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Wowza Media Systems a 'Key Factor' in Launching the Dragon By David Sims TMCnet Contributing Editor Wowza Media Systems has announced its product was determined to be 'a key factor' in the recent launch and subsequent recovery of SpaceX's (News - Alert) Dragon. Specifically, the Wowza Media Server 2 software was 'a key component' in supporting the first-ever commercial company to launch and recover a spacecraft from orbit successfully.
On Dec. 8, 2010, American space exploration company SpaceX launched its Dragon spacecraft into the Earth's orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft twice orbited the Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean only a few hours later. Thousands watched the historic event unfold on SpaceX's live webcast. As company officials say, relying on the Wowza multiplatform streaming solution, 'SpaceX captured the event on HD-resolution IP cameras placed around the launch pad and pushed live streams to a global Web audience via Akamai (News - Alert) streaming services. The flexible Wowza software made it easy for SpaceX engineers to view operations from every angle.' Branden Spikes, SpaceX chief information officer, said the Wowza Media Server 2 'improved our closed-circuit monitoring system for the local and remote operations teams, a critical component of our successful mission, by making it more robust and flexible."
"This allowed us to more effectively share Dragon's first flight with the thousands of viewers around the world. Wowza provided us with the most advanced tools for streaming, a flexible and extensible architecture, excellent technical support, and impressive reliability,' added Spikes.
Last summer TMC's (News - Alert) Anshu Shrivastava wrote that content delivery solutions provider Mirror Image Internet announced expanded streaming capabilities with partner, Wowza Media Systems, boosting per-server performance to 10 Gbps for high capacity video streaming.
The companies inked a partnership agreement in 2009. Officials said that the partnership has enabled organizations to take advantage of video streaming to the latest devices and platforms including Apple iPhone (News - Alert), iPod touch and iPad. Moreover, customers have been able to stream content on Mirror Image's network via Wowza servers.
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David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David's articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here. Edited by Janice McDuffee |