight’s video platform differentiates in ease-of-use through its iTunes-like interface, its seamless integration with Limelight’s CDN, and integration with Limelight’s WCM (now called Dynamic Site Platform). Limelight is smaller than other vendors evaluated in this report, but Forrester clients regularly include it in competitive situations. In the next 12 months, Limelight aims to catch up with (or surpass) competitors in some necessary areas including partnerships with third-party content management providers and analytics engines, support for subaccount management, fine-grained user control over encoding, user roles for publishing workflows, and support for dynamically updating channels.
suppleMeNTal MaTeRial
online Resource
The online version of Figure 3 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product evaluations and customizable rankings.
data sources used in This Forrester Wave
Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution:
■ Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria. Once we analyzed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications.
■ Product demos. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their product’s functionality. We used findings from these product demos to validate details of each vendor’s product capabilities.
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the Forrester Wave™: online video platforms, Q1 2013 11
■ Customer reference calls. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also conducted reference calls with two or three of each vendor’s current customers.
The Forrester Wave Methodology
We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have limited customer references and products that don’t fit the scope of our evaluation.
After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria, we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires, demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review, and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies.
We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies — and/or other scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document — and then score the vendors based on a clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor strategies evolve.
eNdNoTes1 Forrester has also evaluated players focused on internal enterprise communications. See the March 8, 2013,
“The Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 2013” report.
2 To manage cross-touchpoint customer experiences, vendors like Autonomy, Adobe, IBM, and more have built or acquired content management, eCommerce, site search, testing and optimization, personalization, and customer service/interaction management products. The goal? To support targeted experiences — both automated and rule-driven — across multichannel digital experiences as well as offline points of contact such as call centers and stores/branches. Organizations use increasingly complex cross-channel strategies to drive customer response, and more will take advantage of customer experience management (CXM) solutions — particularly in the online channels — to drive optimized experiences, improve service levels, and increase sales. See the August 10, 2011, “Harnessing The Convergence Of Customer Experience Management Solutions” report.
Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 17 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 29 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com. 91161
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The Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 2013by Philipp Karcher, March 8, 2013
For: CIos
Key TaKeaWays
Video platforms Reduce Video delivery ComplexityOrganizations looking to deliver live and on-demand video communications to employees turn to commercial video platforms because do-it-yourself solutions and YouTube can’t deliver the comprehensive functionality, scalability, security, and enterprise soft ware and hardware integrations they desire.
Vendors are improving Content Management Features and The Viewing experienceVendors are improving support for all forms of video content, including content produced by webconference and videoconference systems. Th ey are developing better search to help employees navigate large stores of video content, and they are improving the user experience to create true “YouTube for the enterprise” solutions.
Vendors have Varied support For Network solutions, Collaboration Tool integrations, and WebcastingVendor off erings in this space can vary greatly. Some vendors have end-to-end hardware solutions comprising encoders, video caching appliances, and videoconferencing streaming servers, while others provide an alternative to hardware with all-soft ware deployment models. Support for user-generated content and webcasting are also diff erentiators.
Enterprises looking to deliver video communications to employees continue to use solutions for webcasting and YouTube-like video portals. In Forrester’s 23-criteria evaluation of enterprise video platform vendors, we identified the eight most significant software providers in the category — Cisco Systems, Ignite Technologies, Kaltura, Kontiki, Polycom, Qumu, Sonic Foundry, and VBrick Systems — and researched, analyzed, and scored them. This report details our findings about how well each vendor fulfills our criteria and where they stand in relation to each other to help IT professionals select the right partner for their video publishing needs.
Table of Contents
Video platforms Reduce Video delivery Complexity
Vendors Differentiate on Network solutions, Integrations, And search
The Definition of An End-To-End solution Depends on What You’re Looking For
enterprise Video platforms evaluation overview
Enterprise Track record And A Focus on Internal Communications Narrow The Field
Kaltura, polycom, and Qumu Lead With extensible approaches
Vendor profiles
Leaders: Kaltura, Polycom, And Qumu
strong Performers: VBrick, sonic Foundry, Ignite Technologies, Cisco, And Kontiki
supplemental Material
Notes & resources
Forrester conducted product evaluations in october and November 2012 and interviewed eight vendor and user companies: Cisco systems, Ignite Technologies, Kaltura, Kontiki, Polycom, Qumu, sonic Foundry, and VBrick systems.
related research Documents
The Forrester Wave™: online Video PlatformsMarch 8, 2013
Best Practices: Leveraging Live streaming And on-Demand Video In The EnterpriseJanuary 27, 2012
The Forrester Wave™: Video platforms For The enterprise, Q1 2013Kaltura, Qumu, And Polycom Lead The Video Publishing Platform Packby Philipp Karcherwith stephen Powers and Andrew smith
Corporate communications and IT departments have resorted to a mishmash of point solutions, do-it-yourself projects, and even YouTube to deliver video communications to employees. However, more organizations are realizing the need for a commercial solution to manage the technical complexities of video delivery over the wide-area network (WAN), with enterprise-grade security, controls, and integration with IT systems and infrastructure. Video platforms are end-to-end solutions comprising software and hardware to capture, manage, and deliver IP video. They typically include functionality enabling an enterprise to:
■ Capture live or ingest prerecorded video. Live capture includes studio webcasting, training/lecture room capture, videoconferencing, and rich media — often slides — optionally connected to an appliance that synchronizes the inputs and automates recording.
■ Manage workflow and content rules. Workflow ensures that content complies with company policies before it is available to employees and also adds structure to the collaboration process during authoring. Content rules functionality includes permissions and content retention rules such as expiration dates.
■ Deliver live or on-demand video to different form factors. Video platforms integrate with enterprise content delivery networks (eCDNs) for distribution. Enterprise video platforms also support streaming to digital signage and to mobile devices in addition to PCs and laptops.
■ Engage with video content during and after viewing. Live webcasts include functionality for polling and chat, while training video can incorporate full-blown tests. Solutions include social features to rate, comment, tag, share, and increasingly search and navigate by spoken words.
■ Report on video performance and viewership. Video platforms report on audience engagement by individual user, geographic location, or even specific slides. This is valuable to content creators tracking required viewership for training or compliance purposes.
Vendors differentiate on Network solutions, integrations, and search
Video platform solutions have strengths at different stages of the publishing process. Some have more options to record or ingest content from a range of possible inputs; some have a larger feature set when it comes to content management and search; and others have different options to manage and control video delivery over the network. However, vendors are increasingly positioning their solutions as the only platform for your video publishing needs. They are emphasizing:
■ Becoming a single repository for all video content. Video platforms increasingly have better support for capturing and managing videoconference and webconference recordings. More vendors have configurable options to monitor file systems and automatically ingest content.
For CIos
The Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 2013 3
Some platforms even integrate with these third-party tools (like Microsoft Lync) directly to stream and record live meetings. Video platforms are coming closer to becoming a single repository for employees to watch video content regardless of the source.
■ Expanding user-generated content. As sales, HR, training, and other roles demand access to publish video content, video platforms are adding support for customizable workflows and managing multiple accounts. Video platforms are supporting the democratization of creating video content by adding browser-based features like webcam and screen capture recording and editing tools. And in the spirit of “YouTube for the enterprise,” they are incorporating social features like rating, commenting, tagging, and sharing.
■ Innovating in search to deal with a tidal wave of video content. Vendors are adding speech-to-text and phonetic search capabilities with the ability to identify and navigate video by speakers and spoken word. Some vendors have optical character recognition (OCR) to index text on slides and will soon have the ability to do so in videos frames.
■ Managing the delivery of live and on-demand video over the WAN. Some vendors offer edge caching appliances, and many are improving integrations with third-party WAN optimization hardware (such as those by Blue Coat Systems, Cisco, and Riverbed Technology) to limit the number of streams crossing the network. Some vendors offer a peer-to-peer model (based on installing a local agent on employees’ desktops) to get the same benefits without deploying hardware. More vendors are improving capabilities to target content to specific audiences and to intelligently route video formats along different paths at large organizations with divergent network architectures.
The definition of an end-To-end solution depends on What you’re Looking For
All vendors in this Forrester Wave have content management software, portal applications, and encoding and streaming capabilities. One way to segment them is by looking at their hardware offerings (see Figure 1 and see Figure 2). Buyers should shortlist certain vendors if their anticipated use involves:
■ Videoconferencing recording and streaming. Customers of Cisco and Polycom for videoconferencing can go to the same vendor for their video platform needs. VBrick and Qumu have strong integrations with standards-based videoconferencing endpoints as well.
■ Webcasting slide presentations. Polycom, Qumu, Sonic Foundry, and VBrick have media capture appliances to simplify the process of recording live presentations with minimal setup. Other vendors require slides to be uploaded.
For CIos
The Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 2013 4
■ IPTV and digital signage. VBrick has a complete digital signage solution and a unique TV guide feature for users to navigate content. Polycom and Qumu also support IPTV and can integrate with third-party digital signage solutions.
■ Network appliances to manage delivery. Companies with Cisco Enterprise Content Delivery System (ECDS) can leverage its appliances to manage video delivery over the network. Qumu and VBrick offer their own specialized appliances and, like Polycom, can also integrate with third-party hardware.
■ Zero additional hardware investment. Ignite Technologies and Kontiki are software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that use a client installed on employees’ computers to give IT fine-grained control over video delivery without having to deploy any new boxes. Kaltura can be deployed as SaaS (or on-premises, if desired) and, like Kontiki, can integrate with third-party web services to support webcasting.
Figure 1 Video Platforms Have Multiple Components To Capture, Manage, And Deliver IP Video
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.88502
Videoconferencing endpoints, recording and streaming
servers
DeliverManageCapture
Internet CDNsExternal streams
(e.g., TV news channels)
Studio cameras
Core video platform components:• Content management
software• Portal application
• Encoding and streaming server
Digital signage
Encoders
Enterprise CDNappliances
WebcamsVideoconferencing and
webconferencing software
Media capture appliances
For CIos
The Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 2013 5
Figure 2 Vendors Have Different Hardware Components Of An End-To-End Solution
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.88502
Cisco Systems
Ignite Technologies
Kaltura
Kontiki
Polycom
Qumu
Sonic Foundry
VBrick Systems
Videoconferencing endpoints, recording
and streaming servers
Media capture appliances
Standalone encoders
Enterprise CDN appliances
Digital signage
eNTeRpRise Video pLaTFoRMs eVaLuaTioN oVeRVieW
To assess the state of the enterprise video platforms market and see how the vendors stack up against each other, Forrester evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of top vendors. After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we developed a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria. We evaluated vendors against 23 criteria, which we grouped into three high-level buckets:
■ Current offering. To assess the strength of the product offerings, we evaluated the vendors along 18 criteria including portal features, search, webcasting support, workflow, reporting, and security. We also looked at their support for different deployment models and for hardware and software solutions — third-party and proprietary — to manage video delivery over the network.
■ Strategy. We reviewed each vendor’s product strategy in three areas: 1) differentiation and road map; 2) enterprise track record; and 3) partners and support.
■ Market presence. To determine a vendor’s market presence, we considered each vendor’s revenues and number of customers on the product.
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enterprise Track Record and a Focus on internal Communications Narrow The Field
Forrester included eight vendors in the assessment: Cisco, Ignite Technologies, Kaltura, Kontiki, Polycom, Qumu, Sonic Foundry, and VBrick. Each of these vendors has a product with (see Figure 3):
■ A focus on internal video communications. Vendors in the Forrester Wave have customers using their products for company all-hands meetings, executive communications, and training videos. A separate category of software, online video platforms, is appropriate for marketers looking to embed video on their public-facing websites.1
■ Support for enterprise security and integration requirements. Video platforms for the enterprise integrate with LDAP/AD to manage permissions to view content, with SharePoint to publish content to the intranet, and with content delivery network hardware on-premises behind the firewall.
■ Enterprise customers and at least $10 million in revenue. The video platforms market has many startups. Some of the vendors in this evaluation are small, but they have years of experience selling to large enterprises and are companies that Forrester regularly hears about from our clients in competitive scenarios.
Figure 3 Evaluated Vendors: Product Information And Selection Criteria
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Vendor
Cisco Systems
Ignite Technologies
Kaltura
Kontiki
Polycom
Qumu
Sonic Foundry
VBrick Systems
Product evaluated
Show and Share (SnS)
Ignite's Content Delivery Solution
Kaltura Core Platform
Kontiki Enterprise Video Platform
Polycom RealPresence Media Manager
Qumu Video Control Center
Mediasite
VEMS Mystro
Product versionevaluated
5.3.10
8.20 SP3
Falcon (5.0)
8.1
v6.0
6.2.81
6.1
6.2
Versionrelease date
July 2012
September 20, 2012
July 2012
September 26, 2012
September 2012
December 18, 2012
December 2012
September 2012
Vendor selection criteria
The vendor has a focus on internal video communications.
The vendor supports enterprise security and integration requirements.
The vendor has enterprise customers and at least $10 million in revenue.
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KaLTuRa, poLyCoM, aNd QuMu Lead WiTh eXTeNsibLe appRoaChes
No one vendor can do it all. Each video platform has individual strengths, but Leaders cover the most bases. The evaluation uncovered a market in which (see Figure 4):
■ Kaltura, Polycom, and Qumu have the most feature-rich applications. Polycom and Qumu offer complete live webcasting and intranet video solutions with integrations to standards-based videoconferencing hardware (e.g., Cisco TCS and Polycom RSS), partnerships with eCDNs, and strong mobile support. Qumu scored highest in the Forrester Wave for current offering due to its complete application feature set, availability of video distribution and content routing appliances, and its recent introduction of speech search capabilities. Kaltura’s modular approach, extensibility, and partner ecosystem for software integrations differentiate it as a middleware platform. Unlike any other vendor in the evaluation, it can serve video publishing needs for internal communications and external marketing and has customers using it for both.
■ VBrick, Sonic Foundry, and Cisco have unique strengths. Sonic Foundry’s portal applications and video player provide an excellent user experience, and its media capture appliances simplify webcast recording. Sonic Foundry has expanded beyond webcasting with the recent introduction of its desktop recorder and the addition of features to manage video content other than webcasts. VBrick has the most complete end-to-end hardware offering and the best support for IPTV and digital signage. However, it has two video platforms (from the acquisition of Fliqz) with separate capabilities, which it is focused on converging in 2013. Cisco has integrations with the rest of its collaboration portfolio (TelePresence and Cisco WebEx suite), an eCDN, and the best speech search technology that indexes spoken words for richer metadata and easy navigation by keyword or speaker name within videos. However, it has more limited third-party integrations and deployment options compared with other video platforms.
■ Ignite Technologies and Kontiki are content delivery platforms. Ignite and Kontiki enable IT shops to avoid new hardware investments via software CDNs by installing local agents on employees’ desktops to serve as supernodes. One of the benefits of this model is that content creators have the option of pushing content (i.e., pre-positioning it) on users’ desktops before alerting them that the video is available. This mitigates the network impact of live delivery and allows for higher-quality video formats than streaming. Besides acting as content delivery platforms, both vendors also provide out-of the-box video portal and content management applications. However, these have fewer features than their competitors, lacking, for example, webcasting. While Ignite and Kontiki continue to add features to their portal applications, Kontiki is also focusing on its role as a delivery engine and is pursuing a strong integration strategy with third-party video platforms and webcasting and videoconferencing solutions.
This evaluation of the enterprise video platforms market is intended to be a starting point only. We encourage clients to view detailed product evaluations and adapt criteria weightings to fit their individual needs through the Forrester Wave Excel-based vendor comparison tool.
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Figure 4 Forrester Wave™: Video Platforms For The Enterprise, Q1 ’13 (Cont.)
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Cisc
o Sy
stem
s
Igni
te T
echn
olog
ies
Kaltu
ra
Kont
iki
Poly
com
Qum
u
CURRENT OFFERING Player embed and sharing features Internal YouTube and portal features Webcasting features Playlists, channels, and content discovery Direct recording options Video �le ingest options Video editing features Player customization Extensibility Search and metadata support Work�ow Reporting and analytics Digital signage and enterprise IPTV File format, video codec, and protocol support Deployment model Enterprise CDN support Scalability Security
STRATEGY Di�erentiation and road map Enterprise track record Partners and support
■ Kaltura’s open source platform supports internal and external video communications. New York City-based Kaltura is the only vendor explicitly targeting internal video communication and external marketing use cases. Because of this focus on “Internet plus intranet,” it has many publishing features and a user interface on par with what employees expect from consumer experiences today. Kaltura takes an extensible approach to its platform, and, thanks to its large developer ecosystem, its online exchange has an impressive selection of apps and plug-ins to extend functionality. Two areas where Kaltura scored lower than other Leaders is support for webcasting and for eCDNs. Although Kaltura has base functionality, enterprise customers typically use Kaltura’s professional services to customize the platform to their needs. Kaltura describes itself as a middleware framework — a midpoint between build and buy for deploying video publishing capabilities.
■ Polycom offers a complete solution for webcasting with videoconferencing integration. San Jose, California-based Polycom acquired the Accordent video platform in 2011 to complement its videoconferencing recording and streaming solutions. Polycom has a strong technology partner approach with connectors to Microsoft Lync and IBM Sametime, third-party eCDNs, and digital signage solutions. Customers typically use the platform for webcasting, with the option of using Polycom’s media capture appliance to simplify recording by synchronizing inputs. Polycom’s video portal application scored lower in some areas — namely player design, search features, and some user-generated content features. Polycom is particularly attractive to customers that want to leverage the integration with Polycom RSS infrastructure to capture and stream videoconference meetings.
■ Qumu covers all the bases in portal features, technology integrations, and network delivery. San Bruno, California-based Qumu has comprehensive support for webcasting and user-generated content with media capture appliances as well as webcam and screen capture recording features from its portal. It is one of the early vendors to release speech search capabilities. Qumu also features comprehensive videoconferencing and CDN integration support. Enterprise customers can use Qumu to enable live video distribution, optionally by deploying its VideoNet caching appliances on their network. Unlike other vendors, Qumu supports mobile delivery both through the browser and through native apps. Qumu was acquired in 2011 by Rimage, a manufacturer of equipment to produce CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.
strong performers: Vbrick, sonic Foundry, ignite Technologies, Cisco, and Kontiki
■ VBrick Systems has the most complete end-to-end hardware solution. Excluding videoconferencing streaming servers, Herndon, Virginia-based VBrick has the most complete end-to-end hardware solution comprising encoders and media capture appliances, video
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caching and redistribution appliances, and digital signage. It also has the best support for IPTV and excellent videoconferencing integration with the ability to live stream and record Microsoft Lync sessions. This support for IPTV and digital signage, along with its long-standing reputation in encoding, are why many customers choose VBrick. Besides its enterprise video platform, which can support webcasting and user-generated content, VBrick has an online video platform that customers can leverage in a hybrid strategy to publish content inside and outside the firewall. However, at present the two video platforms have different codebases. VBrick lost points in some areas like reporting and analytics for not having any dashboard capability. Additionally, VBrick’s software does not yet have the same enterprise track record as its hardware business.
■ Sonic Foundry has strong webcasting features with easy-to-use media recording appliances. Customers like the simplified operation and turnkey functionality of Madison, Wisconsin-based Sonic Foundry’s media recording appliances to synchronize content. They also like the rich playback experience for viewers. Sonic Foundry is unique in providing OCR to automatically index the text in slides, which makes it easy to search for specific webcast content. It is focused now on becoming more multipurpose. Sonic Foundry added a desktop recorder feature to support user-generated content uploads without its media recording appliances. The platform lags in some areas like support for SharePoint integration and social capabilities.
■ Ignite Technologies’ model for content-agnostic delivery and notifications is a differentiator. Customers choose Frisco, Texas-based Ignite Technologies’ SaaS solution to set up a peering model for content distribution and for its ability to target and push content to employees’ desktops. These two models give customers options for how they want to deliver video content depending on file size/video quality and the desire for live versus on-demand viewing. Customers use the platform not only to deliver video but also to distribute marketing collateral and even software updates. Ignite can also deliver proactive notifications (like Toast) to employees’ desktops — to notify them, for example, that they should watch a video that has already been pushed to their machines. Ignite lacks some features in leading video platforms like support for webcasting and other forms of direct recording. Ignite did not support multiple renditions and video codecs as of this evaluation but is introducing those capabilities in early 2013.
■ Cisco Systems has a video platform to analyze and search recorded meetings. San Jose, California-based Cisco’s Show and Share is part of the Cisco “Capture, Transform, Share” video platform that includes the Cisco TelePresence Content Server (TCS) to record studio video, videoconferences, and presentations; the Cisco MXE 3500 to transcode, transrate, and edit video content; Pulse Video Analytics software to add speech search across a video library; and integration with the Cisco ECDS. Cisco’s proprietary speech technology is the best available in an enterprise video platform, allowing users to navigate videos rather than sit through hourlong recordings of meetings to catch up on what they missed. Cisco plans to improve integrations with the WebEx suite of products and enhance its live webcasting. Cisco
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lags leading video platforms, however, in SharePoint integration, webcasting features, and cloud support.
■ Kontiki focuses on optimizing software-based content delivery with third-party integrations. Sunnyvale, California-based Kontiki is focused on providing an advanced content delivery engine, offering customers complete visibility and control over their network. One of these advances is a stream testing tool for customers to simulate live video distribution on their network (with no impact on users) before the real thing. It has strong security features and solid reporting tools. Although Kontiki has an out-of-the-box video portal application, it is less focused on competing to provide webcasting or “YouTube for the enterprise” features. Rather, Kontiki is trying to develop as many hooks as possible into webcasting applications (InterCall, ON24, and Thomson Reuters), social applications (NewsGator and Chatter), videoconferencing (Polycom), and digital signage (Scala). Kontiki also has an excellent SharePoint Web Parts integration.
suppLeMeNTaL MaTeRiaL
online Resource
The online version of Figure 4 is an Excel-based vendor comparison tool that provides detailed product evaluations and customizable rankings.
data sources used in This Forrester Wave
Forrester used a combination of three data sources to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each solution:
■ Vendor surveys. Forrester surveyed vendors on their capabilities as they relate to the evaluation criteria. Once we analyzed the completed vendor surveys, we conducted vendor calls where necessary to gather details of vendor qualifications.
■ Product demos. We asked vendors to conduct demonstrations of their product’s functionality. We used findings from these product demos to validate details of each vendor’s product capabilities.
■ Customer reference calls. To validate product and vendor qualifications, Forrester also conducted reference calls with three of each vendor’s current customers.
The Forrester Wave Methodology
We conduct primary research to develop a list of vendors that meet our criteria to be evaluated in this market. From that initial pool of vendors, we then narrow our final list. We choose these vendors based on: 1) product fit; 2) customer success; and 3) Forrester client demand. We eliminate vendors that have limited customer references and products that don’t fit the scope of our evaluation.
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After examining past research, user need assessments, and vendor and expert interviews, we develop the initial evaluation criteria. To evaluate the vendors and their products against our set of criteria, we gather details of product qualifications through a combination of lab evaluations, questionnaires, demos, and/or discussions with client references. We send evaluations to the vendors for their review, and we adjust the evaluations to provide the most accurate view of vendor offerings and strategies.
We set default weightings to reflect our analysis of the needs of large user companies — and/or other scenarios as outlined in the Forrester Wave document — and then score the vendors based on a clearly defined scale. These default weightings are intended only as a starting point, and we encourage readers to adapt the weightings to fit their individual needs through the Excel-based tool. The final scores generate the graphical depiction of the market based on current offering, strategy, and market presence. Forrester intends to update vendor evaluations regularly as product capabilities and vendor strategies evolve.
eNdNoTes1 Forrester has evaluated the top online video platforms. See the March 8, 2013, “The Forrester Wave™:
Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 17 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 29 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com. 88502
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