Streaming Media magazine posts in its last issue a bunch of articles written by the industry moguls. What follows is an excerpt of main ideas:

• One thing remains constant: Consumers will want to be connected to digital media whenever and wherever they want it –Brian Baker, CEO Widevine Technologies

• Video is a powerful medium whose time has arrived. Consumers still demand high-quality movies, sports events, and TV shows but expect them to be available when and where they want to view them. Video without proper distribution and visual quality, such as titling and other visual cues, can decrease its effectiveness and value. –Dan Castles, CEO Telestream

• The great economic crisis of ’08 may have just made webcasting a mandatory business practice. Travel budgets are shrinking as meeting go barebones, and expense accounts are all but locked up. There are few methods left for curbing costs while boosting productivity. Enter webscasting. –Ben Chodor, President Stream57

• In 2009 our customers will be looking to trim costs and bring efficiencies into their own operations. The Internet continues to be the most cost-effective means to engage customers. Steve W. Chung, Chief Strategy Officer CDNetworks

• 2008 was another breakthrough year; from the incredible scale of online Olympics coverage worldwide to the unprecedented Internet accessibility of the US political campaigns. Online viewers have more control than ever; even for live events, and the future of online video is brighter than ever, even in the face of some considerable challenges.

Shrinking marketing spending may continue to drive advertisers from ‘big budget’ advertising such as national television sports toward better-targetable advertising online.

Solutions providers with strong established offerings adapting to evolving customer needs and content owners with high-quality, compelling content and strong branding should not only survive but also thrive. –Brick Eksten, President Digital Rapids.

• In 2009 Streaming video of both live an on-demand will no doubtable become the nucleus of every company’s training and communication agenda.

In 2009 Internet-TV will finally reach the TV.

With the constant improvement in picture quality, better and more efficient distribution networks, cutting edge management platforms, and affordable set-top-boxes, there is no doubt that we are going to witness a gradual shift from the PC viewing to the TV. –Odded Felled, Yuval Gliks, BestTV

• The cost of the underlying network is critical to our success and that of our customers –Mike Flatin, Co-Founder Bandcon

• No vendor can provide a complete solution to every stage of workflow, although there are 10 booths at any show that will claim to, as either a product of service. Do something well. –Josh Gagliardi, CTO Highwinds

• As enterprises, associations, and government agencies scramble to cut costs, the potent value proposition offered by Internet TV offers in cost-effective communicating interactively with their respective constituencies –Dave Gardy, Chairmand & CEO TV Worldwide

• 2009 will be another excellent year for our industry –Kazuhiro Gomi, NTT Communications

• Users will continue to migrate to online digital media, attracted by variety, control and interactivity. Media companies and distributors will follow the audience wherever, whenever, and however necessary. Devices will increasingly connect every possible way, in any possible place, to all possible things. –Michael Gordon, Co-Founder Limelight Networks

• 2009 is the shaping up to be the ‘Perfect Storm’ for accelerating the adoption of video technologies in the enterprise. Today’s harsh economic reality is pushing the need to increase the quality, volume, and speed of information flow.

Video is not reserved for corporate execs but can originate from any employee, to any device, anywhere, anytime. Employee-generated content, video-conference room streaming, syndicated content, customer social networking, and global project management all use video to help people solve complex problems together.

Recessions force companies to change more rapidly than they normally would. Those that leverage Enterprise Video Communications will be the companies that lead the way to economic recovery. The good news is the technology is here now at a reasonable cost and employees are ready to use it. –Ray Hood, CEO Qumu Inc

• Enterprise-wide content delivery solutions can make an impact in two distinct ways: communications and training. Video and rich media content distribution for corporate communications enables a company to communicate effectively, face-to-face as often as required, with global employees, customers, and partners, reducing travel costs and increasing morale. Hiring restrictions will elevate the need to train and educate existing employees. Content delivery solutions can provide employees distributed high-quality training content at home, on the road, or in the office, to a highly mobile workforce.

Whether our customers want to view their content online or offline; at work, home, on the road, on their laptop, desktop, or mobile device, our delivery platform ensures secure, timely delivery of content everywhere at any time.
In 2009, we encourage the consolidation of the content delivery market from a technology-based market to a solutions-based market. –Jim Janicki, President & CEO Ignite Technologies, Inc.

• One of the things that will actually help business survive and thrive is video. Businesses are increasingly turning to video and becoming their own broadcasters over their own “B-Tube” to ensure that relevant information is received and reviewed by all of their employees in a timely manner.

Video streaming drives cost reduction, productivity and efficiency gains, globalization. –Stan Jaworsky, CMO Vrick Systems Inc.

• It is time to switch from great ideas to profitable and sustainable businesses. –Eero Kaikkonen, Chief Marketing Officer ON2 Technologies, Inc.

• We as industry have a long way to go to fill the capacity gap between where we are today and the future of all video delivered over IP. This gap and the shift in paradigm from broadcast business model to completely personalized media is what have driven the huge amount of interest, growth, and investment in the last year. –Michael King, President Abacast Inc.

• Online video has become mainstream and represents a viable alternative to traditional television viewing. Video played a larger role than ever in the recent election with millions of people using their broadband connections to watch the presidential debates.

As streaming becomes more prevalent, we are going to see another transition –one from a live events-oriented platform to a more personalized experience. Video content will be on-demand and tailored for specific users. –Grant Kirkwood, CTO Mzima Networks.

• Online consumers are active and educated while still being bombarded with ads in every corner on the Internet. And maybe, like the exodus to cable and satellite radio and subscription news sites many of them are choosing to actually purchase and consume the media they are interested in. –Christopher Levy, CEO & Founder BuyDRM

• High broadband adoption, combined with an emerging landscape of connected devices, will drive consumer demand for HD-quality video over the Internet. According to Akamai data, more than 70 % of connections in the US today are at speeds greater than 2 Mbps. More than 25 % connect at speeds greater than 5 Mbps and those numbers continue to grow. In addition, new distribution platforms such as Blu-Ray discs, mobile and set box devices will become significant subscribers of both web applications and online video content as the pace of growth of these devices overtake that of traditional desktop delivery. This new landscape will drive content owners to invest in workflow tools to distribute more content over the Internet and distribution systems will need to adhere to standards to maximize reach for content owners.

CDNs need to provide unprecedented scale, flexibly integrate with industry standard workflows, business tools and analytics to support cross-platform distribution, as well as valuable advertising audience insight. Akamai is moving in this direction. –Tim Napoleon, Chief Strategist Akamai.

• Streaming media is poised for success. Thanks to the collapse of the digital divide, cheap bandwidth, and increasing consumer comfort with getting entertainment online, companies are constantly surprised –even shocked- by the size of their streaming audience. –Dave Stubenvoll, CEO & Co-Founder Wowza Media Systems