Wowza Introduces Ultra Low Latency Streaming Service

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Wowza Media Systems has just announced their new Ultra Low Latency streaming service for their Wowza Streaming Cloud platform. The low latency service, built on Microsoft Azure, is designed to significantly reduce buffer and lag times, ensure consistent streaming delivery, and adapt to changing network conditions at scale.

Wowza’s goal with low latency is to shrink the gap between the streamer and the viewer, and to more generally improve stream performance. A handy demo shows how Wowza’s Ultra Low latency produces only a two second delay between streamer and viewer. Other traditional protocols like RTMP and HTTP can take anywhere from 10 to 45 seconds to catch up. The low latency also smooths out video quality and removes miniscule delays that can impair a stream’s overall flow. Wowza co-founder and CEO Dave Stubenvoll said that “unlike legacy networks, our new platform is designed to deliver at the speed needed for the next generation of applications and services, so it doesn’t cache and won’t artificially inject latency based on demand or scale.” Ultra-Low latency can bring a livestream closer than ever to real-time delivery—an unprecedented move in today’s streaming market.

The low latency service works like other optimization technologies by finding the closest servers and ingest points and streamlining connections to users through a single network. By reducing the number of steps to the last mile, the connection reaches its destination faster but also faces fewer risks of failure or redundancy. As the connection travels from streamer to viewer, the low latency service leverages Wowza’s existing streaming protocols to ensure end-to-end consistency.

Wowza’s low latency service also monitors and intelligently tracks streams as they travel down the line. The service proactively adjusts parameters to ensure stability, and uses a “self-healing” function to automatically troubleshoot potential issues. It can maintain uptime by anticipating errors and optimize streams before they buffer or fail entirely. This kind of self-maintenance makes an optimization service like low latency not only fast but stable and consistent.

Streaming in general has a wide range of applications, functions, and environments. Businesses use streaming for teleconferencing and to show product demos or presentations. Popular gamers stream to massive audiences and often confront high network traffic and demanding video data from complexly designed software. Even some hospitals use low latency streaming for medical devices. Different types of industries require different latency services. Wowza’s new Ultra Low service is designed to simulate near real-time streaming for activities where time is of the essence, and instantaneous streaming is a priority—likely a priority for a wide range of customers.

Wowza is also releasing an API-based toolkit for developers, complete with interactive documentation and SDKs for mobile streaming app creation. Wowza’s framework gives developers freedom to use their scalable optimization service in crafting their own streaming apps.

Wowza will be demonstrating their Ultra Low Latency service at the 2017 International Broadcasters Convention and Expo in Amsterdam, from September 14-19. You can schedule a demo here if you will be attending.

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