Abacast Inc.

Streaming quality is heavily dependent on a few key factors. One of them is your ability to push out your content to a distribution server. Even the highest quality content can be rendered choppy with a poor internet connection.

So what are some things to look for in a service? Your key aspect is upload bandwidth. This is normally not as important as download speeds to a normal ISP customer, but because your priority will be sending data out as opposed to downloading, you need to pick an ISP that can provide you with AT LEAST double upstream of the bitrate you will be broadcasting at. You will most likely not achieve full upload speeds to any server due to internet/server fluctuations. Stay away from wireless routers or mobile cards as much as you can as these connections typically drop data packets and need to retransmit. This is normally not a problem with web browsing but in a constant data stream, these are transformed into cutouts and video quality degrading for your viewers. Also, make sure that no one else is using the connection for other work while you are broadcasting, that steals your bandwidth!

Before beginning to choose a streaming package it’s important to understand the different delivery methods and codecs. These ultimately affect your viewers experience. You will also need to know if you’re planning to be streaming audio, video, or both?

Windows Media format offers a great delivery for audio/video, can easily be embedded on a webpage but it not natively supported on Apple computers. They will have to install Flip4Mac or Windows Media Player for MAC. Also, Windows Media currently is not supported on most mobile phones.

Adobe Flash streaming is considered a more universal option as Adobe’s Flash player is installed on the majority of internet computers. Adobe Flash is typically more CPU intensive so older machines may have trouble keeping up, and to display the stream on your website requires a separate flash application.

If you are just broadcasting an audio MP3 stream, using Icecast or Shoutcast are very direct methods of streaming to stand alone apps (Winamp, iTunes), hardware (Squeezebox), and are usually supported on mobile phones. Standard MP3 format requires the use of higher bitrates to achieve good sound quality, but recently AAC has allowed reduced bitrates with great sound quality. There are many formats out there, make sure and do your homework on what the pros and cons are for each type to make sure you present your users with effortless streaming!

This DCIA event is scheduled for March 9th at the Cornell Club of New York, from 9am to 5pm. It features keynotes from the top P2P, cloud computing, and social network operators, advertising agencies, sponsor companies, content providers, online ad networks, and Internet service providers (ISPs).

There’s panel discussions, case studies and workshops, plus plenty of time for networking during the luncheon and the cocktail reception.

For those who cannot make it, we’ll be webcasting the conference via our own network through our Flash application designed to show video of the conference as well as the slides presented by the keynotes.

For more information about the event click here

FTC Staff Affirms That Abacast P2P Technology Protects Against Inadvertent File Sharing

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff notes that Abacast, the first company to receive this distinction, offers a peer-to-peer delivery solution that is compliant with applicable industry voluntary best practice guidelines to safeguard consumers from inadvertent file sharing.

Camas, WA – January 6, 2010– Abacast, Inc., a provider of hybrid Content Delivery Network solutions for online radio and video, has announced that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff has completed its review of Abacast’s flagship live and on-demand peer-to-peer (P2P) delivery solution and found it to be compliant with applicable industry best practices in defending users from inadvertently sharing of sensitive files over P2P networks.

Inadvertent file sharing can result in consumers unwittingly sharing sensitive documents such as tax returns to other members of P2P networks. To address this concern, the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA, http://www.dcia.info), a non-profit trade organization focused on commercial development of P2P and related technologies, sponsors the Inadvertent Sharing Protection Working Group (ISPG). The ISPG created a set of Voluntary Best Practices (VBPs) for P2P companies to implement in order to minimize or eliminate inadvertent sharing of files. In its review of P2P delivery solutions, FTC staff concluded that Abacast’s solution protects against the inadvertent sharing of any file among peers. Importantly, several of the VBPs are not relevant to Abacast in light of its function as a closed content distribution network.

Jim Kott, Abacast Co-President, said “Consumers who access services that rely on Abacast’s peer-to-peer delivery can be confident that the technology will enhance their listening or viewing experience and not in any way expose private files to others.”

Abacast is the only company to-date to receive this recognition and approval of the ISPG’s Voluntary Best Practices that specify desired file-sharing behavior. In the FTC staff report, Mary Engle, Associate Director of the FTC Division of Advertising Practices noted that, “…only files that have been provided to Abacast’s servers from Abacast’s customers are distributed.” The report when on to conclude that “Our staff’s tests show that [Abacast’s] program is compliant with the industry Voluntary Best Practices…”

Marty Lafferty, CEO of the DCIA, said that, “Abacast has provided an exemplary industry leadership role with its full implementation of the ISPG Voluntary Best Practices that apply to Abacast. We applaud the FTC’s recognition of Abacast’s P2P delivery technology for helping to safeguard private information.”