DIGG IT! Adobe this morning announced Flash Media Server 3 and some dramatic changes in the product that I believe will change the foundation of streaming media. The changes to Flash Media Server 3 include removal of bandwidth/connection restrictions, improved clustering support, full content protection, streaming support for H.264, and dramatically lower costs. Details here and here. The real key is that Flash Player 8 (98%) and Flash Player 9 (94%) are ubiquitous client runtimes that fully support video streaming from Flash Media Server 3 today. Today's announcements eliminate the barrier to scaling the server-side in terms of connections, bandwidth, and licensing cost.
The explosive growth of web video was ushered in through the use of progressive download and Flash Player. By leveraging the ubiquity of Flash Player, sites like YouTube, VideoEgg, and BrightCove made progressive download the standard for video delivery online. As this market matured so did the demand for higher quality video and content protection. FMS3 provides content protection through encrypting streaming and includes support for streaming HD video online. In lowering the cost of secure HD streaming we will see some amazing growth in the delivery of web video.
Here is the math that has me excited about this release:
Flash Media Server Streaming ($995)
Linux (Free)
Amazon EC2 ($89/mo + $.10/GB)
-----------------------------------
1 TeraByte of Streaming Media = Licensing of $995 + $265/month
Additionally we will see service providers lower these costs even further in providing free or nominal cost solutions in the market. It is an exciting time for web video, viva la revolution!
Others on FMS3:
Adobe Press Release
Product Page
Stefan Richter
Ryan Stewart
Read-Write Web
Cheers,
Ted :)
Hey ted,
We were looking for the developer edition which allows us to evaluate the product and following the download link, we ended up with the version 2 still... (http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=flashmediaserver)
Is there a possibility to get the version 3 in evaluation mode?
Thanks,
Boubalou
Great news Ted!
One thing that doesn't really make sense to me looking at the comparison chart is that stream recording is not included in the FMSS. That would mean a premium of a good 3500 USD just for that feature in FMIS.
I've worked on several projects that required stream recording but didn't need edge/origin, server side scripting, extensibility etc.
Just my 0.2 cents, good move though!
Peter,
There was a real effort to isolate streaming playback into a single lower cost server and have the full monty interactive server in the other. Drawing the feature line is a very very hard problem and so rife with controversy.
Ted :)
That EC2 math looks nice. But don't you have to figure in RedHat license as well, since officially FMS is supported on RHEL only? So additional $349 or more for RHEL subscription.
Anyway, that EC2 equation would look even sweeter if Adobe offered a ready-to-go Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with FMS and everything needed preinstalled. Or if not the AMI itself, then a devnet article on how to set up FMS on EC2.
Guys be a bit more positive! This is awesome news!!!
Two issues that need to be solved:
1. No upgrade path from version 1.5?
2. No Upgrade path from Personal Edition 1.5 at all?
If that's gonna be true that really sucks!
Ted,
I wonder if one can still write any server side AS in FMSS 3.0, for example, calling a backend db to retrieve user information and sending it to a Flash player application?
If FMSS supports only the playback of streaming media--and no Server Side coding allowed--I am not sure how useful is FMSS and its price cut.
Ted,
Do you know if there is a way to deploy FMIS on Amazon EC2?
Have anyone created an FMIS AMI (Amazon Machine Image)??
Thanks!