Marcellus Launches Powerful Video Platform On The Amazon Cloud

Dec. 13, 2009 - PRLog -- Marcellus, LLC(http://www.marcellus.tv) announced last week the public release of its powerful online video platform, based on the Amazon computing cloud.

In response to the explosive global demand for video on the web, Marcellus offers an end to end solution for small to mid-sized businesses to deliver video using the award-winning H.264 standard, monetize their content using ad networks or self-served advertisements, track their video viewership across the Internet, and much more- from within a simple, web-based interface.

With a unique pricing model that separates features from delivery capacity, the Marcellus platform enables publishers to get started for as little as 25 Dollars per month. Leveraging the Amazon cloud as its core infrastructure, Marcellus offers a unique combination of low cost, and virtually unlimited delivery capacity on demand.

CUSTOMER QUOTE

"Marcellus has the best combination of quality, price and features to host our paid video content. And most important to the user experience we provide, the video quality is excellent".
DENNIS SMITH, Founder, iFocusToday.com

"In the month of September 2009, 84% of Americans on the Internet were also watching video online", said Preetam Mukherjee, co-founder and chief executive officer at Marcellus.

"That's an all-time record in the history of online video. Publishers recognize this, are eager to capitalize on the opportunity, are sophisticated enough to understand what they need to do, but don't have access to an economical solution which helps them deliver gorgeous viewing experiences, easily. And that's exactly what the Marcellus platform has woven together: quality, scale, ease, economics, and simplicity."

SPOTLIGHT ON PLATFORM FUNCTIONALITY

1. Fast video encoding into the H.264 format, with processing performed entirely on the Amazon EC2 cloud. Upload files in almost any source format, including AVI, MP4, MOV, and WMV.

2. Specify target bit-rates for encoding, with automatic optimization of video during the encoding process, for buffer-free viewing experiences.

3. Extremely light-weight, fast-loading video player, with the ability to customize colors, player size, and functionality. Add your own cover image for display before video playback, and include your own overlay branding within the player.

4. Introducing support for pre-roll and overlay advertisements- Easily plug in your Adap.TV, Google AdSense for Video, Atlas or Scanscout credentials, and start monetizing your content in minutes. Or, setup your own custom advertisement campaign, with your own rules to limit visibility, impressions, ad-expiration, and clicks.

5. Dedicated encoding in the cloud for customers using the Premium edition. With a maximum pre-processing time of 5 minutes, this edition is designed for customers who need their content encoded right away, skipping ahead of all customers in queue.

6. Real-time reports on video traffic, impressions and embed locations. Keep track of exactly where your videos are viewed, and how often. Daily updates on bandwidth consumption at a granular level for each video, and at an aggregate level for all your content.

BRINGING THE ECONOMICS OF THE AMAZON CLOUD TO BUSINESSES

"Amazon was a clear choice for us when building up our infrastructure", said Sunil Chiluvuri, chief technology officer at Marcellus. "Whether you're a service provider or a content publisher working with online video, you always have two core concerns: scale and cost. Not only do you worry about being able to handle gigantic spikes in video traffic, you also have to ensure that your cost of delivery isn't overshadowing your earning potential.
Being able to build up a virtualized infrastructure on the Amazon Web Services was crucial to us being able to address both scenarios. The availability of on-demand computing power, coupled with the elastic nature of the S3 cloud, is helping us offer a viable video service at price points that were previously unheard of in this space."

Marcellus is an official Amazon Web Services Solution Partner, and leverages leading-edge AWS cloud services like EC2, S3, SQS and Cloudfront to deliver a compelling and reliable service to its customers.

EDITIONS AND PRICING

The Marcellus service is available in three Editions- BASIC, PLUS and PREMIUM. Each edition offers a set of functionality geared towards organizations with varying needs. In addition, Marcellus offers five Infrastructure plans, from 10 GB to 1.5 TB in monthly bandwidth capacity. Using a combination of the BASIC edition and 10 GB capacity, publishers can get started with Marcellus for as low as 25 Dollars per month.
For a free, 30-day evaluation, please visit http://marcellus.tv/start and start publishing videos in less than five minutes.

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ABOUT MARCELLUS

Marcellus is a video platform for small and mid-sized businesses to deliver high quality video experiences from their own web sites. The Marcellus team comprises of former researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, and has over a decade of experience with online video technology and social media.
The company was founded in August, 2007 and has offices in North America and India.