Goodbye Wowza媒体 Server, Hello Wowza Streaming Engine

第一次， Wowza媒体正在接触到自己的GUI. Wowza Streaming Engine—the new name for Wowza媒体 Server—was announced today, transforming the popular media server from a command-line-only tool in to one with a graphical user interface (GUI).

“If you wanted to do iOS streaming in Wowza 3 you had to hand code in three locations, 但现在, 在Wowza流媒体引擎, 这是一个单选按钮,David Stubenvoll说, Wowza的CEO.

GUI的概念, which Wowza calls the Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, is to make the engine that powers multiple media sites simpler to operate.

“Our intent is to get Wowza into the hands of many more than before, and for people not just to use Streaming Engine but to understand it directly through the UI rather than needing to always refer to the support documents,斯图本沃尔说.

While Wowza Streaming Engine is the next generation of Wowza媒体 Server, Stubenvoll says the name change reflects what the product does.

“Wowza Streaming Engine is the fourth-generation of Wowza媒体 Server,斯图本沃尔说. “The first two versions were about making the media server work well, while version three—with the addition of 插件-给了我们一个新的架构. Wowza Streaming Engine and the GUI are about helping us make the next change in the world of streaming.

“The idea around the name change is to recognize what it is: a powerful engine that powers CDNs and major sites,斯图本沃尔说. “The Manager makes it more accessible to those that are new to streaming.”

Wowza has been criticized for not having a graphical user interface, effectively limiting the use of Wowza媒体 Server to those who know command-line or XML programming.

“The bigger issue is how to solve more pieces of the streaming puzzle than before,斯图本沃尔说. “We want to help both those who make video a business and those who use video to do their business be successful.”

“This is the biggest release we’ve done to date,斯图本沃尔补充道, noting that the February 11 release date is a soft launch and that the push will come closer to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in April.

Wowza has grown in both revenue and employees over the past year. 迈克Talvensaari, newly promoted to vice president of product management at Wowza, is directly responsible for the user interface and experience delivered in Wowza Manager.

“我们之前尝试过几次UI/UX, but none of the approaches worked to give the right balance between power users and ease-of-use,斯图本沃尔说. “We finally hired the team to do it right, including Mike, whom we’d worked with before.

“We wanted to get it right by allowing UI use, but also acknowledging that—if you want to use it—we didn’t want to limit the power user from getting under the hood,斯图本沃尔补充道.

When asked about the paid and free modules, 称为插件, 这是在Media Server 3中引入的, Stubenvoll explains that many of the free ones will be subsumed into Streaming Engine.

“我们仍然有插件,斯图本沃尔说, “While some of the free ones will be part of Wowza Streaming Engine the others—including the paid ones such as Transcoder or nDVR—will work just as before.”

StreamingMedia.com will provide the first review of Wowza Streaming Engine later this week.