Saying it can protect video and audio files from piracy – a growing and often litigious concern of music makers and video producers – Macromedia and Speedera launched a new secure delivery system for Internet video and audio April 18.
The announcement came on the same day Macromedia announced its acquisition by Adobe Systems in a $3.4 billion stock deal.
Macromedia and Speedera announced their new service at the National Association of Broadcasters’ conference in Las Vegas, saying the new service guarantees video and audio content protected by the service could be played only from its intended website—a site which could not be mass-mailed to unauthorized users.
"A secure option for Flash Video Streaming Service powered by Speedera is the next logical step in the evolution of Flash video technology," Speedera multimedia technologies manager Scott Cunningham said as the new service was announced.
"From content providers to corporate communications, maintaining the secure distribution of content while targeting the widest possible audience is extremely valuable,” he adds.
Speedera has managed Internet traffic tied to events like television specials and NASA’s mission to Mars, and agreed in March to be bought by rival Akamai Technologies for $130 million.
On the same day, announcing Adobe would buy the company, Macromedia representatives said that combining those two companies would mean more powerful solutions for creating, managing, and delivering content over multiple operating systems. Adobe agreed.
"Customers are calling for integrated software solutions that enable them to create, manage, and deliver a wide range of compelling content and applications—from documents and images to audio and video," said Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen in announcing the deal. "By combining our powerful development, authoring, and collaboration software – along with the complementary functionality of PDF and Flash – Adobe has the opportunity to bring this vision to life with an industry-defining technology platform."
