Content Delivery Summit: CDN Economics, Consolidation And Evaluation

The Content Delivery Summit is only a week away and on Monday May 11th we've got nearly 50 speakers discussing a dozen different facets of the content delivery business. One of the afternoon sessions brings together a group of Wall Street analysts from Kaufman Bros., BankStreet Group, Globespan Capital Partners, Thomas Weisel Partners and Flybridge Capital who will discuss the M&E activity in the CDN industry.

CDN Economics: Consolidation And Evaluation (2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)
Analysts have widely speculated that we're going to soon see merger and acquisition activity grow in the CDN space, but to date, little has taken place. CDNs continue to raise large amounts of VC money, and each quarter more CDNs enter the market. What are the current valuations for CDN companies, and where will VC money be directed in the future? What types of deals are being pitched to bankers, which ones are they having the most success selling, and what are the characteristics of the ones they are searching for. Come hear speakers discuss the current M&A and VC environment  and assess whether the economics of the CDN industry make it ripe for rapid consolidation.

• Moderator: Colby Synesael, SVP, Equity Research, Kaufman Bros.
• Panelist: James Henry, Senior Managing Director, Investment Banking, BankStreet Group
• Panelist: Jonathan Seelig, Managing Director, Communications and Internet/Infrastructure, Globespan Capital Partners
• Panelist: Blake Warner, Managing Director, Software, Media, & Telecom Investment Banking, Thomas Weisel Partners
• Panelist: David Aronoff, General Partner, Flybridge Capital

If you have a question you want me to ask one of the companies, put it in the comments section below. And you can still register with the special discount price at this link.

Keynotes From Akamai, Verizon, boxee and Bank of America Free To Attend

While many conferences only allow attendees to hear opening keynotes from those who have paid to attend the conference, keynotes at the Streaming Media East and West shows have always been open to anyone at no charge as long as they register for a free exhibit pass. I've gotten a lot of questions and about this lately and am happy to confirm that the keynotes are in fact free.

We've got a great combination of verticals represented in the keynotes next month including infrastructure, (Akamai), enterprise, (Bank of America), telco, (Verizon) and TV media center, (boxee).

You can register now for your free exhibit pass and hear all of these keynotes free of charge.

• Paul Sagan, CEO, Akamai
• Gregg Moss, SVP, Enterprise Streaming Media Strategy and Delivery, Bank of America, Knowledge Channel
• Joe Ambeault, Director, Product Development and Management, Video Services, Verizon
• Avner Ronen, CEO, Founder, boxee

If you have a question you want me to ask one of the companies, put it in the comments section below.

Copy Of Judge's Ruling In Akamai/Limelight Case Now Online

The 54 page ruling in the Akamai and Limelight patent case is now online. You can read the PDF here. Most of the interesting reading in towards the end.

With Patent Ruling In Their Favor, Limelight In No Rush To Be Acquired

Now that Limelight has prevailed in their patent lawsuit with Akamai, (copy of ruling here) many would think this now clears the way for Limelight to be immediately acquired by one of the major telcos. While I know of at least two telcos who have been interested in the past and made offers to acquire Limelight, those were during very different economic times.

While no one is expecting the market to improve anytime soon to the levels it was in 07', Limelight is not short on cash and does not need to accept a buyout offer just to survive. If anything, I expect Limelight will be the one doing the acquisitions shortly to help shore up some of their ecosystem pieces that tie into content delivery. Limelight can simply wait until they get the right valuation in the market before they agree to any kind of buyout and while that could always come tomorrow, realistically they probably wait until the market improves, their market cap goes up and they get the kind of evaluation they want.

It will also be interesting to hear whether or not Akamai will now make an updated offer to acquire Limelight. While Akamai did make an offer during the trial, from what I was told, Akamai didn't put a high value on Limelight's business and made a low-ball offer, which made sense at the time. But with Limelight winning the patent trial and growing their business nicely over the past eighteen months, clearly Limelight's business is worth a lot more today. I have no indication yet if Akamai will make another offer to acquire Limelight, but I would not be surprised if they do. They have the cash to do it, their stock is at a six month high and they have a track record of acquiring their competition to keep themselves the dominant player in the market.

Save The Date: NYC Video Networking Event Monday May 11th

On Monday May 11th, we'll be teaming up with the NY Video Meetup group to once again host their monthly event at the Hilton Hotel in midtown, the night before the Streaming Media East show opens. About 500 attendees are coming out to see, discuss and vote on four exciting web video startups. This will be a packed event so please visit the NY Video Meetup website for all the details and make sure to RSVP.

Agenda:
6:30-7:00PM Networking
7:00-8:00PM New Product Demos & Q&A
8:00-9:00PM Job Exchange & Networking (cash bar downstairs)

May Startup Presenters:
1. Volomedia - Jeff Karnes, VP Marketing & Products
2. Clearspring - Alex Calic, VP Network Development
3. Aniboom - Uri Shinar, Founder & CEO
4. SesameVault - Cameron Brain, Founder & CEO
5. Magma (Stealth) - Andrew Baron, Founder & CEO of Rocketboom will unveil his new startup

All attendees will also have the opportunity to win some free all-access conference passes to the Streaming Media East show.

Breaking News: Judge Overturns Jury Verdict In Akamai and Limelight Case

I've learned that a ruling has just come down in the Akamai and Limelight patent lawsuit with the judge overturning the jury verdict that was awarded in Akamai's favor. For now, Limelight will not have to pay any damages and I expect that Akamai will probably appeal the decision. More details to come, expect to see a ruling online on Saturday. I will post the link to the ruling as soon as I get it.

Updated Saturday: As expected, Akamai has said they will appeal the decision.

Updated Sunday: Limelight's official release on the ruling.

Updated Monday: Here is a copy of the ruling.

AT&T Looking To Fill 22 Positions In Their Digital Media Services Group

AT&T is looking to immediately fill 22 openings in their Digital Media Services group, supporting their Content Delivery and Content Management businesses. Open positions include one sales director position and multiple engineer and overlay sales reps positions.

Job locations are in LA, SF, Seattle, Dallas, Northern VA, NYC, Boston, Atlanta (SE only) and Chicago. Possible other locations include Denver and St. Louis. If you are interested in more details, contact John Watson at AT&T directly.

If your online video related company has any job openings, let me know. In most cases I will highlight them here on the blog - free of charge.

CDN Summit: Last Minute Speaking Spots Open

I have just a few speaking spots left at the Content Delivery Summit in NYC on Monday May 11th, the day before the Streaming Media East show kicks off. Below are the session details and I am looking for CUSTOMERS (content owners) of content delivery networks to fill these last few spots. If interested, please contact me ASAP as I will be closing all of these out by Friday. Vendors are welcome to suggest any of their customers as well.

• CDN Technology Impacts: HTTP, HD, Multi-Bitrate, and Live Broadcasting
  With all the new and existing CDN technology in the market, which new features and functionality should you take advantage of? What's the value of multi-bitrate delivery, and what impact can it have on your content business? Will new services like HTTP-based Smooth Streaming reduce your bandwidth costs and enable live events to scale to larger audiences? What exactly constitutes HD video, and what's the total cost of ownership for deployment? These and other questions will be answered as we break down when these technologies should be used and what real impact they can have on your online video business.

• Monetization And Video Advertising: Waiting for the Tipping Point
  For all the buzz about online video advertising, most content owners have yet to be able to turn their online video from cost center to profit center. Still, strong signals suggest that video monetization is around the corner, provided content owners don't pull back in today's tight economy. When will we reach that tipping point, and what direct cost and revenue impact will it have on the CDNs?

• The Future of CDNs
  This wrap-up session will be an open discussion highlighting some of the growing trends in the CDN market and examining how the business of content delivery will change over the coming years. Does cloud computing have any real impact? Will all video delivery eventually become commoditized? Will enough applications be built in the ecosystem to support rapid monetization? Come debate where the market is going, where the real opportunities are and what the disruptors will be, good and bad, for the CDN industry moving forward.

A reminder that readers of my blog can register for the CDN Summit for only $395 at this special link, which is $200 off the regular ticket price.

Bridging TV And Broadband And Cutting The Cable

At next months Streaming Media East show, we have over 30 sessions and 110 speakers talking and presenting on a wide range of topics. One of the sessions, moderated by Peter Kafka at All Things Digital, is entitled "Bridging TV And Broadband And Cutting The Cable" and contains speakers from Sling Media, TiVo, ESPN360 and boxee discussing what has become one of the most debated topics of late. Readers of my blog can register for the show using the special promo discount code of DRF1 which gets you a full two-day conference pass for only $695.

Bridging TV And Broadband And Cutting The Cable
Streaming sites like hulu, CBS, ABC, and others have proven that savvy audiences are turning to their computers for entertainment, and in a way that's profitable. How are traditional and cutting-edge companies capitalizing on this trend? In addition to providing the content, how are they taking advantage of this "connected" platform as they deliver content? And finally, how will this affect cable companies that are losing subscribers to this new content source?

• Moderator: Peter Kafka, Senior Editor, All Things Digital
• Michael Rosen, EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Babelgum
• John Gilmore, President, CEO, Sling Media
• Avner Ronen, CEO, Founder, boxee
• Damon Phillips, VP, ESPN360.com

If you have a question you want me to ask one of the companies, put it in the comments section below.

Move Networks Acquires IPTV Company, Adds To Their Confusing Portfolio

This morning Move Networks announced that it would acquire UK based Inuk networks, a provider of IPTV based technology. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, I've been told it was an all stock deal and was basically a fire sale as Inuk was out of operating capital. PaidContent UK has a detailed overview of Inuk's previous funding and money woes.

While it's too early for me to access what this means for Move Networks from an IPTV product offering perspective as I have not yet heard their strategy or seen the Inuk technology in action, this deal will only add to the confusion in the market of what exactly Move Networks core focus is.

Right now, Move Networks is in quite a state of transition, trying to figure out exactly who they want to be in the market and what their core offering is going to look like. I really wonder if they have any of that figured out yet and I hope they start to focus, iron out their offering, outline their product road map and then convey all of this to the market. Right now, no one has any idea what exactly Move's focus is, what their value proposition is to the market and what their core strength is. They are now involved in trying to offer so many different solutions that I think they have diluted their brand. 

With Move's board of directors still calling the shots while they look for a new CEO, no message is being delivered. Move's board clearly thinks they have a plan in place and they may, but without conveying any of that to the market and to customers, their strategy can only go so far. I don't remember the last time I saw a company in our industry manage the communication in the market so poorly after so many changes took place. I place blame on this with the board, who is literally running the day to day operations of the company, something a board is not setup to do.

With new executive appointments already confirmed and being announced shortly, hopefully they can fix all of these problems. But until the board finds and appoints a new CEO, the vision for this company is coming from a board of directors instead of one person being in charge. That's simply a bad strategy and one I hope they are quick to fix.