Streaming Video Alliance releases new technical specifications

Streaming Video Alliance Announces New Technical Specifications From the Open Caching Working Group and Privacy and Protection Working Group

FREMONT, Calif. — The Streaming Video Alliance (the Alliance), a global technical association developing solutions to address critical technical challenges in delivering a high-quality video experience at scale, today announced that two technical specification documents have recently been approved and are immediately available to the public. The Open Caching Performance Measurement Specification document, produced by the Open Caching Working Group, outlines measurement metrics for open caching and key performance indicators related to quality of service metrics. The Securing Streaming Video Specification, produced by the Privacy and Protection Working Group, examines how to optimally protect and secure streaming video for both content providers and distributors to ensure content is being used as intended by the designated parties.

“We’ve had a very productive year developing and introducing new public specifications, one of the Alliance’s top priorities. I want to personally recognize and thank our Working Group members for their commitment to bringing their respective projects full circle,” said Jason Thibeault, Executive Director at the Alliance. “While this has been a challenging year in many respects, it has also accelerated innovation in the streaming industry and encouraged new breakthroughs on a shorter runway.”

Technical Specifications Published by the Alliance in 2020

• Open Caching Relayed Token Authentication

  This document was produced by the Open Caching Working Group and describes the functional specification of the open-caching relayed-token-authentication mechanism. The focus is on generically supporting URI signing using this method. There are additional applications, like user Cookies, which are mentioned in this document without getting into the specifics. While multiple different CDNs, as well as CDNi, support Tokenization in alternative methods, the goal of this implementation is to support all of these different formats via the relay authentication mechanism.

• Best Practices for End-To-End Workflow Monitoring

  As the video streaming industry continues to mature, QoE expectations continue to rise in importance both as a value proposition to the consumer as well as a differentiator between competing video streaming services. Yet, consistent, systematic, standardized, objectively measured, and business-rules-driven QoE assurance continues to be an elusive goal. The Measurement/QoE Working Group produced this document, which outlines factors that impact consumer QoE, sheds light on some of the underlying challenges to diagnosing QoE impact, and provides a set of best practices for end-to-end QoE monitoring in video streaming workflows.

• Open Caching Performance Measurement Specification

  The Open Caching Working Group produced this document, which outlines measurement metrics for open caching. The document’s focus is to outline key performance indicators related to quality of service metrics at the open cache nodes that are responsible for delivering the streaming content.

• Securing Streaming Video Specification

  The ability to prevent piracy, take down illegal content, and act against illegal sources are key objectives of content protection. Meeting these objectives requires the use of a variety of technologies including watermarking, Digital Rights Management (DRM), fingerprinting, and cryptography. The Privacy and Protection Working Group developed this document, which examines and discusses the streaming video system to provide best practices for protecting and securing streaming video content for both content providers and distributors to ensure content is being used as intended by the right parties.

New Alliance Members

The Alliance welcomes Starz and Varnish Software as Principal Members; EXFO and Intel as Supporting Members; and Mainstreaming as a Small Business Principal Member.

“Streaming video has been put to the ultimate test this year as an essential technology for business and personal communication and also as a means of entertainment and escapism. At a time when so much of our global population is in social isolation, it is one of the technologies keeping us connected to each other,” said Thibeault. “The lessons learned by the industry in 2020 have had a significant impact on the direction of our work as an Alliance and what we will carry forward as an industry.”