New Year, New Job, New Challenges

As we leave 2012 behind us and turn our attention to 2013, the time has come for me to share some exciting personal news.

After 10 years at Microsoft I have recently decided to leave the company to pursue other career opportunities. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I felt it was time for a change. On January 1st I officially joined iStreamPlanet Co. as a Principal Video Specialist, where I will be focusing on building cloud-based live encoding workflows.

iStreamPlanet was founded in Las Vegas in 2000 by Mio Babic as a digital media services provider and has been a trusted Microsoft partner for over a decade. Since its humble Windows Media streaming beginnings iStreamPlanet has built a worldwide reputation in providing premium video workflow services and products for large scale live streaming events. They were Microsoft’s go-to partner for bringing the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to U.S. and Canada, and have also been responsible for online delivery of many other high-profile events such as NBC Sunday Night Football, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Roland Garros, Tour de France, TNT NBA Overtime, PGA Tour, NASCAR and UFC.

At Streaming Media West last October iStreamPlanet announced and demoed for the first time Aventus, its new cloud-based automated video workflow platform for delivering live events and live linear channels. This is the product that I will be working on at iStreamPlanet for the foreseeable future. I will remain in the Seattle area, working out of iStreamPlanet’s Redmond office.

As I focus on my new job I will take a short break from blogging for the next few months. When I eventually return I will likely redesign this blog to reflect my new professional responsibilities and interests. Until then, I wish everyone all the best in 2013!