Kaltura, Inc. (www.kaltura.com), developer of the first open source online video platform, announced two new open video initiatives today. Kaltura and partners - the Wikimedia Foundation and the Open Video Alliance - have launched these initiatives to further promote the HTML5 video open standard.
"Open video, and specifically HTML5 video, continue to gain traction in the market - we are extremely proud to be among the organizations leading the charge with this important industry development," said Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura Chairman & CEO. "Kaltura's HTML5 video solution, which is already in beta testing on Wikipedia, allows publishers to use HTML5 video today without having to worry about specific browser, format and codec support - our unique fallback mechanism ensures that all viewers can see and interact with videos regardless of their browser and format of the video. Kaltura's open source HTML5 video player will soon support all advanced video management capabilities, including analytics and monetization, making it commercially viable on devices, such as the Apple iPhone, that do not support Flash. We invite the community to learn more and get involved at www.html5video.org."
"The world needs an open video standard which allows everyone to produce and share video, without licensing fees or browser plugins," said Erik Möller, Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "HTML5 offers such a standard, and we've partnered with Kaltura to develop an open source HTML5 video solution for Wikipedia. We encourage you to check it out, and to support open standards in your web applications."
More details on the new initiatives:
Kaltura HTML5 Video Solution: Kaltura has developed a full HTML5 Video Library, and is in the process of fully integrating it into the Kaltura Open Source Online Video Platform that is already in use by more than 52,000 sites. Kaltura's HTML5 video solution - in use by Wikipedia - works in all major browsers by using a unique 'fallback' mechanism while maintaining a single look & feel. The player is easy to skin and extend with plugins and other add-ons. The media library also includes an audio player, media uploader tool and online video editor. Learn more and download the library: www.html5video.org/kaltura-html5.
Html5video.org: A new website dedicated to the topic of HTML5 video. The site includes live demos of HTML5 video players including the Kaltura HTML5 video solution, industry news and resources, an invitation to the community to get involved and more. See more at www.html5video.org.
Kaltura provides the world's first Open Source Online Video Platform. Over 52,000 web publishers, service providers, and developers use Kaltura's flexible platform to enhance their websites, web-services, and web-platforms with advanced customized video, photo and audio functionalities, including publishing, management, syndication, monetization and analysis, as well as content uploading and remixing. The free community-supported self-hosted software and source-code is available for download at www.kaltura.org. A commercial version of the software can be obtained at www.kaltura.com along with Kaltura services such as streaming, hosting, transcoding, analytics, ad serving, support and maintenance packages, and professional development. Founded in 2006, New York-based Kaltura is also a founding member of the 'Open Video Alliance' (www.openvideoalliance.org), a coalition of organizations dedicated to fostering open standards for online video. For more information: www.kaltura.com and www.kaltura.org.