Adobe Media Server: What's Behind the Name Change?

At the Cable Show in Boston earlier this week, Adobe announced it will soon release the new Adobe Media Server (AMS 5) as a replacement for the Adobe Flash Media Server. 缺少一些细节, 虽然, 所以我们找到了凯文·陶斯, a senior product manager at Adobe Systems, 去查一下改名的事, 一般可用性, 并支持MPEG-DASH.

One of the first questions we asked was about the change from Flash Media Server (FMS) to AMS. Adobe telegraphed its intent to move away from sole focus on Flash during last year's Adobe MAX conference, and the last release of Flash Media Server (version 4.5)有开始转变 from solely Flash-based playback towards Apple iOS devices such as the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. But still why drop Flash from the name?

“我们更改了产品名称,Towes说。, "to reflect that streaming and protection technologies are not solely for Flash. Our customers want to deliver and protect video on an increasing number of devices, including some popular ones that support Objective C for native app development."

Given the fact that Adobe's interactivity and web video tools still center on the Flash name, 这是一个大胆的举动. The name change alone may invite stronger comparison to other media servers, such as Wowza媒体服务器.

AMS会有其他版本吗, given the fact that FMS had three distinct versions (streaming, 互动, and enterprise) at varying price points?

"We have not announced the versions of Adobe Media Server yet,Towes告诉我们, 添加, "You can expect that announcement when we start shipping the products in June, 2012."

With the ship date just around the corner, what features will make AMS 5 different from FMS 4.Adobe的目标客户群为5美元? Towes provided a list that highlights Adobe's continued support for Apple's HTTP 在线直播 (HLS) for iOS devices:

Protected HLS support via a content license technology embedded in AMS
Additional digital rights management support for HLS using Adobe Access 4 licensing server (a separate purchase)
The ability to segment HLS content for on-demand playback, 使用离线HLS分割工具, which also supports encryption via Adobe Access 4
Improvements for HTTP streaming failover and fault tolerance
EIA-608 (line 21) closed caption support that will meet FCC requirements

一旦医疗辅助队上船, or if a beta version is available prior to the shipping, we will explore the HTTP streaming failover and compare it to "plain vanilla" HTTP servers.

Finally, what about MPEG-DASH support? Adobe showcased a DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) playback prototype in Flash Player at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in April, so we were surprised not to hear any mention of DASH in either the official Adobe press release for AMS 5 or in Towes的博客文章.

"Adobe is committed to supporting DASH in AMS in the future,Towes说。. "Adobe has committed that our video streaming products will support MPEG-DASH, and we were one of the first companies to publicly demo DASH support at NAB this year, 但我们还没有宣布具体的时间表.

"Our most recent public demonstrations at 流媒体 East demonstrate progress on the initiative. We continue to participate and contribute with the MPEG-DASH promoters group, but Adobe Media Server 5 does not yet have support for MPEG-DASH."