It takes more than rocket science to launch a rocket and I should know. I work for SpaceX, a company that is revolutionizing rocket and space technology in order to take space exploration to the next level. SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches rockets and spacecraft. Last year we became the first private company in history ever to launch and recover a spacecraft from orbit. That successful mission took place in December when we launched our Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral and recovered it from the Pacific Ocean after a few hours in orbit.
The Wowza Media Server 2 high-performance video engine delivers our live H.264 video to multiple clients and devices. With their software, our video feeds can be viewed on most popular media platforms, including Adobe® Flash®, Microsoft® Silverlight®, Apple® iOS, Android, and Blackberry®, as well as IPTV and even game consoles. This allows our employees to watch wherever they are on the device of their choice.
For the December launch, we had live video delivery using more than 20Gbps of bandwidth to the Internet streaming video that was viewed by approximately 100,000 people worldwide. Focusing on quality, we worked with Wowza to build a direct connection from our Wowza systems to Akamais entry point without the unnecessary complexity of re-encoding.
The webcast enabled the public, our customers, and partners to experience the excitement of lift-off live in high definition, reminding people just how thrilling space exploration really is.
In spite of our best efforts, three days before the December launch, we discovered that buffering problems encountered by our edge delivery provider were interfering with our video stream. With the tightest of deadlines, we contacted Akamai because they have such a great track record. You can imagine the all-out effort it took for Akamai, Wowza developers, and our team to develop the code required to connect our Wowza system to the Akamai network. With the hard work, knowledge, and expertise from everybody involved, we were able to complete and test the system only a few hours before the webcast began. It was a tremendous success. And with Wowza, we now have a unified system that keeps the video feeds in sync throughout the network without crashing.
SpaceX designs and manufactures our vehicles in Hawthorne, California, tests them in McGregor, Texas, and launches them from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Our internal video feeds stream 24/7 to allow employees to monitor select operations. In the run-up to the December launch, SpaceX team members across the country were tuned into the camera feeds from Florida. Wowza gave employees at each of these locations reliable streaming media pushed to virtually any screen. Wowza cost-effectively enabled key personnel to tune in on their personal devices from work or home to be sure they didnt miss anything, improving the overall efficiency of our team. The new low-latency streaming video system also enables SpaceX employees to remotely pan-tilt-zoom the cameras, to inspect areas of interest more closely.
At SpaceX, we are working every day to bring about significant breakthroughs that will improve the reliability and cost of space transportation. Its an ambitious task, and we need support we can count on. By making our closed-circuit monitoring system more robust, flexible, and functional, Wowza Media Server 2 improved a critical component of our successful mission. In addition, it allowed us to more effectively share Dragons first flight with hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world.
About the author
Branden Spikes joined SpaceX in 2003 as CIO to develop, maintain and bolster its computing infrastructure. Spikess expertise is demonstrated by his previous successes as an early employee at startups Zip2, a leading provider of enterprise software and services to the media industry, and PayPal, the worlds leading electronic payment system.