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Sorenson Media Vice President
Kirk Punches
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Sorenson Media unveiled the latest version of its encoding software,
Sorenson Squeeze Premium at
IBC 2012. Optimized for installation on Windows Server 2008 and designed to work in a server environment, Squeeze Premium is a user-friendly high-powered version of the company's flagship encoding engine.
"Premium has the user interface as our desktop product and it's server-ready for Windows server," says Sorenson Media Vice President Kirk Punches. "The goal for Squeeze Premium is simple but powerful." With Squeeze Premium, post production houses can enjoy a server-based encoding tool without the need for an IT staff with expertise in API implementation.
According to Punches, Premium Squeeze was developed in response to many customer demands for a user-friendly video encoding tool that could operate easily in a server environment. In addition to its user interface, Premium Squeeze shares any similarities with the desktop product, such as enabling users to use Watch Folders that make encoding a drag-and-drop process onto a folder on the server. Also familiar are presets or "encoding recipes" to each encoding job, as a way to specify output format, bitrates and other parameters. Content is encoded on the server and delivered to whatever destination the user specifies.
With the use of Squeeze Premium, post production houses can also offload processor-intensive jobs to a dedicated server, and thus free up their editors (and the editors' computers) to work creatively, thus streamlining the workflow and maximizing ROI.
Furthermore, Sorenson Media intends to support the product to makes its efficiencies clear to users. "A lot of people don't understand the full potential of the product," says Punches. "If you own a license and are running in a server environment, we want to make sure you have a dedicated support line and all the support you need with the Premium product." Premium Squeeze users get priority technical support through an assigned account representative with a dedicated direct phone line, email and live chat, plus one year of free product upgrades and a free copy of Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5 by encoding expert Jan Ozer.
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Squeeze Premium enables the user to easily share and collaborate with encoded videos thorough automated processes within the user interface. The Sorenson 360 online video platform (OVP) enables users to store, manage and distribute videos, and Squeeze Premium can also send video directly to unlimited publishing destinations including Amazon, CON (Akamia and Limelight), and YouTube, or choose their own FTP, SFTP and folder destinations. Sorenson Squeeze Premium, which is shipping now, is priced at $1,995.
Sorenson Media made a smart move in enabling its desktop hardware for a server environment. By keeping many of the features of the desktop product - especially the user interface - Sorenson has created a natural upgrade path for users enlarging their operations as well as a simple solution for existing post houses that need Squeeze's capabilities in a server environment. Since it was developed in response to customers, those customers are sure to adopt it and use it. Once they've got it in house, perhaps they'll find other features they need to expand its use in the post house environment. Let's stay tuned for what Sorenson Media plans next.
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