New service Mydeo brings streaming technology home

British entrepreneurs are launching a new service aimed at taking video streaming technology into the mainstream.

"Mydeo provides the missing link for home moviemakers and small businesses" says co-founder Cary Marsh who set up the company following a grant for technical innovation from the Department for Trade and Industry’s Small Business Service (SBS) programme that looks to encourage innovation in England. "So many homes have broadband access, digital cameras and experience in sharing photos that video is a natural step. People spend hundreds of pounds on digital video cameras, then the footage stays on tapes on shelves - people should be showing the footage off! Streaming technology is by far the best way to do this but until now there has been no service available that makes proper streaming technology accessible and affordable for home moviemakers"

While the business to business streaming market was burgeoning, with Investor Relations webcasting emerging as the killer app, the words ‘consumer’ and ‘streaming’ in the same sentence would have analysts and investors running a mile.

Mydeo believes that in 2005, with the accelerating uptake of broadband, the time is now right and there is a space for this technology in the hearts of the consumer but, crucially, as the content owner and publisher rather than as the pay-per view customer.

Traditionally, buying streaming media hosting has been a painstaking process. For the SME it might mean calling up salespeople at networks and negotiating quotas of storage and bandwidth. This would normally be coupled with an obligation to sign up for many months service in order to get the right price. For the home moviemaker the options were limited – try to find a biz-to-biz service selling packages at affordable prices, or try an ‘online album’ service where you can upload your videos along with your pictures and invite your viewers to visit the album site to see your footage with no guarantee of quality.

"Mydeo however, is about giving the user the ability to do the entire process online and then the freedom to do what they want with the links to their movie files." Commented Marsh. Mydeo users can upload and pay online then simply generate a link to their file to do with as they wish. This allows users the freedom to put links to files on their own websites or in emails etc. The site also offers tools for those new to streaming; such as creation of a customised HTML emails, and automatic generation of code for embedding files in web pages.

Mydeo uses the Speedera content delivery network (CDN) for global storage and delivery together with Speedera’s secure streaming product to guarantee security for Mydeo users’ content. This means that the humble home video maker can enjoy the quality and reliability of a world-leading delivery network, which they would never have been able to purchase as an individual.

The Mydeo payment model is also simple, and unique in that there is no reference to megabytes or gigabytes of storage or delivery. Mydeo users pay to upload their movies based on the length of the clip and the number of viewers they expect. For example, Mydeo’s basic package, ideal for friends and family, is £3 per minute of video and the file can be viewed up to 200 times. As Cary points out "If you sent a one minute video taken on your mobile phone to a friend’s mobile it would cost you almost £3 to deliver to just one person!".

Businesses too can benefit from the easy-to-use service, where rates work out still well below the usual cost of hosting contracts. For example Mydeo’s high package offers up to 10,000 views for £75 per minute of video – ideal for viral marketing campaigns and online advertising.

"Our goal when creating the Mydeo website was to design and build for the consumer, that means using navigation and design styles that consumers are familiar with from using their favourite sites" Says co-founder Iain Millar, who’s background has been in delivering award winning websites for blue-chip companies. "This does not mean the site is not suitable for the SME – it just means it’s simple and intuitive for everyone to use. We built the site to take the user from start to finish online. Users can therefore upload their material, make a secure payment, generate their own code and links, and view their statistics online - content can go from your camera to the other side of the world in minutes."

"The response to the service and the feedback has been great so far." Says Marsh "Based on this feedback we are already looking at introducing new packages later this year including packages for additional formats such as Quicktime as well as higher resolution packages for streaming rushes or other content that requires higher definition viewing"

About Mydeo
Mydeo was founded in 2004 by Cary Marsh and Iain Millar. In April 2004 Mydeo won the Research & Development grant for Technical Innovation from the Department of Trade and Industry's Small Business Service, which aims to encourage innovation in England. Mydeo provides streaming video hosting for home and small business users. The site provides simple online tools that help users upload, pay for, and distribute videos to friends, family, customers and prospects, as well as live statistics to track how popular videos have been.

For further information or press queries please do contact Cary Marsh on +447913292130 or via email press@mydeo.com.

For other information on Mydeo or the services available please refer to http://www.mydeo.com