In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, adaptability is essential for success. It means being able to respond quickly - and well - to changing circumstances. That’s why, at Capella, it is a central pillar in our architecture.
Just a few years ago, we were limited to sending still pictures to each other from our mobile devices, and we could only watch standard-definition video. Now, my kids are baffled by the concept of such outdated video standards, by linear TV and the idea of having to wait for your favorite programmes on a TV channel's schedule. We quickly become normalized to today’s level of technology, forgetting or perhaps never knowing about the decades of innovation it took to get us here.
Thanks to significant advances in TV technology, viewers are shifting away from traditional TV schedules towards on-demand streaming. Live events are now streamed with personalized ad breaks, which are more relevant and offer significantly increased monetization opportunities for streaming media providers.
This trend is not merely a phase; it’s likely to accelerate, especially as AI becomes integrated into media workflows and consumer devices. We are in an era of continuous, rapid change—with an intensity unlike anything we’ve experienced before. The mid-to-long-term consequences of this are largely unknown and probably unknowable. Anything but short-term predictions are likely to be incorrect
So, what defines a great software product in this landscape? At Capella, we believe the answer is software that can easily adapt and evolve. With the unpredictable nature of progress, the ability to adapt quickly is not just vital for survival; it’s an opportunity to thrive in this environment.
As media organizations produce and stream more content to an expanding audience, the demand for denser encoding compute has surged. Our customers’ focus has always been on quality, as has ours, but now it includes efficiency, which comes from maximizing throughput. We now support GPU acceleration in our live encoding software, which has given us a remarkable 300% speed increase. At the same time, we’ve made the transition to running on Linux: a significant shift for us, as we had previously focused solely on Windows desktop applications. This increased support for operating systems, as well as GPU vs CPU, adds to our flexibility. But there’s more.
Workflows have become more complex and have moved in new directions. They are no longer just about transcoding or live encoding. They now encompass a much wider variety of processes, including encryption, ad insertion and quality control. Transcoding and live encoding are foundational technologies that integrate all components of a complex media workflow.
Software must have an adaptable architecture that empowers customers with choices, including deployment options—on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid of both. Unlike our competitors, we refuse to lock our customers into a proprietary “walled garden” because we think that’s counter-productive for us and our users. Instead, we’re open to the world. We make it easy to integrate our software with our other products, a wide range of cloud services and diverse workflows. Playing nicely with others is itself a kind of efficiency.
Cloud and hybrid workflows are the future, and to fully support them, we now have industry-standard cloud management tools like Docker and Kubernetes. This was a new frontier for our development team, but we embraced the challenge and learned quickly.
Our software includes vital functionality such as VOD transcoding, live encoding, ad insertion, and scalable cloud management. With over 15 years of experience in video compression technologies, we have embraced adaptability as a crucial path between now and the future. Our unified code base allows us to adapt and modify our software quickly and effectively. In contrast, many larger companies rely on multiple code bases due to acquisitions, hindering their ability to innovate rapidly.
By positioning ourselves to adapt quickly and effectively to virtually any future scenario, we empower our customers to transform uncertainty into opportunity and investment into profit.
