Startup Eluvio Seeks to Disrupt Transcoding and CDN Biz

A Berkeley, California-based startup says it has a new way to distribute streaming video that eliminates the need for traditional video encoding and content delivery networks (CDNs).

Eluvio was founded by Michelle Munson, a Cambridge-trained software engineer and IBM veteran. The company’s patent-pending “Content Fabric” architecture is a global software overlay network that enables just-in-time video distribution—stream or download file—directly from the source.

Eluvio co-founder and CEO Michelle Munson

Eluvio co-founder and CEO Michelle Munson

The system, Eluvio says, eliminates the need to create additional copies of files used in distribution networks or storage facilities using a novel representation of media and data protocol implemented in a blockchain network to create a direct-to-consumer media distribution network.

MGM is using the Eluvio Content Fabric for global streaming to web, mobile and TV Everywhere audiences of certain properties, including transcoding, multi-format encryption and DRM, access control and audience reporting.

“The economics of today’s video ecosystem is defined and hampered by yesterday’s technologies, and we aim to change that,” said Munson, who serves as CEO and co-founder of Eluvio. “The Eluvio Content Fabric enables content owners to manage and distribute video and large form content in ways never before possible, opening publishers to more direct monetization opportunities, and reducing costs by minimizing core bandwidth and storage, and radically streamlining the traditional media distribution workflow.”

Munson is introducing Eluvio alongside her co-founder, Serban Simu, at IBC in Amsterdam. In 2003, Munson and Simu also founded Aspera, which invented the FASP fast file transport protocol. Aspera was acquired by IBM in 2014. 

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!