The 2008 Streaming Media All-Stars

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"No one has done more to advance media companies’ use of online video than George."—SM All-Star Nomination

Proudest achievements:• Getting to work with incredibly talented and passionate leaders and teams at RealNetworks, Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), and NBC Universal (NBCU).
• Being among the executives who started RealNetworks' SuperPass, the first online, premium video subscription service.
• Negotiating the first eight-figure online video license deal between MLBAM and MSN, and then replacing it with a bigger deal a few years later (between MLBAM and ESPN).
• Working on the backend services deal that allowed MLBAM to provide the infrastructure to enable CBS to broadcast March Madness in 2006 to the then-largest number of concurrent users of an online, live video event
• Being on the team that established Hulu, the online video joint venture between News Corp and NBC Universal, and having the honor of being Hulu's first CEO and current board member.

Next big thing:Continuing to push the boundaries of distributing NBCU's assets on all digital platforms and continuing to start and grow organic, digital businesses within NBCU.

Biggest change over last 10 years:
"The quality of the streaming media experience. Watching full-screen, full-motion video on a laptop is now commonplace."

Biggest challenge facing the industry:
"We need to establish long-term, sustainable business models for the distribution of premium video that compensate content companies at the level necessary to create incentives for continued investment."

Tom Leighton, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder, www.akamai.com

"One of the founding fathers of streaming."—SM All-Stars Nomination

This All-Star honor is also awarded in memoriam to Daniel Lewin, who co-founded Akamai. Lewin passed away on Flight 11, one of the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Proudest achievements:
• Founding and helping to build Akamai over the last decade
• Solving the problems that led to my research papers
• Authoring text "Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Architectures"
• Creation of MIT course "Introduction to Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science"
• Funding of and participation in the Akamai Foundation
• Inventions that led to my patents

Next big thing:
"Improving the quality of the content that end-users can access online. We are already delivering HD-quality video online and look to continue that. We always strive to be ahead of the curve so our customers can offer a top-notch user experience."

Biggest change over the last 10 years:
"The biggest change is the quality and quantity of available content. Look at an encoded video from 1998 and compare that to today, you realize how hard the industry has worked to overcome a myriad of really tough problems."

Biggest challenge facing the industry
We need to avoid the hype and deliver technologies that work flawlessly. Burning consumers out on applications that are slow or don't work will really slow progress.

Christopher Levy, CEO and Founder, BuyDRM

"A major player, always pushing the industry forward."—SM All-Stars Nomination

Proudest achievements:
• My first webcast, Willie Nelson live from the Backyard in Austin Texas for AudioNet.
• John Glenn's Return to Space webcast for NASA
• Contributing to Steve Mack's Streaming Media Bible
• Attending the first Streaming Media Show in San Francisco in 1998.
• Co-inventing Stream OS.
• Predicting the peak bandwidth usage of Live 8 within 10% of the actual number.

Blog: http://thedrmblog.com

Biggest change over last 10 years:
"A move toward monetization of content and profitability. It was so easy for sites to just give their content away for so long. Now the bottom line matters."

Biggest challenge facing the industry:
"Patent trolls and IP lawsuits could crush the life out of our industry."

Mike Lorenz, Chief Technology Officer, Accordent Technologies

"Mike has developed industry-leading communications tools since 1999."—SM All-Stars Nomination

Proudest achievements:
• Co-founding Accordent Technologies in 1999
• Being granted U.S. Patent # 7,299,289 related to the creation of synchronized rich media presentations that include streaming media and a wide array of supplemental graphical and interactive information
• Receiving the Editor’s Choice award from Network Computing for the Accordent Capture Station
• Watching our flagship product, Accordent PresenterPRO, successfully support live webcasts reaching thousands of people through commercial CDNs
• Being the primary architect for what was at that time the nation’s largest healthcare data center for California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development

Next big thing:
"Continuing to advance the functionality of the Accordent Media Management System so it remains the primary multimedia destination site in the enterprise."

Biggest change over last 10 years:
"The maturation of the industry, from the early days when there was heavy investment in unproven—but technically intriguing—businesses to the integration of streaming into mainstream business productivity applications and into the core offerings of established players, such as Cisco."

Biggest challenge facing the industry:
"Keeping up with demand. Thanks to social networking and Web 2.0 technologies, people are becoming very comfortable communicating with online video. Technology vendors will all need to anticipate sensible ways to integrate these consumer-driven trends within the enterprise environment."

Steve Mack, Principal, LUX Media

www.luxmedia.com"Steve is the pioneer, the Godfather of Stream."—SM All-Star Nomination

Proudest achievements:
• The early work I did with the original codec developers at RealNetworks. I still think that the video and, in particular, the audio codecs are the best, hands-down. Hey, even Jan Ozer agrees.
• All my books, but in particular the Streaming Media Bible. 1200+ pages of sweat and tears. 75% of it is still applicable. I wish my publisher would let me update it.
• All the groundbreaking streaming work I was able to participate in: The first-ever public webcast, of a Seattle Mariners baseball game in 1995; the first worldwide streaming broadcast to tie together multiple RealServers worldwide (Tibetan Freedom Festival, 1997); broadcasting from 20+ NYC clubs simultaneously (Digital Club Festivals 1998-2000); Broadcasting Iggy Pop from a street corner in Austin with a laptop and really, really long XLR and Cat5 cables
• Webcasting U2 live from Notre Dame. The Edge loved the sound mix that I did, and Yahoo called it the webcast of the year. I also mixed all the webcast audio at the Tibetan Freedom Festivals, and again, the Edge came back, checked the mix, and gave me the thumbs up. Great guy.
• I'm proud to provide streaming hosting services for some of the most prestigious and progressive non-profit organizations in the U.S., including the Humane Society, the ACLU, and Amnesty International USA.

Next big thing:
"My masters degree. I think."

Biggest change over the last 10 years:
"The history of streaming media has more or less paralleled the development of previous mass media. Rob Glaser predicted this early on. It took ten years for the audience to reach critical mass. I don't think there has been any one particular event, with the possible exception of the emergence of YouTube and social networks, which made video an integral part of the internet."

Biggest challenge facing the industry:
"Evolving existing business models. It's hard to compete against free. Advertising-supported models don't work unless you've got scale. We have to figure out how to add sufficient value with our offerings so that customers will pay for them."