Ramp Launches Ramp(R) Multicast Engine at Microsoft Ignite

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - May 4, 2015) - Ramp, the leading provider of next-generation video and search experiences for media, marketing and enterprises, announced today a new addition to its family of video management solutions, Ramp® Multicast Engine (RME). Ramp's patent-pending solution delivers standards-based and secure multicast support to any live video deployment that uses HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Ramp will debut this new product, which is available now, at the Microsoft Ignite conference taking place this week in Chicago.

Multicast remains the most efficient way to transfer live video data within the enterprise and RME provides flexible multicast support to any live video webcast that uses HLS. RME delivers an effective and easy-to-use solution for updating an organization's live video delivery architecture without requiring a combination of proprietary Enterprise Content Delivery Networks (eCDNs), media servers or custom video players.

Many large organizations have relied on multicast solutions based on Windows Media Server and Silverlight, but Microsoft recently announced end-of-life for these technologies for multicast streaming. Thus, there is widespread demand and an urgent need for a multicast video streaming solution that is compatible across all browsers, devices and platforms. RME answers the call with a true multicast cross-platform solution compared to peer-to-peer alternatives that are generally less reliable, proprietary and expensive.

RME is a further example of Ramp's "network-of-record" strategy, building on the recent announcement of Ramp's joining the Riverbed Ready partner program for unicast broadcasting. RME's key features include: 'true' multicast broadcasting versus peer-to-peer, support for any video player, H.264 support, high-availability clustering, mobile device support, forward error correction and full video encryption in transit and at rest. Ramp Multicast Engine will also restore multicast support for Chrome users as Chrome has ended support for plug-ins and does not offer native support for multicast.

"Many large companies and international organizations rely on multicast to stream live video content across the enterprise and around the globe, and the industry has long been waiting for a follow-on path to Microsoft Windows Media multicast," said Erik Herz, Vice President of Business Development at Ramp. "Ramp Multicast Engine provides this solution and will save companies millions of dollars by allowing them to leverage their existing multicast network rather than purchasing dozens or even hundreds of new, proprietary caching appliances."

"The future of multicast is murky," said Steve Vonder Haar, senior analyst with Wainhouse Research. "As Windows Media and Silverlight draw closer to 'end-of-life' status, real questions exist regarding the alternatives that multicasting organizations will employ to distribute online video on their corporate networks. Moving forward, any vendor that develops a standards-based approach to enable multicast in the enterprise will likely have many interested prospects."

Ramp Multicast Engine (RME) Product Features Overview:

Broadcast HLS over multicast - In combination with Ramp Video Live, RME combines the benefits of multicast with the ubiquity of HTTP Live Streaming or "HLS" and is uniquely able to broadcast standard HLS streams via multicast. This enhances the accessibility, stability and security of traditional multicast broadcasting in important ways versus any other solution on the market today.

Universal accessibility - RME ensures that videos will have maximum reach and compatibility across all platforms with the most accessibility. Unlike any other WAN or CDN solution, RME broadcasts to any device, on any platform including desktop, tablet and mobile devices, Wi-Fi enabled devices, HTML5 enabled browsers, and thin clients. In addition, Ramp's solution offers state-of-the-art DVR capabilities so that users can pause, stop, and rewind a live video stream on-demand.

Class-leading reliability - Reliability and stability are critical when streaming video, and Ramp's implementation of HLS Multicast has leading- edge, built-in support for Forward Error Correction. This ensures that video streams remain rock solid, even on an unstable connections. This is especially important with HLS video, which can be particularly sensitive to packet loss.

Encryption at rest and in motion - Security is always a paramount concern and special security measures have therefore been implemented in RME. Most current multicast implementations send unencrypted videos and therefore restrict distribution or access to users behind the firewall. Instead, RME adds a layer of encryption to all transmissions, even if pre-existing HLS encryption (such as AES-128 or AES- Sample) is already in use. Also, RME encrypts the DVR content at rest, using an in-memory key, and utilizes PKI certificates to prevent against transmission of any unauthorized video streams.

High availability clustering - The RME Intelligent Sender supports a highly available clustering protocol. Each Sender is randomly assigned a priority level at startup and when there is a missed heartbeat detected, the RME Sender with the highest priority that is up and running takes over as the active Sender. Detection of a failed Sender is relatively quick, within 3 seconds and is quick enough to result in no HLS delivery interruption.

Award-winning video player - Ramp Multicast Engine optionally includes MetaPlayer4, Ramp's award-winning player which includes many advanced player features such as DVR support, "search within" capability, time-coded tags, "jump-to" navigation, interactive transcripts, social sharing, and contextually-related content.

Ramp will be at Microsoft Ignite at booth #506 in the SharePoint pavilion also demoing its collection of video management solutions, including:

• Ramp Video Live, the first and only secure, self-service, live webcasting solution for SharePoint.
• Ramp Video Management, the only complete, native video management application for SharePoint and Office 365.

Ramp Multicast Engine is available now and can be deployed 100% on-premise, or as part of the Ramp Video Live SaaS-based live streaming solution. To learn more about the Ramp Multicast Engine (RME), please visit, www.ramp.com

About Ramp
Ramp provides a next-generation media content platform, making it easy for companies to manage live and on-demand video and audio content across a wide range of industries, from media and entertainment to enterprises in every vertical including financial services, pharmaceutical and healthcare, energy, technology and more. Ramp's end-to-end, cloud-based video and audio content platform delivers a total solution for data-driven viewer experiences with the best ROI of any video platform. Companies benefiting from Ramp's solutions include Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Energy Transfer, Entercom, Levi's, EyeforTravel, FOXNews, Golf Channel, Meredith and many more. Learn more about Ramp at www.Ramp.com, and follow us on Twitter at @RAMPINC.