Harmonic, Elemental top ABI Research ranking of best video encoders; Akamai comes in No. 1 in cloud services

Applying a bit of qualitative analysis to the ultra-competitive video services category, ABI Research has ranked Harmonic and Elemental the top companies for video encoding. 

"Elemental has a strong list of customers that includes media giants Comcast, ESPN, and Warner Bros, and the company shows promising worldwide growth due to its live and file based strengths and forthcoming benefits from its acquisition by Amazon Web Services," ABI said in a statement. 

"Harmonic ranks the highest for innovation," ABI added. "The company, together with acquired Thomson Video Networks, shows promise due to the strong High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) support seen through early partnerships and demonstrations."

The research company, meanwhile, named Akamai No. 1 for cloud-based video services. 

"In addition to possessing one of the most powerful offerings in terms of its flexibility and available APIs, its quality of service is made incredibly impressive by its robust footprint," ABI said of Akamai. 

Ooyala, meanwhile, received notice for implementation.

"Though Akamai wins best overall cloud video service provider, Ooyala receives best implementation honor due to the company's aggressive advertising platform, as well as strong geographic reach in the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East," ABI said. 

For more:
- read this ABI Research press release

Related articles:
Akamai continues to shift focus from media-based CDN to infrastructure, security
Harmonic Q3 revenue slides 19% on soft cable edge business