A Practical Guide to AWS Media Services

The last white paper I reviewed from Amazon Web Services-Elemental was among the best ever received. It generated 3-plus million potential impressions, thousands of views, hundreds of downloads, and very healthy social media engagement. So I didn’t hesitate to review the follow up paper— “A Practical Guide to AWS Media Services: Deploying cloud-based processing and delivery services for broadcast and Internet-delivered video"

https://www.elemental.com/resources/white-papers/aws-media-services...

 Whereas the first paper provided a good problem statement and high-level overview of AWS (a past sponsor of our OTT Executive Summit), this one goes into a bit more detail and includes a more comprehensive and practical guide to the “why” and “how” to work with AWS. I recommend it not just as a way to better understand AWS, but as a primer for anyone wanting to understand the major components involved in video processing and delivery.

It is now stating the obvious that video providers are moving to cloud-based infrastructures, so the need for reliable solutions is accelerating, just as consumer devices are diversifying and viewing experiences are becoming more sophisticated.

AWS’s strategy is to address their customers’ three main business objectives: advancing video services capabilities, reducing capital expenses, and increasing the value of their content.

“The Practical Guide to AWS Media Services” white paper explains the functions of each AWS component, the business objectives served, and the challenges addressed. It also includes a section on managing live events and 24x7 live channels that I found particularly helpful. At 15 pages it is a bit meaty, but it is filled with illustrative workflow diagrams that make it an easy read.