SaaS and Cloud are definitely buzzwords when we’re discussing video services, specifically OTT delivery to customers. When speaking about them, vendors offer flexibility, cost reduction, and reliability. But what do these buzzwords really mean? Let’s try to dissect what’s inside the boxes we usually identify as SaaS and a Cloud.
Simply put, we call a Cloud some remote server with a certain software running on it. Nowadays you will hardly find an operator using exclusively on-premise solutions. As a rule, at least some generic TV service solution components are deployed on virtual machines, as soon as virtual machines and virtualization become commodities. Those machines might be deployed in operator’s networks or in some third-party data centers.
Theoretically, any operator can migrate their existing solution to the Cloud. There are no hard blockers preventing such a migration. It’s only a question of rationale and positive business outcomes. It’s not that important where the operator’s hardware resides, it can be inside its network, or Amazon, Hetzner, or any other suitable data center.
So, should we as a vendor try to convince operators that they really need this Cloud transition? That’s a great question, but the answer is not obvious, as you might already have guessed. As it was already said, moving hardware and software to some remote location is not the goal, it doesn’t solve any business tasks on its own.
And here we should raise the main questions – regardless of a solution location inside an operator’s network (private Cloud) or in some rented data centers (public Cloud), how is responsible for managing and taking care of the whole solution?
In a traditional model in the past, operators usually owned their hardware, set their OS of choice up, deployed updates, etc. Software vendors were only responsible for their piece of software, that’s it. They could recommend certain hardware configurations, what to deploy on the same machine, and what – not. But that was only a recommendation, operators took their decisions.
Now we offer the so-called SaaS (software-as-a-service) model – the main thing, as we see it, operators need now. That’s what is really important today: who and how delivers TV service solution support. Operators can purchase their own hardware, and rightfully so, as they tend to have significant enterprise discounts from vendors. They can install it locally or in a data center of their choice, or even rent some remote capacity, give access and permissions, and enjoy their smooth TV service while being occupied with core business processes.
When we speak about typical OTT streaming deployments for media companies or content owners, our customers mostly intend to use our SaaS model in a public cloud when all server capacity for a video platform is located in some third-party data centers or CDNs in order to deliver a high-quality content to a wider audience.
They have established user experience standards and you need to follow them or you will face churn. That means, if you want to remain competitive, you need the best possible technology for the price, consistent and providing you with all the features and “amenities” your subscribers expect. And they expect a lot as soon as they interact with all the major brands on a regular basis. It can be delivered only within this SaaS model when a vendor strategizes and develops solutions continuously, timely, and consistently with that level of tech, design, and architecture effort which is needed to stand against industry giants.
We as a vendor can see that the whole industry is moving in that direction. TV service operators of different scales, from tiny to huge ones, opt for delegating comprehensive support to vendors. Not all of them, of course, but it looks like that’s only a matter of time.