DASH - DASH stands for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, and it’s an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard that one day may provide standards-based live and on-demand adaptive streaming to a range of platforms—including mobile, desktop, and over the top (OTT) television consoles. It’s a web producer’s dream, since by supporting a single technology, your video can play on all these platforms. The specification enjoys significant industry support, with more than 50 companies contributing to the specification.
Unfortunately, there are some implementation hurdles that may delay or even derail some of this promise. First, at this point, it’s unclear whether DASH will be royalty free. Many companies have contributed intellectual property to the specification. Many companies—such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Qualcomm—have waived any royalties from their contributions, though this is not yet universal. In fact, the current status of DASH in this regard is so uncertain that Mozilla has announced that it’s “unlikely to implement at this time.” Obviously, taking Firefox out of the equation limits the effectiveness of DASH in the HTML5 marketplace.
In addition, while some companies such as Microsoft have publicly announced that they will support DASH once finalized, two critical companies—Adobe and Apple—have not done the same. This isn’t unusual in its own right since neither company typically discusses unannounced products. Still, because these companies dominate the mobile and desktop browser plug-in markets, it’s tough to plot a strategy until you know their intent.
