Earlier this year, Hunting With Pixels caught up with Shay David from Kaltura on the New York leg of our epic interviewing spree. Kaltura are a leading open-source video platform, helping business and educational clients deliver top quality video solutions. In the final section from our chat with Shay, we bring the ideas of open source and apply them to online video. Shay talks about his own business, Kaltura, and how they use the principles of crowdsourcing to deliver quality products for the end user. When we look at the future of the internet, it is clear that it will be dominated by video and multimedia. Shay predicts that in 10 years from now, video will equate 90% of the internet. However, we still have some way to go. The technology, while advancing in leaps and bounds, is still in its infancy. There are no established business models or examples of best practice, and online video remains very expensive to do well. It was these problems that inspired Shay and his partners to found Kaltura. Using their passion for open-source systems, they aim to make a big difference in the online video industry. In comparing open-source video to some of the existing (proprietary) solutions currently available, it helps to think of a trip to a toy store. The proprietary video system is the expensive doll, flashy but inflexible, and bound for the bottom of the toybox once the novelty is gone. Open source video, on the other hand, is more like lego, base functional parts which can be used in a variety of ways depending on the need. No matter the client, by leveraging their open-source video infrastructure Kaltura is able to custom build new solutions to unique problems, without having to start from scratch each time. Another advantage to using open source video is that Kaltura are able to use their large and passionate community to further aid in development. It is this passion for collaboration and creation that defines the open-source movement. By building up software that is open and flexible, Kaltura enables the next generation of internet entrepreneurs to use online video, and have created a successful business of their own. It’s the ultimate win-win situation. http://www.vimeo.com/25701162
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