Yorktel Intros Yorkcast Services, Simplifies Enterprise Webcasts
Webinars, webcasts, and other live events have been called many things, among them compelling, essential, and effective. But they’ve never been called easy or simple. This is particularly true in an enterprise environment, which might involve hybrid internet/intranet delivery via mixed multicast and unicast protocols, with portal and single sign on (SSO) integration. But even the garden-variety webinar requires a diverse range of expertise, including staging, audio and video production, networking and compression, and the knowledge base to choose the best technologies for the job -- all within a pressure-cooker live environment where failure is not an option.
Some organizations have assembled teams from various departments to manage these events. Many others don’t have the internal expertise, and need an external resource to come in and take over. It is these types of organizations -- both government and private -- that Yorktel’s Yorkcast Services is designed for.
By way of background, Yorktel designs, integrates, and manages enterprise-wide unified communications solutions, enabling customers to integrate video into their operations. As part of this effort, the company provides a range of video-related services and technologies, including broadcast-quality video production, post-production editing, live event AV production, streaming media webcasting, and managed media services. The company has been in business since 1985, and manages over 13,000 video endpoints in 84 countries.
At a high level, Yorkcast Services is the productization and consolidation of many of the discreet services provided by Yorktel in the past under a single service umbrella. The new service provides customers with a single point of contact and a simplified and scalable pricing structure for single or multiple events.
According to Vishal Brown, vice president of professional services for Yorktel, all enterprise engagements state with a network assessment to determine if the platform is up to the task. The next stage is a signal flow to understand the various pathways through which the video will be delivered. This identifies the necessary build out requirements for the webcast. Since YorkTel is primarily a service provider, rather than a technology provider, the company can choose the best tools for the job, and has expertise with a range of third-party technologies.
“Organizing webcasts can become a complex ordeal for groups within an organization -- corporate communications, media services, IT -- responsible for developing and delivering either ongoing streaming media or a high profile town hall event," Brown says. "Assessing and selecting a streaming technology that meets your requirements, plus having the in-house technical expertise to manage it, can be an overwhelming experience.”
Under the Yorkcast services umbrella, Brown adds that “Yorktel combines best-of-breed technology with its award-winning staff to take the hassle out of enterprise media streaming. The Yorkcast service allows organizations to manage the full life cycle of online multimedia communication including content creation, distribution, management, search, and reporting.”