Development Update
We are rolling out the
streemo peer to peer live video streaming application on the GadgetNet network.
streemo is built on the GadgetNet P2P live streaming technology.
What is streemo?In a nutshell, streemo is an open source alternative to commercial live streaming services such as Ustream or the hosted Wowza service.
Why?We believe there are three main issues with hosted live video streaming
1) Cost. Using a commercial hosting service the license fee for a university costs at least US$ 10,000 a year.
2) Security and privacy. Using a central server all data goes through the provider. The providers claim the stream is encrypted, but since their application is closed source no one can verify what level of security is applied nor guarantee the privacy of the participants. If you stream for instance a board meeting on the network of popular service providers, you don’t know who is monitoring the video session and accessing your corporate data.
3) Scalability. To stream a football game to 1 million viewers it’s not really feasible using the centralized current infrastructure. We believe our P2P streaming application can manage large audience live streaming. In fact, just like on the torrent network, more peers and more viewers increases network stability.
There is one more important use case for the P2P live video streaming: secure live video chat. Currently the video chat is running through centralized providers like Skype or Viber. Again, there is no guarantee that only the chat users can access the stream. An investigative journalist cannot use those services. Neither can whistle blowers, nor human right activists living under the control of totalitarian regimes without taking the probably unwise risk of exposing themselves to unwanted eyes. The encrypted peer to peer GadgetNet video chat that runs on I2P network is the perfect environment for a secure and virtually untraceable video chat.
Where we are with the application?We are curently testing and wiring it up to GadgetNet. The plan is to roll the first working prototype out in the next few weeks at
www.streemo.net. This will be a centralized place for gamers, universities, conferences and all other users to promote their live video shows, but users can still run the P2P application without this centralized service.
Is technical support available for commercial users?Yes, we will offer technical support for US$ 99 per month for 10,000 viewer hours to make sure your streaming infrastructure is in good shape. This is a more than a 90% saving on the Ustream US$ 999 per month for 5,000 viewer hours price.