The Red5 Pro streaming platform consolidates itself in European territory

Europe already represents 30% of customers Red5 Pro, real-time streaming platform with low latency and extensive interactivity functions.

Red5 Pro It is a decentralized platform that eliminate latency y powers real-time experiences at scale, whether hosted in the cloud or through the client's own data center. The solution provides a deployment model that is autoscale to handle the load. Also works with SDKs on the client side to make it easier for developers to build live interactive experiences.

The company was born in 2005, when they reverse engineered the protocol RTMP. At the time, Adobe charged $50,000 per CPU to use the Flash Media Server (the only way to stream video in and out of the Flash player at the time). They felt it was an exorbitant fee for a critical feature, so Red5 Pro set out to create a free, open source alternative. Part of a group of people around the world who used Wireshark to figure out what Flash and the media server were sending, they eventually cracked the code using a black box approach and wrote the first alternative to Flash Communication Server. The project, free and available to everyone, took off naturally, to the point of needing the expertise of his team for consulting. They left their day jobs and created an open source media server company.

Current uses of Red5 Pro

Today, the use cases for Red5 are really broad, since “almost all sectors” are interested in the live video and the interactivity- From live video shopping, to auctions, social media apps, esports streaming, live concerts and sports betting. They also have many use cases for surveillance, such as drone streaming, body cameras, traffic camera monitoring, etc. Additionally, there are emerging metaverse-style experiences, such as the RV, day RA and day RX, in which everything from dance clubs are transmitted live in VR to party virtually with friends, to live 360º signals from ambulances or the VR headsets worn by doctors in emergency rooms. As he comments Chris Allen, general director of Red5 Pro, this “is a very exciting time and we are excited about all the creative possibilities that people are creating.”

Based in the United States (where they have many clients), the fact that interactive live streaming is a global phenomenon not tied to geography has allowed Red5 Pro to have clients in more than 46 countries around the world. The company is present on all continents except Antarctica. However, as the CEO of Red5 Pro explains, “I assume Antarctica will also arrive soon, given the need for live video communication and increasing connectivity in remote locations.”

As for the expansion plans of Red5 Pro, the company sees a huge opportunity to offer developers who create live interactive applications as connectivity increases in the third world. On the other hand, they are aware that until now they have had all their success with a purely inbound, without a professional sales team, so they plan to create enterprise sales teams in all geographies, starting with North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC. Currently, Europe represents around 30% of its sales: “Spain, in particular, is a country that is growing rapidly and has some very talented video developers”, Allen acknowledges.

Red5 Pro range of solutions

Although Red5 Pro currently offers Red5 Media Server, Red5 RMTP Client y React Native Library to Red5 Pro Mobile SDK, among other services, Allen believes that the complete package is what really allows developers to realize the full potential of this market. For example, they will soon release a new Mixer which allows developers to combine hundreds of streams together to make things like live video walls. “I'm always amazed by the creativity of developers and what they can do with these features,” says Allen.

Although he cannot share all the details of his success, Allen does cite some notable names that exemplify the system's versatility: “Proxibid is one of our most successful live auction clients. They carry out hundreds of simultaneous auctions at the same time. Another interesting client is Hone Live, based in Australia, which offers real estate agents the ability to live stream home viewings. The Aerospace Corporation uses Red5 to broadcast NASA rocket launches. StageConnect provides a platform for fans and audience members to stream into live performance venues displayed on LED walls, providing live interactivity and discussions with live audience members (this particular use case is a game-changer for live performers, such as comedians, who previously attempted to perform in front of a black screen). Red Pill VR It is another very interesting use case that will be launched soon; They’re the ones who make live VR dance clubs.”

Asked how the pandemic has affected Red5 Pro, Allen says: “We've always been a remote-first company, so people working from home wasn't a big change for us.” However, from a business point of view, the Covid has been an accelerator of live interactive video experiences. As Red5 Pro points out, “everyone is using Zoom now, and watching a live event over the Internet is the new normal.” “I don't think this stuff is going away, and now virtual events are becoming hybrid events, further driving the need for real-time,” Allen concludes.