Vusion, A New CDN/Video Platform Launches Today
This morning, Vusion, a company formerly known as Jittr Networks officially launched their offering to the market. While most people would compare Vusion to Move Networks, instead of using traditional CDNs like Move does, Vusion is also acting as the CDN and is doing all of the video delivery themselves. While the company is not yet willing to say how much money they raised, they have been in stealth mode for a few years and have taken at least a few million. With the launch, Vusion also announced that Island Def Jam Music Group is using the service, but it’s hard to know if this is a regular paying customer, or more of customer who is getting some free services in exchange for Vusion being able to have content to showcase at launch.
Like Move, Vusion requires users to download software and is primarily going after high-bitrate and HD quality content with what they call their "patented WARP technology". Specifically going after content owners that require high-bitrate and
HD delivery use to be something that newer CDNs in the market were
touting as being a real differentiator. But today, the space is already
quite crowded with numerous companies focusing specifically on high
bitrate delivery. Move Networks, BitGravity, Digital Fountain, Grid Networks and now Vusion all seem to be competing for the same type of customer.
I had a long conversation with the Vusion folks a few weeks back and they came off as being smart and being very focused on the market they want to go after. But that alone won’t guarantee success in today’s climate and with the continued influx of new providers on the market, it is getting really difficult to distinguish one provider from another. Many are really trying to focus on how the quality of their video is different, but to be honest, I can’t even tell the difference most times. At some point, quality no longer becomes the deciding factor and it will come down to all of the other important elements that go into a quality service offering.