The next generation of Akamai Media Services Live is powered by Harmonic
Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that powers and protects business online, and Harmonic, the worldwide leader in video delivery solutions, introduced Akamai Media Services Live 5 (MSL5) powered by Harmonic. The new generation of MSL expands the platform’s capabilities through the support of diverse media formats, advanced monetization, and improved viewing experiences. With MSL5, streaming service providers and broadcasters gain an elevated video delivery platform that is ideal for reliable, high-quality live streaming, including live sports.
Running on Akamai Cloud, MSL5 allows media companies to deploy critical video workloads and deliver content from as close to viewers as possible, ensuring lower latency, greater reliability, and more consistent performance across networks and devices. The seamless upgrade from MSL4 to MSL5 can be executed at the press of a button.
“Harmonic is proud to partner with Akamai and bring the most reliable and highest quality streaming stack to Akamai’s powerful distributed media cloud infrastructure,” said Gil Rudge, Senior Vice President, Solutions and Americas Sales, Video Business at Harmonic. “MSL5 delivers a powerful next-generation platform to the media industry that meets the evolving demands of live streaming at scale, offering customers unparalleled reliability, flexibility, and video quality.”
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Out of the box, Akamai MSL5 comes with the following enhancements:
- Faster performance — Reduced time to first byte (TTFB) and low-latency HLS delivery (5–7 seconds end-to-end) for more responsive live streams
- Expanded DVR window — Live DVR extended from 30 minutes to 12 hours, giving audiences more control to pause, rewind, and replay
- Streamlined user experience — Streams provisioned in just five seconds, plus clearer interfaces with enhanced metrics and system status at a glance
- Precision event tools — The event management API supports subsegment accuracy clipping to create high-quality highlights from premium events
“Live sports are driving massive global audiences and streaming platforms are spending billions on rights every year to control the fan experience,” said Jon Alexander, Senior Vice President, Product Management at Akamai. “Consumer expectations have grown accordingly, as audiences expect a flawless experience every time they hit play. With MSL5, Akamai and Harmonic are giving media companies the power to meet that demand consistently and at scale.”
MSL5 marks the beginning of an ongoing evolution, with future updates focused on creating even greater efficiency and expanded monetization capabilities. Premium over-the-top live and low-latency transcoding and server-side ad insertion — including innovative formats, such as in-stream advertising — will help further improve video quality, viewer experience, and revenue-generating opportunities.
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