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• Stream to all iOS-based devices.
• Utilize intelligent dynamic stream technology.
• Make the most of JoDiHost's global load balancing.

STREAM TO APPLE DEVICES

Nowadays, web publishers, content owners, and application developers focus on iOS-based devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, representing a large and hyperconnected target audience. A critical part of any media delivery strategy is to be able to deliver interactive and media-centric experiences to these devices. And JoDiHost allows to deliver your content fast to a devices anywhere in the world, whether it's streaming audio or video, live events, or sending secure, on-demand content with full encryption and authentication. JoDiHost network provides the speed, global coverage, and intelligent routing and minimize the interruptions and frustrations that often plague mobile media delivery. Intelligent dynamic streaming, a technology built in to Apple devices is fully supported by JoDiHost network. Depending on the device’s connection speed at the moment, an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch automatically switchs between different bit rates with the intelligent dynamic stream selection technology. So, whether the users are connected through EDGE, 3G, or Wi-Fi, you can deliver them a clear and uninterrupted viewing experience with this ability to switch bit rates dynamically, as network conditions change. Our customers' Apple iOS streams are delivered over our fast, globally load-balanced network, and they're automatically served by the streaming server fastest for them, so you can be sure, that Apple device users have an experience that is free of interruptions relating to network congestion or long distances between content servers and viewers.

Live and on-demand audio and/or video can be streamed to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch over HTTP for playback on its built-in media player application. This built-in media player application natively supports several video formats, which allows the iOS device to play on-demand content by performing a simple HTTP request. Live events, on the other hand, require additional processing (i.e., stream segmentation). Apple identifies the process through which the built-in media player interprets and plays segmented video as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). In addition to streaming media, it provides support for media encryption, user authentication over HTTPS, and intelligent dynamic stream selection according to the detected network bandwidth. Intelligent dynamic stream selection allows an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to automatically switch between different bit rate streams according to the current speed of your client's connection. Dynamically switching between streams can enhance the user experience while switching or connecting through EDGE, 3G, WiFi, and cellular networks.

In our CDN various solutions are provided through which the customer can stream live and on-demand content to iOS devices. Each streaming solution supports a different feature set.

These solutions are:

• HLS (CDN - HLS): Leverage HTTP Live Streaming without having to purchase & implement third-party server software.
• HLS (Wowza): A third-party server software that supports HTTP Live Streaming.
• HLS (CDN – Smooth Streaming): The customer is allowed to generate streams for both Silverlight-compatible players and iOS devices.
• HLS (CDN – Segmented Content): A file segmenter can be used to pre-package on-demand content for iOS consumption. Once this package is hosted on an origin server, iOS devices can stream it dynamically via a link to the M3U8 index file.
• HTTP Progressive Download: Stream on-demand content to iOS devices using a standard CDN or edge CNAME URL. The iOS device will stream content using sequential byte-range requests.

The iOS streaming capabilities of each solution are described in the table:

Streaming Solution	CDN Only?	Technology	Live Streaming	On-Demand Streaming	Dynamic Streaming
HTTP Live Streaming	Yes	HLS	+	+	+
Wowza Media Server	Requires Wowza Media Server	HLS	+	+	+
Smooth Streaming	Yes	HLS	+		+
File Segmenter	Requires a File Segmenter	HLS		+	+
HTTP Progressive Download	Yes	HTTP		+

Detailed information:

Live Streaming

The process through which a live event can be streamed to iOS devices is:

1. A streaming server must transform the customer’s live event feed into media chunks and package them into a stream.

• HTTP Live Streaming (CDN): An event for the live stream is created.
• Smooth Streaming: A publishing point is created and configured to generate an iOS-compatible stream.
• Third-party streaming server: A third-party streaming server (e.g., Wowza) should be configured as a customer origin on the HTTP Large platform.

2. The desired audio/video content must be encoded to an iOS supported format. A media encoder can perform this process for a live event as it occurs.

• HTTP Live Streaming (CDN): The encoder is configured to publish stream(s) to the publishing point URLs defined for the desired event.
• Smooth Streaming: The encoder is configured to publish stream(s) to the publishing point URLs defined for the desired publishing point.
• Third-party streaming server: The encoder is configured to publish streams to the customer’s third-party streaming server.

3. A media player interprets the index file and then requests the stream files in the order that they are listed. This allows it to play the streaming video without pauses or gaps between stream segments.

• HTTP Live Streaming (CDN): The media player is configured to request the live stream using an HLS-specific playback URL.
• Smooth Streaming: The media player is configured to request the live stream using an iOS-specific player URL.
• Third-party streaming server: The media player is configured to request the live stream using an edge CNAME URL that points to the streaming server.

On-Demand Streaming (CDN & Encoded Media)

Our CDN offers an HLS streaming solution that allows our servers to dynamically segment encoded video as it is requested by a user. This process is following:

1. The desired audio/video content is encoded to an iOS supported format.

2. The encoded content is uploaded to CDN storage.

3. The desired content is linked from a web page. This link should use an HLS-specific URL that points to the HTTP Large platform. Our servers will automatically generate an index file which the user will interpret to request video segments.

On-Demand Streaming (CDN & Segmented Content)

An alternative method to achieve dynamic streaming for on-demand content is to process the customer’s encoded video through a file segmenter and then upload the resulting package to a CDN or customer origin server. This process is following:

1. The desired audio/video content is encoded to an iOS supported format.

2. A file segmenter should be used to break up the encoded video into smaller files. It will also generate an index file that lists the order in which stream files should be played.

3. The files generated by the stream segmenter must then be hosted on a CDN origin server or a customer origin server.

4. The M3U8 index file is linked to, using a CDN or edge CNAME URL that points to the HTTP Large platform. This allows our CDN to deliver the appropriate index file, along with stream files, to users that request on-demand audio/video.

5. A media player interprets the index file and then requests the stream files in the order that they are listed. This allows it to play the streaming video without pauses or gaps between stream segments.

On-Demand Streaming (HTTP Progressive Download)

On-demand content can be streamed to iOS devices via HTTP Progressive Download. HTTP Progressive Download refers to a streaming solution provided on the HTTP Large platform that allows a media player to perform sequential requests for on-demand content.

1. Before audio/video content can be streamed to an iOS device, it must be encoded in an iOS supported format.

2. The encoded content is uploaded to a CDN or customer origin server.

3. The desired content is linked from a web page. This link should use a CDN or edge CNAME URL that points to the HTTP Large platform.

The first step in distributing the customer’s content to iOS devices is to encode his audio and/or video. The recommended encoding method for HTTP Live Streaming is H.264 video (Baseline Level 3.0) and HE-AAC audio. Additionally, the customer should encode his video with key frames every 3 seconds. The maximum supported bit rate is 1.6 Mbps.

Streaming a Live Event to iOS Devices through a Wowza Media Server

Live content can also be streamed by a Wowza Media Server to iOS devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad, Mac OS X, etc.) through the use of our worldwide delivery network. The role of the Wowza Media Server is to transform the customer’s video feed into media chunks and then package them as a stream that can be interpreted by an iOS device. After which, our CDN will deliver the customer’s stream over the HTTP Large platform in an efficient manner to iOS devices around the world.