Abstraction

One of the keys that makes Twistage flexible is a set of abstraction layers. An abstraction layer sits in between two pieces of technology and coordinates communication between them. (For those familiar with object-oriented programming, it's equivalent to an interface.) In the case of Twistage, it's what allows organizations to use any number of CDNs for content delivery or plug in their own reporting engine for custom analytics. Abstraction layers are what differentiate a powerful, but siloed application from an extensible, dynamic platform.

The Twistage framework manages and connects the disparate pieces of your media workflow to create a cohesive whole.

Each component of Twistage includes a built-in Twistage offering and a "build-your-own" option. As an example, consider digital media encoding: the process of converting a media file from one format into another (also called "transcoding"). Our world-class encoding infrastructure handles hundreds of incoming file formats and seamlessly converts them into the output formats of your choice. It can run on cloud infrastructure or on your own dedicated servers, and can accept video, audio and images. Nevertheless, regardless of how many resources we pour into the Twistage encoding system, it's certainly possible that that there are transcoding scenarios that it isn’t built to accommodate.

This is where the concept of an abstraction layer becomes essential. Instead of being required to use our encoding solution, two new options are now available: use a third-party encoding service or encode the content yourself. There are several cloud-based companies that specialize in video encoding. They don't offer the wide range of technology relating to digital media that Twistage offers, but what they do, they do exceptionally well. Using Twistage, you can farm out digital encoding to third-party services like encoding.com or HDCloud, while continuing to use Twistage for all your other digital media management needs. The transition is seamless, requiring no development and not impacting user experience. This is just one example that represents a fundamentally different approach to the market and illustrates the power of our abstraction layers.

And so it goes throughout the Twistage technology stack. Not only digital media encoding, but content delivery, players, monetization, storage, analytics, and more. While we're pleased to offer our own Twistage-built technology modules, what we really want is to provide you with a comprehensive solution that actually works for your organization. Every aspect of Twistage has been created with an eye toward the future. The future is bright, and the decision to use Twistage means that you’ll enjoy access to the leading tools and technologies in a growing ecosystem.