The 2011 Streaming Media Dream Team
As the Streaming Media Dream Team enters its third year, we find ourselves honouring more and more new faces while still finding that there are plenty of names from online video’s “old guard” that deserve recognition. But all of them share one thing: a passion for online video that goes beyond their own companies or products. These are all people who not only innovate and excel but also evangelise about online video. And at a time when everyone is singing online video’s praises, these individuals’ voices stand out.
We asked each of the Dream Team members to provide some background and answer some questions about themselves and the state of streaming media, including the next big thing they’re working on, the biggest trend in online video, and the greatest challenge facing the industry. (You can find last year's team
here.)
Here’s the 2011 Dream Team:
- Patrick Asché
- James Burt
- Andy Chen
- Simen K. Frostad
- Helge Høibraaten
- Ben Kittow
- Alec Main
- Eric Matsgård
- Ralph Pélamourgues
- Sarah Platt
- Nigel Regan
- Eddie Robins
- Frank Thorup
- Michael Westphal
- Jeroen “JW” Wijering
Patrick Asché, CTO
FlyOnTheWall
Previous Job Title
• Technical Director, Pixeltime
Proudest Achievements
• My 20-month-old son.
• Starting FlyOnTheWall 10 years ago.
• Finally delivering full HD webcasts.
• Delivering the 4-day webcast of the U.K. papal visit for WRG—currently the largest webcast audience achieved for an event in the U.K.
Next Big Thing
• Making streamed content easier to access everywhere and developing an automated satellite downlinking and streaming system.
Greatest Challenge
• Both standards and bandwidth. I believe the most significant accelerators for progress would be to achieve more common standards and to increase the available bandwidth of corporate networks.
James Burt, CTO
Twofour Digital
Previous Job Titles
• Technical Project Manager, Twofour Digital
• Network Manager, HP Bulmer LTD
Proudest Achievements • Designing and installing 127 servers running the BBC iPlayer Radio encoding and streaming and service.
• The design, development, and installation of software/hardware for HBO Central Europe’s web portal.
• Flying to Japan to consult on how to stream Sesame Street to Japanese schools.
Next Big Thing
• Developing our web TV platform MEDIAFREEDOM into the most-used web TV platform across the world.
• Twofour has just been announced as a member of the YouView advisory group.
• Becoming a father. I’m aiming to become fully literate in baby talk!
Biggest Trend
• The huge growth in mobile consumption.
Greatest Challenge • We need to get to a world where watching online video is as simple as putting a DVD in a DVD player, rather than worrying about competing codecs such as H.264 and WebM.<
Andy Chen, CEO
Preview Networks
Previous Job Titles
• Executive-in-Residence, Sunstone Capital
• VP of Digital Sales and Strategy, MTV Europe/Viacom
• Director of Digital Media and Strategy, Carat Global Management/Aegis Media
Proudest Achievements
• Becoming CEO of Preview Networks.
• Being able to help create value as an advisor and angel investor to ambitious startups such as Videoplaza.
• Voted by Media Magazine as one of the Top 20 rising media stars in the U.S. in 2004.
• Saying “no thanks” to a banking career and instead choosing an industry I love that has some of the most revolutionary minds of our generation.
Next Big Thing
• The next level of content syndication platform to distribute videos across media destinations, devices, and commerce channels.
Biggest Trend
• Emergence of brands as a new category of publisher and content owner.
Greatest Challenge
• The constraints of legacy media ecosystem and infrastructure, and solving the problems of yesterday instead of identifying the opportunities of tomorrow.
Simen K. Frostad, Chairman
Bridge Technologies
Proudest Achievements
• Co-founded Bridge Technologies 25 years ago
• Created world’s first IP/MPLS contribution network for Scandinavian sports coverage
• Developed first multicamera hard-disk recording system for episodic drama production
• Developed first nonlinear sports editing facility for the 1994 Winter Olympics
• Launched the VB330 probe for high-intensity applications in core networks.
Biggest Trend
• The pricing structure for multiplatform consumption will adapt to reflect the differentiation of quality available through various platforms.
Greatest Challenge
• The content is there, and audiences want to view it on an ever-expanding range of platforms. The challenge for the industry is to deliver the quality of experience that viewers expect.
Helge Høibraaten, CEO
Vimond Media Solutions
Previous Job Titles
• Manager, TV 2 Sumo
• CEO, Mosaikk Media
• TV Producer, Nordisk Film
Proudest Achievements
• Supporting the team I now work with, formed more than 10 years ago. Together, we succeeded in creating online broadcast experiences so compelling that people in high numbers are willing to pay for them. All while having great fun too!
Next Big Thing
• To keep inventing, and to keep helping our customers to be even more successful by keeping their customers numerous and happy.
Biggest Trends
• Getting content out to every screen.
• Getting a sustainable profit from online video.
Greatest Challenge
• Hesitation to act with the necessary power at the right time.
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