POPULARITY
3 episodes with qoe
3 episodes with qoe
3 episodes with qoe
2 episodes with qoe
2 episodes with qoe
2 episodes with qoe
3 episodes with qoe
Looking to break into the home service industry through business acquisitions? In this episode of Jackquisitions, we sit down with Elias Yusef, a 24-year-old entrepreneur who's quickly making a name for himself by acquiring and scaling blue-collar service businesses. Based in Denver, Colorado, Elias shares how he transitioned from selling appliances to owning a fast-growing plumbing company, using creative deal structures and relentless outreach to land his first acquisition. His story offers a blueprint for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to grow through home service business acquisitions and enter the trades without large upfront capital.Elias walks us through how he sourced deals through cold calling, built a team of experienced operators, and executed a management services agreement (MSA)—a unique acquisition model that minimizes financial risk while maximizing upside. With ambitious plans to hit a $10 million revenue run rate by the end of the year and scale to $27 million, Elias reveals his playbook for growth through acquisitions, operational excellence, and mentorship from seasoned industry professionals.
“Coverage on demand is here—and it's being built by the community.”—Mario Di Dio, General Manager, Network Helium, Nova Labs Mario Di Dio In a groundbreaking step toward redefining wireless connectivity, Helium Network and Nova Labs have teamed up with AT&T to deliver seamless, secure Wi-Fi access across the U.S. through a decentralized network model. In a podcast interview with Technology Reseller News, Mario Di Dio, General Manager of Network Helium at Nova Labs, walked us through this major milestone and explained how Helium is reshaping the economics and delivery of mobile data. Unlike traditional networks built on costly infrastructure and centralized control, the Helium model allows individuals and businesses to host "mini cell towers"—hotspots that contribute to a nationwide mesh network. Now, with AT&T onboard, the Helium Network enables AT&T customers to connect automatically to these community-powered hotspots without any manual setup, thanks to Passpoint-enabled, WPA3-secure connections. “Just walk into a participating venue like a restaurant or community center,” said Di Dio, “and your phone automatically connects to the network without passwords, boosting coverage in hard-to-reach indoor areas.” The benefits extend to small business owners who can offer secure, guest Wi-Fi while earning Helium Network Tokens (HNT) for hosting a hotspot. This not only enhances customer satisfaction but also introduces a new revenue stream. Deployment is flexible—businesses can install purpose-built Helium devices or convert existing hardware from brands like Ubiquiti, Cisco Meraki, and Aruba into Helium-compatible units. A central element of Helium's transparency and scalability is Helium World (world.helium.com), a live, blockchain-backed dashboard that displays real-time data on hotspot locations, user traffic, and network usage. With over 90,000 active hotspots and peaks of over 900,000 users, the platform provides both visibility for carriers and insights for potential deployers. Another standout innovation is Helium's real-time quality of experience (QoE) metrics. “For the first time, carriers can get live KPIs from third-party Wi-Fi connections just like they do from their own cellular networks,” said Di Dio. This allows providers like AT&T to monitor and dynamically manage the user experience, toggling between Wi-Fi and cellular as needed. As Helium expands through partnerships with other mobile and virtual network operators, its vision for “coverage on demand” continues to gain traction. Using an innovative “expansion zone” feature, carriers can request network growth in targeted areas, and Helium's community of deployers responds. With this shift, Di Dio believes we're witnessing the future of wireless—one that's scalable, community-driven, and more responsive to real-world needs. “It's a very interesting economic proposition for carriers, and a practical one for the people and places that make up our connected world,” he said. Learn more: www.helium.com Live dashboard: world.helium.com #HeliumNetwork #NovaLabs #DecentralizedWiFi #AT&T #TelecomInnovation #WiFiConvergence #BlockchainConnectivity #vCon #TechReseller #HotspotEconomy #WirelessInfrastructure #ConnectivitySolutions
Thinking about buying a small business? In this episode of Invest in Sqft, we sit down with Elliott Holland, founder of Guardian Due Diligence, to uncover the secrets of smart business acquisitions. Learn which businesses to target, key financial checks, quality of earnings (QoE), and common pitfalls to avoid. Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced investor, Elliott shares insider tips on valuation, due diligence, profit margins, and high-ROI business strategies. Don't miss this essential guide to making profitable acquisitions and scaling your investments with confidence!
Mike, Ryan and Matt from Revenue Rocket discussed the importance of a quality of earnings (QOE) report for IT services firms in the context of M&A transactions, highlighting that it is a comprehensive financial analysis that can provide third-party validation and help streamline the acquisition process. They also explored the benefits of Revenue Rocket offering QOE services as an independent tool to gain market visibility and access to potential buyers and sellers.Key pointsQuality of Earnings (QOE) report is a detailed financial analysis that certifies the accuracy and quality of a company's earnings and cash flows.QOE reports are commonly used in M&A transactions, either by buyers to validate the target's financials or by sellers to prepare for a sale.QOE reports are typically paid for by the buyer or financial sponsor, but sellers may also obtain one preemptively.QOE reports are not regulated, but should be conducted by reputable providers with industry expertise, financial analysis skills, and the right tools.Transparency and preparedness are key for sellers undergoing a QOE, as it allows the provider to efficiently complete the analysis.QOE is a component of the broader financial due diligence process, which also includes reviewing the company's systems, processes, and other financial metrics.Having a credible, independent QOE report can help sellers prepare for and accelerate the sale process.For buyers, a QOE report provides confidence in the target's financials and can uncover potential issues or risks.Revenue Rocket can provide QOE services to both buyers and sellers, but must maintain independence if involved in the transaction.Offering QOE services can also be a business development opportunity for Revenue Rocket to gain visibility and potentially lead to other engagements. Listen to Shoot the Moon on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Buy, sell, or grow your tech-enabled services firm with Revenue Rocket.
El s XX fue el siglo de las ciudades, el s XXI también lo será, pero con 5G! Por eso es importante entender la experiencia que tienen los ciudadanos de las principales ciudades europeas se sus servicios 5G. Y en este momento, la mejor manera de hacerlo es con el informe "5G QoE Benchmark in Europe" que repasa esa experiencia en las 10 ciudades más importantes de los países EU4´+UK+PT. Por eso hemos mantenido una conversación Rafael González Galarreta, responsable de producto en Medux. Rafa es a la vez un sabio y apasionado sobre el asunto, como lo es el equipo de Medux, al que conozco bien. Así que la conversación discurre de lo más interesante: - Hablamos de los principales resultados del análisis: La mejor ciudad es Berlín, la peor es Londres. La segunda Barcelona, la penúltima Madrid. Pero hay muchas más cosas - El informe se encuadra en una iniciativa "pro bono" de Medux para tratar de generar "insights" para los ciudadanos y los reguladores para conseguir mejorar los mercados de servicios de telecomunicaciones. - Cuáles son las causas por las que en ESP BCN tiene una muy buena posición en el ranking mientras que MAD no tanto? Están relacionadas con la consistencia en la prestación del servicio. - Existe una relación positiva entre los despliegues N78 y la mejora de la experiencia, más allá de la velocidad directa. - Lisboa y Oporto destacan en velocidad bruta. Y el año pasado obtuvieron planes a la mejor experiencia. Una vez completado el ciclo radio hay que seguir ajustando. - Finalmente discutimos sobré cuál es el impacto y cómo se debe medir la QoE en redes de telecomunicaciones modernas. Medir y medir. Con Rafa también discutimos sobre qué define una "buena red" en la actualidad y nos cuenta más sobre su iniciativa #MeduxImpact y termina con una llamada a la acción. Si, como yo, pensais que la experiencia de cliente tiene un impacto importante y real tanto en la vida de los ciudadanos como en la cuenta de resultados de los operadores, debéis oír este episodiol https://medux.com/es/blog/revelando-la-verdadera-calidad-de-experiencia-qoe-de-5g-en-europa-ii
This week, we did a mini-review of the NAB Show Streaming Summit and some topics we heard discussed around the difficulty in scaling streaming services for low latency and QoE. We also cover Netflix's Q1 earnings and excellent user growth, adding 9.3 million subs, which was tempered by the news that they will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers and ARM a year from now. We highlight the latest rumors about Paramount Global, with it being reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global are interested in the company, and detail the restrictions and complications on the companies if such a deal were to occur. Podcast produced by Security Halt Media
Avi Saxena, CTO and Tyler Whitworth, CPO at Warner Bros. Discovery, join me for a detailed conversation about the technical video stack at Max. Learn how they approach the user experience when it comes to their apps, latency, adding live sports and news to the platform, device support, 4K, advertising, personalization, and how they measure QoE. We also discuss what's ahead for the service, the technical challenges in ad delivery, expanding into LATAM, and the skills they are looking for when they hire developers and engineers across the WBD organization.Podcast produced by Security Halt Media
In this engaging podcast episode of Mundane Millionaires, Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson host Elliot Holland, an expert in Quality of Earnings (QOE) diligence and M&A transactions. Together, they dive deep into the world of small and medium-sized business (SMB) acquisitions, offering invaluable insights for both buyers and sellers. Elliot highlights the importance of financial accounting literacy in these transactions, emphasizing the need for a strong grasp of key financial concepts, even for those who plan to hire professionals to handle the details. The conversation shifts to the often-overlooked complexities in SMB acquisitions, with a focus on the role of Quality of Earnings reports. Elliot and the hosts share stories of deals that went awry due to inadequate due diligence and the immense value that a meticulous QOE process can bring to the table. They stress the significance of hiring trusted advisors, such as lawyers and QOE experts, to navigate the intricate legal and financial aspects of these transactions. Throughout the episode, listeners gain a deep understanding of the critical legal levers, ad-backs, and negotiation tactics that can make or break a deal. Elliot's candid insights provide a comprehensive guide to succeeding in the world of SMB acquisitions, where the stakes are high, and a misstep can lead to significant financial repercussions.Support the showThanks for listening! Be sure to leave us a 5 star review and share this episode with your friends!For more content from Mundane Millionaires, follow us here: Twitter Instagram Facebook Youtube TikTok Sign up for the free Business Buying Masterclass at https://masterclass.thesmbcenter.com!For more content from our hosts, Kevin and Eric, following them here:Kevin: Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube TikTok Eric Pacifici Twitter LinkedIn Instagram
How2Exit: Mergers and Acquisitions of Small to Middle Market Businesses
Elliott Holland is the founder of Guardian Due Diligence, a company that specializes in providing due diligence services for small and medium-sized business acquisitions. With a background in private equity and a passion for helping new buyers navigate the complex world of mergers and acquisitions, Elliott is dedicated to ensuring that his clients make informed and safe investment decisions.He discusses the different types of due diligence, including financial, operational, and commercial, and emphasizes the need for thorough analysis before making an acquisition. Elliott also shares some interesting stories and examples of due diligence findings, highlighting the importance of looking beyond the surface to uncover potential risks and opportunities.Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/jjtJ81UyE0s--------------------------------------------------Big Shout Out to our new Primary Sponsor - Reconciled! Their team of skilled professionals is ready to empower you to grow your business and prepare for a successful exit. Find out more at https://Reconciled.com. #Partnership #businessgrowth2023 Business Acquisition Summit Registration Page: https://how2exit--businessacquisitionsummit.thrivecart.com/bavs-2023-vip-1/--------------------------------------------------Contact Elliott onLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottholland/Website: https://www.guardianduediligence.com/--------------------------------------------------How2Exit Joins ITX's Channel Partner Network!-Why ITX?Since 1998, ITX has created $5 billion in value by selling more than 225 IT businesses in 20 countries. ITX works exclusively with IT-enabled businesses generating between $5M and $30M who are ready to be sold, and M&A decision-makers who are ready to buy. For over 25 years ITX has developed industry knowledge that helps them determine whether a seller is a good fit for their buyers before making a match."Out of all of the brokers I've met, this team has the most experience and I believe the best ability to get IT service businesses sold at the best price" - Ron SkeltonThe ITX M&A Marketplace we partnered with has a proprietary database of 50,000+ global buyers seeking IT Services firms, MSPs, MSSPs, Software-as-a-Service platforms, and channel partners in the Microsoft, Oracle, ServiceNow, and Salesforce space.If you are interested in learning more about the process and current market valuations, complete the contact form and we'll respond within one business day. Everything is kept confidential.Are you interested in what your business may be worth? Unlock the value of your IT Services firm, visit https://www.itexchangenet.com/marketplace-how2exit and complete the contact form.Our partnership with ITX focuses on deals above $5M in value. If you are looking to buy or sell a tech business below the $5M mark, we recommend Flippa.Flippa - Real Buyers, Real Sellers - Where the Real Deals Are MadeVisit Flippa - https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-100721038-15233003--------------------------------------------------
On today's special episode of The Cashing Out Podcast I'm speaking with Larry Simon, a Certified Public Accountant and partner at Doren Mayhew, a top accounting firm in North America.Now, instead of our typical format of interviewing a founder who has built and sold a business, we thought we would interview an M&A expert to educate our founders around the decision of whether to do a Sell Side Quality of Earnings report or Quality of Earnings completed by sellers before they begin a sale process is one of the most effective ways a business owner can help maximize the sale of his or her business?And Larry is a natural educator on this topic. We cover the basics of what a Quality of Earnings analysis is, what the difference between a sell side and a buy side cover is, and what the underlying time and cost requirements to have a Quality of Earnings analysis completed prior to marketing your deal to buyers. The audio of this conversation was previously recorded as part of our Exitwise Live Event series entitled, "What Is Quality of Earnings and Why Is It a Critical Part of Selling Your Business?"Episode Sponsor:Thanks to Doeren Mayhew for sponsoring this episode of the Cashing Out podcast! Doeren Mayhew is one of Forbes best tax and accounting firms in the United States. Check out their Quality of Earnings ("QofE") offerings, and everything else they can help you with at doeren.com. Episode Highlights: (3:07) Larry Simon introduction, and why he's considered an expert when it comes to Quality of Earnings (QoE) (4:30) The theory and basics behind a Sell-Side Quality of Earnings analysis (6:13) Creating credibility prior to the start of your M&A process (9:28) Examples of the good and the bad in M&A... where an effective QoE analysis did (or could have) dramatically changed the outcome of a deal (11:57) The three primary reasons to get a Sell Side Quality of Earnings prior to kicking off an M&A process (13:25) Q&A 1 - Can I run a Quality of Earnings process myself, or do I need to hire an accounting firm to support? (15:26) Q&A 2 - What is the proper way to interview an accounting firm in preparation of signing an engagement letter? (17:34) Q&A 3 - What does a Quality of Earnings analysis cost? (19:54) Q&A 4 - What is the time commitment needed by my executive team and CFO to support a Sell Side Quality of Earnings? (23:32) Q&A 5 - If I have inbound interest from a strategic buyer, do I still need to run Sell Side Quality of Earnings? (25:01) Q&A 6 - What if the buyer runs a Quality of Earnings analysis in addition to the analysis done on the Sell Side? (26:38) Time kills all M&A deals Where To Find Todd Sullivan (Host): LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddfsullivan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Todd_Sullivan Where To Find Larry Simon (Guest):LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrence-a-simon-cpa-49679513/ Episode 35 Required Reading: The Importance of Quality of Earnings When Selling Your Business Maximize Your Exit with Exitwise Doeren Mayhew Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to the CASHING OUT PODCAST? Have some feedback you'd like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!
Due diligence is about more than just the numbers! In this episode, Elliott Holland and A.J. discuss some of the key strategies for buying a business using A.J.'s recent deal that fell through as a case study. Elliott explains why the qualitative elements of a business are as important as the quantitative components, the value of having an advisor during the acquisition process, and how to decide whether a particular business is a good fit for YOU.About Elliott Holland:Elliott Holland, “reformed engineer”, the founder and Managing Director of Guardian Due Diligence, is an expert in small and medium-sized business acquisitions. He has over ten years of experience executing middle-market deals, and his company is filling the void of options that exist for smaller acquisitions. Episode highlights: If you are thinking of buying a business, create a list of (very specific) dealbreakers. These are the factors that will cause you to walk away from the deal. An example might be: “I don't feel I can run the business from day one without the seller.” (02:33) A QoE (Quality of Earnings) is traditionally just a quantitative analysis, but in small-medium business deals, the qualitative components are just as important. In this particular case, the downward trend in the numbers wouldn't have been a dealbreaker if the foundational core of the business had been strong. (13:41) Don't underestimate the importance of having an advisor during the acquisition process. The role of an advisor is not to say whether a deal is good or bad but rather to ask you questions that will make you think about whether you feel it is something worth pursuing. (17:56) Don't believe everything you are told. Oftentimes, people attribute issues incorrectly. That is why it is so important to have good due diligence on your side. (19:17) Make sure that the business you buy is a good fit for YOU. There are so many businesses out there you could buy and play some kind of role in, but you need to make sure that it is the role you really want. (25:00) Just because we are currently in a tougher market doesn't mean great deals can't be done; it just means you may need to work a little bit harder, negotiate a bit better, and make sure you are getting updated financials! (37:42) Elliott's best advice for entrepreneurs:“People know that they need a QOE. They don't always know that they need advisory work in the process.” (28:00)Connect with Elliott: LinkedIn Twitter Website Resources Mentioned: HLQ Score Card Follow Beyond 8 Figures: LinkedIn Twitter Website
Origination: research, outreach & marketing – we've got a team of dedicated researchers finding your list, dedicated outreach team contacted buyers & sellers and supporting it with marketingDeal Flow & Negotiation: Moving a deal forward, creating an LOI and negotiating a purchase agreement – all the things that happen to move a deal through the pipeline). Financial Analysis: Valuations, Cash flow analysis, deal support Due Diligence: where we verify that the information provided is correct – contract analysis look at top 10 to see if they are worth continuation, invoices reconcile to the cash you actually receive, quality of earnings (QOE)
Crypto Theory - ICO Reviews | Cryptocurrency | Bitcoin & Altcoin Investing
A quality of earnings report is like a report card for a company. Just like you get a report card to see how well you did in school, a quality of earnings report tells us how well a company is doing with its money. A quality of earnings (QoE) report is an analysis that provides insight into the sustainability and reliability of a company's earnings. It helps investors, analysts, and other stakeholders assess the quality and stability of a company's financial performance by examining the underlying drivers of its revenue and earnings growth. This report helps us figure out if the company is making enough money to keep going, and if the money it's making is coming from good things or bad things. Just like you want to make good grades on your report card, we want the company to have good money coming in from good things. There are several reasons why a QoE report is important: Assessing the sustainability of earnings: A QoE report helps to determine whether a company's earnings are sustainable and whether they are likely to continue in the future. This is important because a company's earnings are the primary driver of its stock price and future growth. Understanding the drivers of earnings growth: A QoE report provides a detailed analysis of the drivers of a company's revenue and earnings growth. This helps investors and analysts understand the key factors that are contributing to the company's financial performance. Identifying potential risks: A QoE report can also identify potential risks that may impact a company's earnings and financial performance in the future. This information can help investors make more informed investment decisions. Improving investment decisions: A QoE report can provide valuable information to investors, helping them to make more informed investment decisions. It can also help investors assess the potential risks and rewards associated with a particular investment. Overall, a QoE report is an important tool for understanding the quality and stability of a company's financial performance, and it is widely used by investors, analysts, and other stakeholders to make informed investment decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Someday you will sell your firm. After all, none of us can run our firms from the afterlife. When your time to exit comes, you will need to know what your firm is worth. The tool often used to calculate a purchase price is called a QOE, or the quality of earnings report. In this episode, Collective 54 member, and QOE expert, Elliott Holland, helps founders understand what a QOE is, when it is needed, who creates one, how it gets used, and why founders need to get familiar with it. By listening to this episode, you will know what you need to know about the QOE. Members attending the private Q&A with Elliott will get to ask him questions about using a QOE for their firms.
The importance of a Quality of Earnings (QoE) report is often underestimated, and there is more art than just science to it. Bill Wiersema returns to M&A Talk to discuss the top seven issues today in financial due diligence. How COVID has impacted earnings, the biggest change in GAAP rules in the past 70 years, the value that can be added by having a QoE report, key issues related to diligence, new lease accounting rules, and real-life examples – all wrapped up in an engaging episode that will have you enjoying this discussion of financials. View the complete show notes for this episode. Additional Resources: Get your copy now of A Beginner's Guide to Business Valuation, The Art of the Exit: The Complete Guide to Selling Your Business, The Exit Strategy Handbook: A Complete Guide to Preparing Your Business for Sale, and Closing the Deal: The Definitive Guide to Negotiating the Sale of Your Business Are you selling a business? Schedule a free consultation now. Listen to Other Episodes: Cooking the Books with Bill Wiersema Financial Due Diligence The Path to Extraordinary Returns in M&A
Cloud-Managed Security and SD-WAN: The Cisco Meraki MX are multifunctional security and SD-WAN enterprise appliances with a wide set of capabilities to address multiple use cases–from an all-in-one device. Tune in to this episode learn how organizations of all sizes and across all industries rely on the MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi-cloud environments, as well as application quality of experience (QoE), through advanced analytics with machine learning. Learn more https://meraki.cisco.com/products/security-sd-wan/?dtid=opdcsnc001469 Follow us https://twitter.com/CiscoChampion Hosts Adam Hollifield (twitter.com/adambomb1219), Insight Enterprises, Architect Dustin Gabbett, ScanSource, Director, Cisco CX Practice Girard Kavelines (twitter.com/GKavelines) Helient Systems, Managed Services Systems Analyst Guest Nick Joerger, Cisco, Technical Marketing Engineer, Meraki Sam Fansler, Cisco, Engineering Product Manager, Meraki Moderator Amilee San Juan (twitter.com/amileesan1), Cisco, Customer Voices and Cisco Champion Program
This week we have Tommy, John Osman, Greg Lipschitz, Jeremy Austin and Dan Siemon to talk about Preseem as our new sponsor **Sponsors** Sonar.Software Towercoverage.com Preseem.com **/Sponsors** This week we talk about: 0:00:59 Introduction 0:05:30 Preseem elevator pitch 0:09:16 Tommy’s Story with Preseem 0:12:28 What is QOE? 0:15:35 Onboarding Time and what Preseem boxed(More)…
Michael Girdley (@Girdley) and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) are joined by Elliot Holland (@ElliottEHolland) to dig into Quality of Earnings, why you need it, what you pay for, what to expect, Due Diligence processes, how to budget it and more.-----* Do you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.* Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!* Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.-----Show Notes:0:00 Intro1:57 What is Quality of Earnings (QoE) and what do you do at Guardian Due Diligence?3:12 I'm a buyer: What does Quality of Earnings do to prove the truthfulness of the seller's numbers?5:23 Which are the added values and services that can be expected by a buyer?7:50 How much do you need to budget for a QoE? Does deal size matter?12:02 As a buyer, when do you need to expect to pay for the Diligence?17:20 What are other uses of a QoE report? Does it help with Banks, and potential LPs?20:21 How do you handle the seller to avoid deal fatigue?22:20 What do you request from a seller when performing a QoE? How do you cross-check that information?25:14 Have you caught a seller lying/misrepresenting stuff when performing an audit?28:14 How does a firm like yours organize structurally?30:29 What advice should you give a buyer looking for a QoE?33:14 What would you advise buyers, outside of your sphere of expertise?-----Past guests on Acquanon include Nick Huber, Brent Beshore, Aaron Rubin, Mike Botkin, Ari Ozick, Mitchell Baldridge, Xavier Helgelsen, Mike Loftus, Steve Divitkos, Dzmitry Miranovich, Morgan Tate and more.-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#83 Can you grow a business in a shrinking market? Featuring baller @WilsonCompanies as a special guest!#82 How Great Operators Win! How PE does it like pros with Mark Brooks#48 Two Landscaping Businesses for Sale - Mike Botkin of Benchmark Group
Michael Girdley (@Girdley) and Mills Snell (@thegeneralmills) are joined by Elliot Holland (@ElliottEHolland) to dig into Quality of Earnings, why you need it, what you pay for, what to expect, Due Diligence processes, how to budget it and more.-----* Do you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.* Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!* Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.-----Show Notes:0:00 Intro1:57 What is Quality of Earnings (QoE) and what do you do at Guardian Due Diligence?3:12 I'm a buyer: What does Quality of Earnings do to prove the truthfulness of the seller's numbers?5:23 Which are the added values and services that can be expected by a buyer?7:50 How much do you need to budget for a QoE? Does deal size matter?12:02 As a buyer, when do you need to expect to pay for the Diligence?17:20 What are other uses of a QoE report? Does it help with Banks, and potential LPs?20:21 How do you handle the seller to avoid deal fatigue?22:20 What do you request from a seller when performing a QoE? How do you cross-check that information?25:14 Have you caught a seller lying/misrepresenting stuff when performing an audit?28:14 How does a firm like yours organize structurally?30:29 What advice should you give a buyer looking for a QoE?33:14 What would you advise buyers, outside of your sphere of expertise?-----Past guests on Acquanon include Nick Huber, Brent Beshore, Aaron Rubin, Mike Botkin, Ari Ozick, Mitchell Baldridge, Xavier Helgelsen, Mike Loftus, Steve Divitkos, Dzmitry Miranovich, Morgan Tate and more.-----Additional episodes you might enjoy:#83 Can you grow a business in a shrinking market? Featuring baller @WilsonCompanies as a special guest!#82 How Great Operators Win! How PE does it like pros with Mark Brooks#48 Two Landscaping Businesses for Sale - Mike Botkin of Benchmark Group
In our fourth episode, we talk with Comcast's Jason Livingood, regarding a recent post he wrote about how Comcast has reduced its working latency through Active Queue Management by 90%! We'll talk about these results as well as the fundamental changes in the way that researchers are now looking at latency and its effect on overall Internet quality. You can read the post here: Working latency — the next QoE frontier. The views expressed by the featured speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of APNIC.
NESTED 5G project brings together innovative French companies Orange, Viaccess-Orca, ENENSYS Technologies and IETR to develop solution for greener . NESTED 5G project brings together innovative French companies Orange, Viaccess-Orca, ENENSYS Technologies and IETR to develop solution for greener delivery PARIS, 23 NOVEMBER, 2021 – ATEME, the leader in video delivery solutions for broadcast, cable TV, DTH, IPTV and OTT, today announced that it is leading NESTED (New vidEo STandards for Enhanced Delivery), a consortium aimed at developing a high quality-of-experience (QoE) and sustainable video-streaming solution over 5G. The innovative NESTED 5G project is headed by ATEME in collaboration with Orange, which tests the efficiency and sustainability of the NESTED streaming solution in real use cases over 5G. The project brings together leading French companies Viaccess-Orca, contributing its secure video player, QoE analytics enabler suite and targeted advertising solution, and ENENSYS Technologies with its MediaCast Mobile and its CubeAgent Mobile. Renowned French institution IETR (Institut d'Electronique et des Technologies du numéRique), the research unit at French engineering school INSA Rennes, also participates by providing a VVC decoder. In addition to leading the project, ATEME plays a vital role in bringing the new solution to life with its latest compression technology, its Just-in-time packager and its CDN. The consortium will leverage the latest advances in video compression and delivery technologies, and their expected benefits in terms of reduced environmental impacts, among which: CMAF chunk sharing to reduce the traffic burden on the CDN The latest VVC video encoding with its promise of halving bitrates Multicast/unicast convergence enabling peak audience reach In addition, this collaboration will highlight the benefits of an e2e pre-integrated, best of breed multicast ABR solution, notably in terms of QoE and personalized viewing experience. Ultimately, it will therefore enable multicast for 5G, allowing operators to take a greener approach to streaming. Driven by Orange's goal to distribute video and manage bandwidth efficiency and delivery over 5G, the solution looks to increase the sustainability of streaming over 5G and to reduce broadcasting infrastructure costs for service providers while delivering the best quality of experience to viewers. The two-year project, supported by France's Brittany region (Région Bretagne), is due to end in 2023, by which time the consortium is confident it will be able to demonstrate the benefits of its solution when it comes to offering sustainable streaming over 5G and reducing the environmental impact of delivering video. Mickaël Raulet, Chief Technology Officer, commented: “We are proud that Orange has turned to us to help them achieve their sustainability goals. There is an ongoing debate about the environmental impact of streaming over 5G and this project will help to lessen that. It also highlights the innovation taking place within the French market and once completed, we look forward to helping other organizations around the world leverage that innovation through our new streaming solution.” Julien Lemotheux, TV&Video Senior Standardization Manager, Orange, said: “The impact our actions have on the environment is front of mind for everyone within our organization. By working with the NESTED 5G taskforce, we hope to make streaming more sustainable, reducing our energy footprint and allowing our customers to enjoy high-quality content.” “The reduction in environmental impact, together with the management of QoE and the provision of more personalized viewing experiences, are the determining factors for a sustainable future in video streaming; as an innovation leader, Viaccess-Orca is glad to contribute its unique expertise and technology enablers to help Orange and the other consortium partners explore innovative routes for video streaming.” said Alain Nochimowski, CTO a...
Middle Market Mergers and Acquisitions by Colonnade Advisors
In this episode, Gina Cocking and Jeff Guylay continue their discussion around the due diligence process related to the sale of a company. This episode is part of a four-episode series exploring the due diligence process that began with 003 on the business aspects of the due diligence process. EP003: Business aspects of due diligence: https://coladv.com/podcasts/003/ EP004: Legal aspects of due diligence: https://coladv.com/podcasts/004-due-diligence-deep-clean-and-hygiene/ EP005: Accounting aspects of due diligence (today’s episode) EP006: Technology aspects of due diligence (coming soon) In today’s episode, we invite our featured guest, Joe Kaczmarek, to share his insights on how companies can best prepare for an M&A transaction. Joe is the National Fintech practice leader at RSM, a leading provider of audit, tax, and consulting services focused on the middle market. Show Notes: There are six key takeaways from the episode (35:17) Start early Review your financials monthly Keep books in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) Get an audit Prepare forecasts for your business and track achievement to forecast Invest in the finance department. If your goal is to sell your company, the number one action you should take (related to accounting and finance due diligence) is to get a good CFO In this episode, Colonnade Advisors addresses the following questions as related to the accounting aspects of due diligence: When should an owner start preparing to sell their company? (01:20) Gina: “It starts years in advance. At the very basic level, a business owner or leader of a company should be reviewing the financials on a monthly basis. The reason is to get comfortable with the cadence of their business so that they can talk to the financials.” Does a company need a public audit prior to selling the company? (1:40) Gina: “We recommend all companies have a financial audit for several years before they go to market.” What is the difference between an audit and a compilation? (01:58) Gina: “A compilation is when accountants come in and put your financials together for you. They may even do it on a GAAP basis. An audit means that the accounting firm is doing a deep dive into the numbers. They’re looking at bank reconciliations. They’re doing different types of testing for fraud and for receivables and payables, et cetera. It’s a very involved process, but it is a must for a business that is planning for a successful sale.” Do I need a financial forecast? (02:35) Gina: “A company should keep a forecast and measure themselves to the forecast and plan. The reason for this is twofold: 1) I believe that you only get to where you’re going if you plan for it, and 2) buyers are going to look at the company’s financial forecast and how they are doing compared to that forecast.” What other financial statements must be in order? (03:54) Gina: “Another good thing to prepare for a sale process is a monthly data book. This data book includes the income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and MD&A (Management Discussion and Analysis).” How does a company select an accounting firm to work with on accounting due diligence? (06:25) Gina: “I usually recommend that companies not go with the local firm that does their tax returns. Typically (I recommend) a regional accounting firm, or a national one, because you need a team that can defend its choices in accounting principles interpretation.” When should a company start working on accounting due diligence? (08:20) Jeff (07:37): “The sooner the better. The first audit is the worst. After that, it gets a little bit easier. Getting that process rolling is important.” When is meeting the financial forecast key? (10:21) Gina: “The financial forecast is crucial when we’re actually selling the business. The key is when you’re in the sale process, from the moment we release that confidential information memorandum (CIM) until the check clears and the business is sold, the company has got to make its numbers.” What is the management team’s role in owning the forecast? (11:44) Jeff: “It’s important that the management team understands and owns the forecast because they’re going to have to live with it. The financial forecast obviously develops the metrics upon which you’re going to be judged either through management contracts, earn outs or just general performance. You really want to be confident that you’re going to hit the numbers one, two, three years out.” What is an MD&A (Management Discussion and Analysis)? (13:45) Gina: “A paragraph or a page and a half that explains the numbers, e.g. ‘Revenues were up by X because we sold Y more; expenses were down by Z because we lost three people in headcount.’” How should revenues be broken out? (14:12) Gina: “By number of products sold, pricing, number of customers; whatever metrics that are core to your business. Companies that can do that generally have a good finance department.” What are some common missteps Colonnade sees in accounting practices of middle market companies? (16:40) Gina: “The finance department is looked at as a cost center.” Owners keep the books themselves or use a part-time bookkeeper. When companies don’t hire a CFO, there’s a potential problem. What are some other missteps management can make when getting ready to sell their company? (18:00) Jeff: “When the CEO is the master of everything. He’s the head of sales, he’s the head of marketing, he’s the head of IT sometimes, and in a lot of cases, he or she is the CFO. That’s a problem because an investor could come in and say, ‘Well, I’m not going to pay $50 million for this one guy or this one woman. Where’s the team?’” When do you know that a company has the infrastructure to be sold? (18:35) Jeff: “The real enterprise value gets built when you say, ‘This is a business that is going to be my legacy, but I don’t need to be here as the CEO or the founder. I built this business. I built out a team. The finance function is all built out. The marketing function is built out. The sales function is built out. This business runs on its own. And so if you want me here or not, that’s fine, but my team is really more important than I am.” Why does a company wanting to be sold need a CFO? (19:00) Gina: “Without a CFO, when a buyer comes in, they will do a negative adjustment to your historical financial statements to fill that role. That CFO role will be built into your valuation regardless. So invest in the CFO. It’s going to be worth far more than not doing it.” What is the difference between GAAP and cash accounting? (20:22) Gina: “Here’s the non-CPA’s way of explaining GAAP. Under GAAP, the timing of your revenues and expenses need to match, and they need to also match the timing of your liabilities, which means if you are selling a service that is a service for six months, you receive the payment upfront, the revenue upfront, you’re going to have to recognize that revenue over six months.” What is an example of GAAP accounting vs. cash accounting? (21:00) Gina: “ A common example is payroll. Accruals should be done for payroll. Let’s say you pay your employees every other Friday. The month doesn’t always end on the fourth Friday, so you end up having to pay in the following month, let’s say the Wednesday the following month. (When you pay in the following month) you’re paying for the prior month’s work. You need to do an accrual for that payroll so it matches the month in which it occurred. So accruals need to be done under GAAP and revenue needs to be recognized in line with what the services or the products provide.” What industries can use modified cash accounting? (21:36) Gina: “We work a lot in the F&I (Auto Finance and Insurance) and administrator space. (These companies) can be sold on a modified cash basis. But that doesn’t happen in all industries.” How does modified cash accounting work when selling a business in the F&I or administrator space? (22:16) Jeff: The important thing is understanding the difference between the two accounting processes or procedures. In the cases where it’s beneficial to the clients to present themselves on a cash or a modified cash basis, we’re certainly going to do that to maximize value. There has to be a spreadsheet that says, here’s the audit according to GAAP, and here are the cash financials that we want you to value the company on, and here are the adjustments we’ve made to get there, and it has to be logical and make sense and be consistent.” Gina invites Joe Kaczmarek, an expert in audit tax and consulting services, to share his perspective on due diligence accounting aspects. What is the difference between an audit and a sell side Quality of Earnings (QOE)? (24:19) Joe: An audit is to go back and verify information at a point in time. We’re validating the accuracy of your balance statement and your income statement. When we do a quality of earnings (QOE) report, we’re really stripping out one-time expenses, one-time revenues, and coming down to a real accreditable earnings number on a cash basis. From a quality of earnings perspective, it’s also much broader.” How many years back should an audit go? (27:02) Joe: “What I typically say is, ‘If you want three years in the marketing documents, it typically presents the best if those are all audited.’ (Three years). But more importantly than how many years is having a firm that really understands the industry and is really nailing down those things that could come up in diligence.” What are the bare minimum processes and procedures a firm should have in place before they go to market? (28:02) Joe: “The big thing is having a CPA on staff and having that person really understand what’s required. We like to see monthly financial statements, on not only a cash basis but an accrual basis, a GAAP basis.” What else should companies thinking of selling consider? (28:34) Joe: “investing in your financial reporting group. That’s not something that’s providing revenue so it’s often overlooked. You really need to have the infrastructure there to be able to report and provide the information necessary to go through diligence.” How quickly should a company be able to close the prior month’s books? (29:07) Joe: “It really depends on the complexity of the organization and the systems they have in place. It can take two days to two months. (However,) those companies taking two months realize very quickly through this process that that’s not going to be adequate (fast enough). If it’s a private equity group coming in to acquire them, they’re going to need reporting on a monthly basis that’s going to be out within a week or two from the month-end or the year-end.” What is your view on QuickBooks? (30:36) Joe: “Depending on the industry that you work in, Quickbooks may be adequate. QuickBooks could be fine for smaller companies and midsize companies. But you’ve got to realize what the limitations with QuickBooks are (such as controls, access, and integration).” How should companies account for a PPP loan? (32:40) Joe: “There is going to be a portion of it that’s going to be forgiven, if not all of it. You should record it as debt. Then as you get approval for that forgiveness, that’s the point in time when it should flow through your income statement for GAAP purposes. If you look at a transaction, that’s one of those one-time items that will most likely be backed out, and I would say that’s non-operating revenue, so it should be down below the line.” What’s one piece of advice you would give a company that’s about to go through an M&A process? (33:47) Joe: “Engage a reputable firm to conduct sell-side due diligence. Sell-side due diligence firms will dig into the company’s financial information and figure out where there may be issues. If identified issues are likely to be deal-breakers, then the company will need to pause the process until the issues are fixed.” Featured guest bio and contact information: Joe Kaczmarek Email: joe.kaczmarek@rsmus.com Joe Kaczmarek services as the National Fintech leader at RSM. In this role, he is responsible for driving the firm's strategic objections in fintech, while assisting traditional financial service clients with their digital transformation. Joe also leads RSM's specialty finance practice for the Great Lake Region. Joe has expertise servicing fintech and online lenders, direct to consumer lenders, sales financing lenders, purchasers of automobiles and other retail installment contracts, rent-to-own companies, title lenders, purchasers of distressed debt, mortgage originators and servers, and various types of commercial lenders. Joe has vast experience providing and supervising audit, consulting, and risk management services to entities ranging in size from startup companies to international organizations. Joe also has extensive experience in transaction advisory services working with private equity groups, venture capital firms, and clients. Joe earned his bachelor's degree and MBA from Eastern Illinois University. Host Information Gina Cocking Gina Cocking serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Colonnade Advisors. She returned to Colonnade as a Managing Director in 2014. Gina began her career in investment banking at Kidder Peabody, was an analyst at Madison Dearborn Partners and an associate at J.P. Morgan & Co. She was a Vice President at Colonnade Advisors from 1999 to 2003. She left Colonnade to gain operating experience as the Chief Financial Officer of Cobalt Finance, a specialty finance company. She went on to become the Chief Financial Officer of Healthcare Laundry Systems, a private-equity backed company for which she oversaw the successful sale to a strategic acquirer. Gina served as the Line of Business CFO – Consumer Banking and Lending at Discover Financial Services. Gina serves on the Board of Directors of CIB Marine Bancshares, Inc., a bank holding company based in Waukesha, Wisconsin, that operates banking offices in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Gina received her BA in Economics and an MBA from the University of Chicago. Additionally, Gina holds the Series 24, 28, 79, and 99 securities licenses. Jeff Guylay Jeff Guylay is a Managing Director of Colonnade Advisors. Prior to joining Colonnade in 2000, Jeff was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan in the firm's Mergers & Acquisitions and Fixed Income Capital Markets groups in New York. He also spent several years in J.P. Morgan's Chicago office. Jeff has over 20 years of M&A and investment banking experience and has served as lead execution partner on over 25 M&A and financing transactions at Colonnade. Jeff received an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a Master of Engineering Management from the University's McCormick School of Engineering. Jeff received a BA from Dartmouth College and a BE from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering. Jeff holds the Series 7, 24, 63, and 79 securities licenses. Jeff serves as a director of the non-profit Nurture, an organization dedicated to enhancing the nutrition and wellness of children and families. About the Middle Market Mergers & Acquisitions Podcast Get the insiders' take on mergers and acquisitions. M&A investment bankers Gina Cocking and Jeff Guylay of Colonnade Advisors discuss the technical aspects of and tactics used in middle market deals. This podcast offers actionable advice and strategies for selling your company and is aimed at owners of middle market companies in the financial services and business services sectors. Middle market companies are generally valued between $20 million and $500 million. *** For more information, read Colonnade's blog post, Accounting Due Diligence: https://coladv.com/blog If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and please consider leaving us a short review. To learn more about Colonnade Advisors, go to https://coladv.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/colonnade-advisors-llc_2
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we're talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery.
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we're talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery.
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we're talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery.
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we’re talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery. The post Tech Bytes: Improving QoE With Silver Peak SD-WAN (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we’re talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery. The post Tech Bytes: Improving QoE With Silver Peak SD-WAN (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Our sponsor today is Silver Peak, and we’re talking about how to improve QoE using SD-WAN with their customer C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocer in the United States. Our guest is Leonard Bernstein, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Service Delivery. The post Tech Bytes: Improving QoE With Silver Peak SD-WAN (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.
To what extent will things return to 'normal' after the coronavirus pandemic? And what will be the longer term impact on customer and employee experience? To tackle this question, we hosted QoE online debate featuring a cross-industry panel of CX and EX professionals. We hope that this episode will give you some insights into how other sectors are responding to the crisis.
Tony and Carl from the QoE are joined by Stewart Bromley from Atom Bank, Rob Phillips from Overbury, and Kathryn King from LV=.
The NAB Streaming Experience website can be found hereLearn about NAB Streaming Summit hereDan Rayburn LinkedIn profileRelated episode: What happens when content owners go directThe Video Insiders LinkedIn Group is where over 1,600 of your peers are discussing the latest news and sharing information of interest. Click here to joinWould you like to be a guest on the show? Send an email to: thevideoinsiders@beamr.comLearn more about Beamr TRANSCRIPTION (Note: This is machine generated and may have been lightly edited)Dan Rayburn: 00:00 There's seven, eight years ago when we were all playing in this arena and trying to really figure out the business model today, this is big business. We have tens of billions of dollars at stake. This stuff has to work. It has to be right and there is a lot of pressure on these new conglomerates to make sure that the video workflows, they're building out work properly because it is truly the future of their business. And I think the great way to really drive that point home is just remember all the services that Dan Rayburn: 00:25 launched say five years ago in the market. When the services came out, one, there was no investor day because investors didn't care what you were launching because at the time you weren't spending that much money and it was still a newish experience from a quality standpoint. Today, every single service that's launching is having an investor day where before the service is even out they're projecting to investors of when these services will become profitable. Talk about a shift in our industry. Announcer: 00:53 The video insiders is the show that makes sense of all that is happening in the world of online video as seen through the eyes of a second generation codec nerd and a marketing guy who knows what I frames and macro blocks are. And here are your hosts Mark Donnigan and Dror Gill. Mark Donnigan: 01:07 Welcome to another super exciting episode of the video insiders. We have Dan Rayburn with us again. Uh, this is part two. Yeah, it's amazing. And his first interview was one of the most popular ones on our podcast. We have to say it's the most downloaded and we have a lot to talk to talk about because since the last podcast episode where Dan was interviewed here on The Video Insiders, a lot has happened in the OTT space. I mean, really a lot. Yeah, a lot. So Dan, you know, welcome back to The Video Insiders. Thanks guys. Thanks for having me. You know me, I always have lots to talk about, so I love chatting about the industry. Well you do, you are an easy guest to host, that's for sure. Dan Rayburn: 01:53 I've always got stuff to say, right? I have an opinion on everything, but uh, it's, it's an exciting time in the space. And since we last talked to your point, we've got, we've got Disney out, we've got Apple plus out, we've got some new announcements from, from NBC regarding Peacock. We've, got a lot going on in the industry right now. A lot of confusion as well though. Dror Gill: 02:11 So let me ask you, when you, when you to watch some TV in the evening, can you really focus on the content or are you always looking for kind of artifacts, HDR levels? You know, stuff like that. Dan Rayburn: 02:26 I really don't want to think about the business because I do so much of that when I am reviewing the services from a business or content standpoint, you know, to your, to your point in terms of yeah, I am constantly looking at bitrates. I am looking at, okay, what's coming through my router because I want to see what the maximum stream is that I'm getting from the Mandalorian. You know, I probably have 40 different streaming services here at home and I've got anywhere between 10 and 12 TV's set up. Just sort of a lab environment and plus all the iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, like it's ridiculous, like a Best Buy here. I'm not the average consumer obviously, but, uh, I think like the average consumer in many cases, we are all looking at where the content is. So I've got some friends who, huge Rick and Morty fans and the new Rick and Morty season is out and this and that. Dan Rayburn: 03:10 And I said to him, you know, Hey, next year you're going to be able to stream this. And they're like, yeah, but I can't figure out where. Well, that's a great point. They can't figure out where, because where it's currently is and where it's currently at right now is going to be removed because AT&T has said that this is going to be exclusively under the new HBO Max brand. The average consumer isn't going to know that. So we're still going to have content fragmentation problems. So as a consumer, I think that's the biggest thing that we look at is just what content do we want to watch? Mark Donnigan: 03:39 You bring up something really interesting Dan, and this is a huge hole that I see in reporting on all the new services. It seems like so much of the press is writing about, you know, this service killing the next service. Dan Rayburn: 03:53 The problem is, look, the problem is the vast majority of people who are writing about our industry don't actually use the product. Mark Donnigan: 04:00 Yeah. They don't have 12 TV set up in their house, you know, like you do. Dan Rayburn: 04:03 They don't have one. All of these major platforms that are either telcos, carriers, wireless operators, content owners, distributors, whatever, whatever you want to call them, they're all creating brand new digital platforms for the future. And by that I mean this, when you think of what's taking place in the market right now with mergers, Viacom, CBS, Pluto, right, CBS All Access, CBS sports, CBS news, they are now all going to be converging and building out a new platform for all of these different products and services. That's one. Now throw in NBC sports, NBC news, Playmaker, Peacock, a, what do they also own? New England sports network. One of the other sports things. Throw all those guys in. That's now a brand new stack in the ecosystem. Now let's move on to AT&T. AT&T, Warner, Turner, HBO Max. That's now a whole system. Oh, and I forgot SKY when you're talking about NBC, you got to throw SKY in there too. So think about some of the largest companies that we have out there that are now creating a brand new stack end-to-end to fuel all these different new properties that they have. The biggest thing that you need there when you do that is what? Expertise, Mark Donnigan: 05:22 there might be some cues here because of course news just came out literally a couple of days ago. Fox signed with AWS a a very large deal. Now, um, I was reading some analysis on this and you know, it's because 21st Century Fox when they were acquired by Disney, you know, so there was a split, right? So the studio was acquired by Disney and all of those technical services actually went with you know, 21st Century Fox and of course then being a part of Disney. And then with BAM, now you've got this huge, you know, service organization that's available. And then here was Fox, the TV studio, the sports, you know, the sports side of Fox that needed a complete, you know, service provider. And it appears that they have selected AWS for even more than just, you know, on demand instances. So it's even more than a data center play. Um, and, and so that would seem to give credence to what your saying that, you know, BAM is far more than just a streaming service that, you know, there's, there's a lot of technical expertise and services they're providing Disney. Dan Rayburn: 06:36 Yeah, there's a huge amount and people, you know, really don't understand. I think a lot of people, even in our industry, don't understand what goes into all these services. Just the amount of beacons that are deployed, right. Just the amount of APIs you have to check. All the QoS and QoE reporting that has to come in and the analytics. And that's before you're doing any advertising. So anything advertising based obviously has more complexity tying into all the ad flows. And if you're doing live, okay, now you're talking about stream stitching for inserting ads into a live stream- that adds complexity. You have to think about latency and different ways to do chunked encoding. There's things you can tweak with HLS. There's just so much going on with these workflows and platforms that you really have to have that expertise. And some companies, you know think of Discovery, right? Dan Rayburn: 07:19 We heard from Discovery six, seven months ago when they announced they were going to hire 200 people to build a new streaming department to run all of Discovery's properties. So in some cases you have companies like that go, we want to own this, we want to build it, we'll bring it in house and it'll take them some time to get to market with that expertise. But they'll get there. And then you have other companies like Fox here where they signed that deal with Amazon and you know what they're really using AWS for is a couple of different things on the Cloud Front side, it's to deliver Thursday night football. Amazon already does live football. They kicked off the Premier League a what, two days ago? Three days ago from when we're talking now. So Amazon obviously has expertise in live streaming. The Premier League went off well with no major hitches. Dan Rayburn: 08:01 You did have some users complaining about latency, but that wasn't a problem Amazon was trying to fix just like we saw with the past Superbowl. That wasn't something where they were like, okay, we want to get latency to the same as broadcast. That was not the goal. So I don't see that as a problem. So they're using AWS for video workflows, editing and graphic storage, but also for this new product AWS calls Local Zone that puts cloud computing hardware closer to the edge and the edge is a broad term. Netflix has also signed on to be one of one of the first customers for this new AWS Local Zone service as well. So, it's super important, you know, we as consumers, we all want a good quality service and we expect it and now we're paying for it. So today this is big business. We have tens of billions of dollars at stake. This stuff has to work. It has to be right. And there is a lot of pressure on these new conglomerates to make sure that the video workflows, they're building out work properly because it is truly the future of their business. Dror Gill: 08:58 We're done with experimenting. Now we need to show the money. Dan Rayburn: 09:01 That's right. And you're spending a lot of money to do this. Look at how much money Disney's lost so far just on Hulu and then the acquisition of BAMTech. But they've already said to investors, here's one, we're going to make it back. Here's where we're going to become profitable. So you saw AT&T do that in their, in their HBO Dan Rayburn: 09:17 Max day. And NBC just announced they're going to have an investor day in January for Peacock. We're in a different era. Mark Donnigan: 09:22 Now for, you know, almost the first time, what is being done in engineering and R&D, can actually move a stock price. You know, meaning that the decisions that are made, whether that's technology choices, um, you know, codecs, certain stacks, architectures... If It doesn't work, like the stock is gonna move. And when the stock moves, it has the attention of everyone, you know, up until this point, you know? Yeah. The tech blogs, you know, would, would "dis a service" for an outage or for, you know, poor quality or you know, so yes it would get coverage but it never moved a stock price. You know? Or maybe there was a one day blip and you know, but, but basically it was kind of a non-event. Now that is no longer the case. Right? Dan Rayburn: 10:13 The bottom line is you have to think about profitability. And it's interesting that we're talking about this at a time when, if you think about Uber and WeWork, and some of these other services, what are investors clamoring for now? Profits, forget all this Amazon model of getting big, fast and burn as much money as possible. Thank God we seem to be getting out of that from a investment standpoint right now and in the streaming space, even more so also, look who's getting into the space? AT&T I think right now is the most heavily indebted US company right now. I mean it's insane how much debt that they have. So you also have companies, some of these that are already very deeply in debt that investors want to see anything new that they get into where they're spending billions of dollars to do it. They better turn a profit pretty quickly. Dror Gill: 11:03 But, but uh, Dan, let's look at the other side of the coin. A company that has tons of money, um, in the, in the bank and now they need to find some creative ways to use it in order to get those profits, uh, coming in again. And of course we're talking about Apple. Um, after selling a, you know, so many devices and now they, they've realized that services would be a much larger part of their revenues moving forward. So they, they really in a, in a spending mode and uh, the real question is will they be successful in catching up to the existing services and competing with all this new stuff that is coming out? Dan Rayburn: 11:47 Well, see I don't think they have to catch up though. That's the difference cause their, their business model is different. That's the other thing is people don't look at the business model of these services. You know, if you think about Apple services revenue, it was twelve and a half billion dollars, um, in the last quarter, which is pretty amazing. Their services business grew 13% year over year, so they're certainly doing a good job there. And Apple TV Plus, you know, the whole deal of that is just drive more usage on Apple's platform and services. But the unique thing with Apple of course is, well they own the hardware as we know, but they also own the OS. They own the browser, they own the store, they own the entire ecosystem. What does Netflix own? They don't own anything except content, right? So it's two different business models and everybody throws these, these folks in together and people go, Apple didn't have a successful launch. Dan Rayburn: 12:38 Well they did. They weren't trying to license back catalog. They weren't trying to launch with a hundred shows. That wasn't the goal of their platform because they're driving revenue in different ways. So it's the same way right now that Roku doesn't make a lot of money on their hardware, their seeding it out in the market to obviously drive the advertising business and the Roku channel, you know, the platform business. And Amazon pushing out Amazon fire TVs is what, $20 on black Friday for those sticks. They're not making much money in that either. So I think it's always bad when you see all these services compared to one another in the media and this horrible term streaming war because it's not a war- hate that term. Uh, and a lot of these services are not competing with one another. They don't see each other as competition. Apple is not trying to do the same business model as a Netflix, nor do they need to because it's a different type of company. Mark Donnigan: 13:31 It's excellent you brought up Roku. I'm looking at their Q3 numbers. They just came out like three weeks ago, um, or early November, I believe. And they're advertising revenue for the period was just under 180 million, 179.3 million. It was up 79% from the previous year's quarter, almost double and their device revenue was up 11% so that's good. But it was 81 million. So the point is their advertising was more than double their device revenue, you know, and their, and their numbers are showing on the advertising platform side, you know, just tremendous growth. And of course that's ultimately what they're really reporting around. I mean, yes, their device revenues are significant enough, you know, they're reporting that. Dan Rayburn: 14:22 Yeah, they shifted their business model. Right. I mean Anthony was smart. Keep in mind, Anthony came out of, came out of Netflix, that's where the Roku was born. Yeah, it was incubated there. Initially. Right. And that's where they got some of the money from and, and they realized longterm, I'd say two things were really smart. In the beginning Roku realized Netflix realized they didn't want to be invested in any one hardware company because then they couldn't be Switzerland. They couldn't be neutral. So that was smart to diverse, diversify from the Roku investment that they have. But then Roku also realized, they were smart to realize the writing on the wall here, you're not going to compete longterm on the hardware side. Hardware pricing always gets pushed down and back then if you remember all the different devices, I mean at one point we had 20 different streaming players in the market. Dan Rayburn: 15:03 It was ridiculous how many were out there. Even Vizio had one. Uh, but then really, I think what changed was when Amazon came into the market. Because we all know Amazon pushes pricing, pricing down on everything and we're, we're at a point soon of where I, I, this isn't official, Amazon hasn't told me this, but I will pretty much bet anything that at some point you're going to sign up for prime and you're going to get a stick for free because at $19 now on black Friday, this thing is getting close to being free. And if you're in the hardware business, do you want to be competing with Amazon on something like that? Absolutely not. So Roku realized that Roku had to become not a hardware device, but a platform. And the key thing there was obviously them getting their platform into smart TVs and especially a lot of smart TVs that are not the high end ones, not that TCL, doesn't make some good "high-ender" TVs. Dan Rayburn: 15:54 But you know, the average Roku enabled TV that's being sold is probably $300. Hisense, TCL, some of the others. So they're getting more of them out there. And, and that's really what Roku has become is that platform and their, their latest acquisition of Dataxu. You know, that's interesting because that is a platform that basically will allow Roku advertisers to better plan and optimize their ad spend across TV and OTT providers. And, and that's really smart of Roku. Uh, because this is the future of the company. You're talking about a company that's doing over a billion dollars a year now, in 2019, if I remember that number correctly. So you have to think about how Roku can capture a larger share of the market because as well known as a brand that Roku is, they still have a very small percentage of total households in the U S when you look at the numbers of, they don't call it consumers anymore, devices. Dan Rayburn: 16:55 Um, you know, which is good because like I have a bunch of devices in my house, but I'm one person. So they're growing, but that's something that they have to continue to do. Their monthly active users has to continue to go up. But yeah, Roku is in a really interesting spot in that regard. Their, their stock is incredible in terms of how much volatility it has in any given day or week. Sometimes. Uh, I think the Roku channel is an interesting thing where, you know, they go out and they're starting, they start offering content for free just like Tubi and Pluto and you know, IMDB TV by Amazon and that market is getting very crowded. And frankly, I don't quite understand that market because the content on those platforms is just so old and outdated. I really don't know who's clamoring to see Gilligan's Island. Mark Donnigan: 17:37 Well, Dan, so how should services be measured, you know, from a QoS standpoint? Dan Rayburn: 17:43 Uh, boy, that's a great question. Uh, I think first and foremost you have to look at what the methodology is. Methodology is the key for anything. So, you know, as an analyst, I don't frankly care about opinions so much. I care about data. I think companies should base how a service is doing, whether that's financially, whether it's technically, whether how it's scaling. They should base that on data because data can't be argued with really in most cases. Uh, so I, I think first and foremost is the methodology. And I think what you have to understand there is different companies have different ways of measuring performance. When I go out and do surveys to CDN customers on how they measure, some go, I care all about time to first frame or startup time. Others go, no, I only care about rebuffering. Some go, well, to me latency is most important. Dan Rayburn: 18:25 Well, none of those are more important than the other. It depends on who the customer is. And what their business model is. So as an industry we have to continue to think about these services as, as isolated services as opposed to every throwing everybody in this group of, Oh, you're a video service, you should measure your video quality this way. Not necessarily. So I think methodology first and foremost is most important. I think sharing that methodology is key as well. Uh, but, but I think you should always value a service based on quality over quantity. And we hear that a lot. The opposite of that in the advertising side where everybody talks about how many ads were delivered. But the question I always then ask is to a brand, would you rather deliver fewer ads and have a better viewing experience or do you just care about how many ads you pushed out there? Dan Rayburn: 19:16 And we have to think about that the same way on services that are not ad based. So I think what we obviously know from consumers from all these reports that we've seen, and frankly I don't think we need any more. I don't know why people keep pushing out more reports saying that if the video doesn't start up quickly, consumers are unhappy. Yeah, thanks. We know that. I think measuring quality has to first and foremost come down to what is the experience that you want a consumer to have with your content. That's the first thing. Once you define that experience, now how do you actually decide how to achieve that? Well, there's different ways to do that. We know that some of the basic ones are startup time. We know that customers get frustrated when something takes long to start. We also know rebuffering is a huge issue as well, which is obviously why we use adaptive bit rate encoding hopefully to relieve those issues. Dan Rayburn: 20:03 But it's interesting when you look online you don't see a lot of complaints honestly around rebuffering you see more with just initial startup time, but the biggest complaint you see actually doesn't have to do with the video. It has to do with just getting to the video. So you're having all these other issues in the stack before it actually gets to delivering the video bits and those are the things that really have to be solved. Those are the things that really have to be scaled because scaling the video is not that hard for someone like Disney Plus. Disney Plus launches that day, let's say it was 10 million actual individual subscribers and let's say they were all watching at the same time, 10 million streams across the five CDNs that Disney was using. That's not a big deal at all. It's 2 million streams a CDN, that's nothing. That's not hard, so people always think it's the CDN. Dan Rayburn: 20:56 I think when you're determining quality first and foremost you have to have a good understanding internally at your company, what you think good quality is to you for your service based on your business model, based on your consumers and also based on the type of device they're watching on is the vast majority of your content on mobile. And the reason I say that is as an example, when Quibi comes out next year, it's a hundred percent mobile focused. Do you think their methodology to measure quality should be the same as a Netflix? Because we know everything's going to be viewed on a small screen in short form content for Quibi. It's a different way to measure. I think there's lots of good services out there to help you measure there. There's, there's newer ones coming to the market in terms of what's being measured. You've got services that are measuring how well API's are doing versus how well streaming servers are doing versus ad servers and ad platforms and exchanges. Dan Rayburn: 21:43 And then you think of their traditional stuff that's been out there in terms of telcos and carriers, last mile providers, how they're doing transit providers. When you put all that together, it gives you a much better holistic view of what QoS looks like across the internet from end to end, from glass to delivery. Uh, but we still have a ways to go in terms of really showcasing that. And unfortunately none of these companies after the fact ever share any sort of methodology and they don't ever share any kind of numbers. You know, I worked on those Superbowl was CBS this year and I can't talk to the, you know, the numbers. I know, but you know, it's too bad. CBS doesn't put out from their Conviva dashboard and Mux and all the other services being used here was the rebuffering rate because you know what, it was really, really, really low. Like why not put that out? It shows a great quality service. Mark Donnigan: 22:32 You made a good point earlier that it's very interesting that now, all these big companies are actually staging investor days, or investor conferences around their services, which is like has never happened previously. I wonder if this methodology is going to begin to make it in, you know, to some of the public disclosures, you know, in some way? Dan Rayburn: 22:55 Sounds great. But, come on, if you deal with investors, you know that you start talking even bit rate calculations with them and they can't figure it out. Right? I mean, so no, investors aren't worried about that stuff. They don't understand it. Um, I mean it's amazing how many people just just on LinkedIn alone, let alone the media, was comparing the success of Disney Plus based on the metric of when Netflix launched and it just, it boggles your mind, right? Because I stuck up on LinkedIn just real quickly, and this is all factual information you can easily look up, which you know, the media doesn't want to do. The year Netflix launched, there was only 34 million iPhones in the market. That's it. Now, smart TVs didn't exist at all. And two years later, in 2012, only 12 million were connected to the internet. And at the end of the first year of Netflix, Apple had sold 7.5 million tablets. So now you're going to compare Disney Plus launching in an era with over a billion iPhones alone and I don't know how many Apple iPads, smart TVs, and you're going to compare that and go, we've now deemed this a success because it's beaten something that launched nine years earlier. Yeah. The methodology is flawed, and forget bandwidth. I mean bandwidth back then compared to now. It's night and day. Mark Donnigan: 24:22 I was there. I was there in 2007 we were just launching VUDU and you know, on a dedicated set top box because that was the way that we could bring a guaranteed experience to the home. You know, it wasn't because, you know, VUDU wanted to be in the hardware business. Uh, and ultimately, you know, the company of course pivoted, you know, to an app on devices. But um, I can, I can remember having to think that that the average broadband capacity in the US in most markets was around two megabits. Dan Rayburn: 24:57 It was a different time, comparing something that long ago. But here's the biggest thing. The media doesn't write for accuracy like we talked about before. They write for one thing, headlines. So the moment you say this kills Netflix and this crushes Netflix or this did better than Netflix, what happens? People click on it because everybody's heard of Netflix. Cause the only way these guys make money is page views. So that's a whole different discussion. We're not going to get into, cause that's a whole different podcast. But the entire model for news on the internet is broken. And has been broken for years. When, it's based on just here's how many page views you have. So let's cram out more articles that are 800 words or less instead of actually telling us. Mark Donnigan: 25:38 So I think it's a interesting, you know, to talk about devices and since we are talking a little bit about history now, you know, there was a time where it was really critical that you got your service on a device and I'm kind of, you know, using "air quotes" there. Um, because if you were on a device that was widely sold, then you, you know, you had, um, you had an ecosystem you're a part of now with SDKs and API APIs and, and it's far more ubiquitous, you know, HTML5 apps and things like that, you know, with the app stores being clearly defined. Um, you know, basically you need to be in the, uh, Apple app store. You know, you need to be in the Google, uh, store, you know, for Android. Um, you need to be on about half a dozen connected TV platforms and then Roku and you've covered like 99% of the market. Right. Um, so what's your perspective of, you know, even like Nvidia launching, you know, the, Shield TV. Dan Rayburn: 26:43 And you know, just the role of devices. What are you, um, uh, you know, what are you seeing there? Well, you know, I think over time devices play less of an important role. And the only reason I say that is to your point, it's really about the platform now and it's about ecosystems and people pick certain devices or services because I'm already in the Apple ecosystem already. And the Android ecosystem, I already have a, you know, an Xbox one. Typically people who have an Xbox one is they're not going to then go out and buy a PS4 just because of a new service. So what we've seen over the years is no longer have services launched with exclusives on platforms. Like we saw when HBO Now launched, it was only available for the first 90 days on Apple TV. That's actually a disservice to the service. Dan Rayburn: 27:28 It's getting in fewer people's hands. So I think the devices we have in the market, I don't see that changing at all. Right. I think you have the major devices between Xbox, PlayStation, Chromecast, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon. Uh, who am I missing? Those are the seven major ones. I look at something like the Shield TV, which now has two new models from Nvidia, which I've, I've tested and played with. Yeah, it's a good device cause it's super fast. And the fact that it's built on Android, you know, you, you can go in there and you can install a Plex server on it, which works really well. It's a great device for Plex media server. Uh, but who's the video really targeting with the device? It's $200. Dror Gill: 28:09 People who like a nice design. I mean look at the shield TV. It's a cylinder shape. It looks exactly like the Roku Sound Bridge come to think of it. Dan Rayburn: 28:18 So the lower end model does, that's the one that's $149, the $199 model, which has storage in it and two USB ports. The original one you're talking about has no USB port, so you can't add additional storage, which is kind of a problem. Uh, you know, $200. Your really targeting the person who wants to build something at home. The enthusiasts, right? That's who you're targeting. I think that's great. Like there's nothing wrong with that, but I, you know, I questioned like, is that Nvidia's core business? No, it's not. But since they're making the chip inside, I get it. Their cost to produce that hardware is probably much cheaper than others because they're not paying for the chips since they own it. Um, but I don't think the hardware changes going forward. I, I do think we've seen an amazing amount of progress with smart TVs over the last five or six years. Dan Rayburn: 29:04 They actually work. Um, if you remember five or six years ago, you never wanted to launch an app on your smart TV cause you didn't know how long it would take a load. Now they work really well. They're pretty seamless. I mean, the new LG device that I just got the remote's really well thought out. It's smart. Uh, it's clean and simple. There's not a lot of bloatware on it. That's the other thing is a lot of these smart TVs used to have so much bloatware, especially Samsung, they've gotten much better at reducing that with removing what used to be mandatory ads. So I think the smart TV has gotten much better there. And I think for a lot of people that continues to be a device that grows down the line because it's all integrated into one. And that's also part of the, the reason Amazon came out with the cube and now the second generation cube, you know, really cool device that is voice-based and will automatically, when you say turn on Hulu, will know how to change your input know how to turn on your TV. It can also control your lights. We're starting to see more streaming services on these platforms that are being combined into the connected home. Dror Gill: 30:05 Right. And you see this with a, with Nvidia shield TV, right? It connects to your, uh, um, uh, nest to the Phillips Hue, to Netgear, all of that. Dan Rayburn: 30:14 I think that that's the future where some of this is going is they're no longer these companies and platforms and no longer looking at streaming services as an isolated service. It's one of multiple services in your house. It provides entertainment or lighting or something of that nature. And the Cube is a really cool device. I've spent a lot of time with the Cube. Um, we recently at the NAB streaming summit in October, we had one of the executives on stage doing a fireside chat with me. Really talking about the technology that went into it. And audio is really hard and I don't think people understand in the audio side just how hard it is to do things on the voice side and actually have it work on the back end and have it worked quickly and in real time. Uh, I would say right now Amazon is by far leading the market when it comes to the technology that they have for voice enabled applications. And you see that with the Cube, especially from first gen, the second gen, and on black Friday the price was down to $90. What do you think is going to be next year? Right. It's probably going to be 70 bucks, you know, just keep dropping. So yeah, I think that's pretty neat to see in our industry, just how streaming is now thought of as a one of many things in the home that we're using for entertainment. Yeah. Dror Gill: 31:24 And, and people are using voice actually they got used to talking to their devices? Dan Rayburn: 31:28 Well, from what we're hearing and the data we've been given. Dan Rayburn: 31:30 Hulu at the show said that uh, people who were using voice to find content tied into Amazon's products were watching 40% more Hulu and it makes sense because people know how to use their voice and they know what to say. When you're doing a search in, um, one of these services, do you put in the title? If the title is not perfect, what you put in, do you still get the right results? Many times? No. Whereas with your voice, it's much more natural in terms of how you're going to search for content. Dror Gill: 32:00 The LG remote, you mentioned earlier, it has like a single button. Then you talk to the remote and it automatically searches on all the applications that you haven't stalled on the TV and finds the content very simple. Dan Rayburn: 32:12 Also, if you don't want to do that, the pointer system's very simple. If you don't instead want to have to type stuff in, they give you flexible options, which I like as consumers, we will all want options and I think options are good. The downside to options obviously is too much choice, too much confusion, not sure what the business model is. And that's why a lot of consumers are going to jump amongst these services in 2020 because when you can try them for a week or 30 days, why wouldn't you? Mark Donnigan: 32:38 Well, Dan, I know you were telling us before we started recording about something really exciting you're doing at the NAB show, um, around devices. So, um, why don't you tell us, you know, what you got planned. Dan Rayburn: 32:52 Yeah. So this, this is pretty cool. Um, and we're going to have some, we're going to have some information on the website up pretty soon and you'll see me announce it sort of everywhere. Dan Rayburn: 32:59 But one of the problems I've always seen at conferences talking about our industry is we're all there talking about video, but nobody is showing it. We're talking about devices, but nobody's getting hands on with them. Nobody can see these platforms in action. And the three of us on the phone, we eat, sleep and breathe this industry. So we see all this stuff. We use all this stuff, but we're not the average consumer. We're not the average industry participant. So my idea here was the NAB show is, is the largest collection of people in the video world. Maybe not all streaming, obviously a lot of traditional broadcast, but those are the people we actually have to educate even more than people in our industry. So what we're going to do in April is for anybody who walked into the North hall lobby, if you remember, there wasn't really much in the North hall lobby. Dan Rayburn: 33:45 There's some little booths and some other things. Well, we're going to take over the North hall lobby and we're going to call it the streaming experience. And we're building out 12 living room style, uh, seating with large screen TVs. And every single TV in all 12 locations is going to be XBox, PS4, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, uh, what did I forget? It's basically gonna be every hardware device in the market today of the seven that we talked about earlier. And then on each one of those, there's going to be 50 different OTT platforms that you can test and these will be pay services, these will be AVOD services, these will be authenticated services. Think like a CBS sports or something like that. And any attendee to the NAB show can walk right in and say, you know, I really wanted to see what Netflix, HDR looks like here compared to you know, Amazon HDR or I want to see what bundling of content looks like. Dan Rayburn: 34:41 I want to see what UI and UX is compared to these services. I want to see how the ad supported services are doing pre-roll. I want to see what live sporting personalization looks like. I want to actually test an Amazon Cube and see how good it is in terms of understanding voice recognition. So we're calling it the streaming experience. We're going to have it out for three days. It's going to be a place where people can also just come to get questions answered about these platforms. I'm going to personally have my folks manning every single one of the stations. Uh, and in addition we're going to be giving away every single piece of hardware that we are installing during the event. We're going to be giving that away after. So, it's about $10,000 in gear, not including the TVs, which those are rentals, but everything else, uh, that we're buying, we're going to be giving away. Dan Rayburn: 35:33 So you're going to be able to get into some amazing raffles, some really good gear. And then in addition to that, we are also going to have a location in the middle of that area. The streaming pavilion, Oh, sorry. Streaming experience where you're going to be able to also test these streaming services on phones and tablets. Oh, that is awesome. And because we have to bring that experience in as well we can't only think large screen and if all works out, hopefully we might even have 5G demos. So these services working across 5G. So think of every service in the market, you know, all the live linear services, the on demand services, the free services, the authenticated services. I basically challenged people to come to the streaming experience and find a service that we don't have on on those devices and we'll have, we will have services from other countries. Dan Rayburn: 36:26 It's not just going to be the US I won't have everything. Obviously there's, there's some of these services that only work based on certain geo-fencing and certain locations. But we also already have some OTT providers who were saying, Hey, we're going to give you special accounts so that the services work for you as a demo even if it's not available in that region. So we have a lot of OTT companies that are working with us. We've got some that are partnering with us on a sponsorship level to really promote the service. And the other thing we're going to do is for the companies that really wants some feedback, we're going to have a, an attendee who comes up and let's say they use Hulu's service for a couple minutes and then they walk away before they walk away. We're going to say, Hey, fill out this quick card that has five questions on it. Dan Rayburn: 37:09 Would you buy this feature functionality? And then we're going to dump all that data back to the OTT platforms. Because now they're going to collect thousands, hopefully of real world feedback from customers who are using the service or thinking about using the service. So we want this to become a focal point for the show where people can come and just talk about these services, see them, compare them, test them. Win Some of this product, uh, get your questions answered. And then also use it as a way to collect data for the industry to share with the platform providers what is actually taking place. So I don't know of any other show that's doing it. It's something that I've been wanting to do for quite some time at this size and scale. And when you have the NAB behind it and once they start promoting it and we've got dedicated bandwidth for it. Dan Rayburn: 37:55 So we're making sure the experience is really good and I'm curating the entire thing so I am going to make sure everything works beforehand. We're there days in advance, I've already bought all the devices for the, for the event for months prior, right were we had them like it's about 2,600 accounts you have to set up across all the devices. It's a big undertaking. This is, this is serious, but it's going to be a good as we're calling it experience. So whether you're in the advertising market and you want to see what ads look like or you're in the compression business and you want to look at artifacting from one service to another, you want to look at 4K and lighting and HDR. You want to come. I think UI and UX is super important. So all those people that come to the NAB show that are doing design or creative UI and UX will come compare how they work and work between mobile and larger screen. So really whatever industry you're in and the NAB gets a lot of different people from different verticals and industries and regions of the world, this is going to be relevant to you in some way, shape or form and you're going to be able to see it free of charge. Dror Gill: 38:59 This really sounds amazing Dan. It's kind of a combination of a, of a playground that everybody wants to play with and also a way to experience, uh, all of this tests, right? And, and the way to experience a lot of things that you don't have access to because nobody can buy all of that gear and get access to all of those services at the same time. So you can really come in and experiment and see video quality as you said, UX, advertising, integration, everything. And also be able to talk to people who are, who are experts in this and can walk you through it. And the fact that you're feeding back the information and the comments from, uh, from the visitors, you know, back to the services is, is really a great service to the industry because then you can finally get those comments and uh, and information back. Dan Rayburn: 39:49 And we're also going to share it with the industry as a whole. We're definitely going to share here are some of the highlights we've seen from what consumers have been saying. And the other way I'm looking at this too is it educates two other portions of the market that are really important. It educates the media because now it's going to happen is when somebody wants to do an interview with Hulu who speaking at the show and you know, wants to talk about the platform. Somebody from Hulu is going to be able to walk them to the streaming experience and actually show it to them, which means hopefully they actually get the coverage accurate. So it's really important that the media sees the stuff. And second, the other market that we have at the show is investors. There's a lot of investors at the NAB show, institutional investors, and they don't get to see this stuff. Dan Rayburn: 40:29 So when they're making predictions about stock and about revenue and loss and capex and OPEX and all these other things that they use to determine success or failure of companies, the best way to do that is to actually see the product in action. So now you're also going to have investors who are going to be able to get hands on with this stuff even from a high level, which is going to benefit them. So I think overall it just benefits the industry. It benefits the platform providers, the consumers, the media, the investors. Those are really the five vertical markets that I'm trying to target. Dror Gill: 40:57 We need something like this. Um, you know, as an installation permanently somewhere. Dan Rayburn: 41:02 Yeah, maybe. I mean, I'm doing this with the NAB and that's, that's the exclusive, you know, group I'm working with now. I'm certainly not going to bring this to other conferences, but this is something that you're going to see now moving forward at NAB show in Vegas for sure. New York is much more difficult to do this only because of unions, some other, some other rules around that. But, uh, in Vegas, this is, you know, this is DnaB also planting a stake in the ground going, listen, you know, last year you walked into the North hall lobby and it was still so much of a focus on broadcast and traditional TV. Well, users are in for a, you know, wake up when they walk in this time and go, wow, what is all this streaming stuff? Mark Donnigan: 41:38 This is an amazing service that you're providing Dan. Uh, and we're gonna promote it and encourage everyone, uh, you know, our customers and those that are in, you know, in our sphere of influence, uh, to check it out, you know, really, cause this is, this is amazing. Dan Rayburn: 41:52 I'm excited for it. It's a lot of work and it's a huge undertaking. It is a lot of work. Yeah. It scares me at times. Just cause to do it right. It's, it's a lot of work. Um, but I'm going to have a good, I'm going to have a good team. I'm going to be flying in some, uh, some of my buddies from the special operations community who are, who are tech guys and they're, they're going to come help me in the booth and whatnot. And, uh, it's, it's going to be a good three days. Well, Mark Donnigan: 42:18 Dan, uh, this is, uh, you've been yet another amazing interview. Thank you so much for coming on the video insiders. Dan Rayburn: 42:26 Thank you for having me again. As you know, I can talk all day about this stuff. So it's a good thing you have to edit this down into something shorter. Mark Donnigan: 42:30 The next time we have you on, uh, I think, uh, will time, the timing will be good with some new, uh, things you have going. Dan Rayburn: 42:41 There'll be some other new things in the new year that I can't talk about now, but yeah, yeah. The, the, the idea of wanting to inform the market more and providing more resources for the community. That's, that's something that's coming up. Dror Gill: 42:51 Great. So thanks again. Thanks again for joining us today. Dan Rayburn: 42:54 Thank you guys. Announcer: 42:55 Thank you for listening to The Video Insiders podcast. A production of Beamr Imaging, Ltd. To begin using Beamr's codecs today, go to beamr.com/free to receive up to 100 hours of no cost HEVC and H.264 transcoding every month.
Who are the leaders in large organisations? Where does the drive for change come from? And who actually leads that change? In this episode, Tony Reeves and Tim Kitchener introduce the QoE's group discussion topic of Leading From The Middle.
Intel Chip Chat – Network Insights audio podcast with Allyson Klein: Sandvine helps operators engineer world-class networks with Active Network Intelligence. Nicolas St-Pierre, VP – Office of the CTO at Sandvine, joins Intel Chip Chat Network Insights to discuss how Sandvine enables network operators to not only measure the quality of experience (QoE) delivery on […]
Analytics for the real world WAN using agents to provide deeper visibility. Also Campus LANs and Wireless so you can build QOE dashboard. The post BiB 51 Nyansa Networks Analytics for SD-WANs and Campus appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Analytics for the real world WAN using agents to provide deeper visibility. Also Campus LANs and Wireless so you can build QOE dashboard. The post BiB 51 Nyansa Networks Analytics for SD-WANs and Campus appeared first on Packet Pushers.
Analytics for the real world WAN using agents to provide deeper visibility. Also Campus LANs and Wireless so you can build QOE dashboard. The post BiB 51 Nyansa Networks Analytics for SD-WANs and Campus appeared first on Packet Pushers.
The early death of her husband Edward IV left Elizabeth in charge of ensuring a smooth transition of power to their son, Edward V. Her brother-in-law's coup forced her to seek sanctuary, but she would not be a passenger in the tumultuous events of the final years of her time in the historical spotlight.ShownotesFor more on the topics discussed in this show click on the links below!QoE website (QueensOfEnglandPodcast.com)QoE Podcast Facebook page (Facebook.com)QoE Podcast Twitter page (Twitter.com)Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester - the Lord Protector during the reign of Henry VI (wikipedia)
Elizabeth had a lot to do to persuade the people of England that she was worthy of being their queen. She responded to it by packing the key positions and titles of the kingdom with Woodvilles. Warwick's reaction was... let's say poor.ShownotesFor more on the topics discussed in this show click on the links below!QoE website (QueensOfEnglandPodcast.com)QoE Podcast Facebook page (Facebook.com)QoE Podcast Twitter page (Twitter.com)The Woodville Family TreeJacquetta of... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Alan and Brent are back. This time they talk about work item tracking, QOS & QOE, the World of Warcraft guide to running v-teams, and Alan’s upcoming extended vacation.
Alan and Brent are back. This time they talk about work item tracking, QOS & QOE, the World of Warcraft guide to running v-teams, and Alan’s upcoming extended vacation. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/abtesting/support
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
