{{Short description|American software company}} {{advert|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox company | name = AWS Elemental | former_name = Elemental Technologies | type = Subsidiary | industry = Video software | incorporated = Delaware | founded = 2006 | founders = {{UBL|Sam Blackman|Jesse Rosenzweig|Brian Lewis}} | hq_location_city = Portland, Oregon | hq_location_country = United States | key_people = Alex Dunlap (General Manager) | revenue = $49.2 million | revenue_year = 2014 | owner = Amazon | num_employees = 209 | num_employees_year = 2014 | parent = Amazon Web Services | website = {{URL|http://www.elemental.com/}} | footnotes = <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.elemental.com/about-us/leadership |title=Leadership |website=www.elemental.com |publisher=AWS Elemental |language=en |access-date=2018-10-05}}</ref> }}
'''Elemental''' was an American software company based in Portland, Oregon, and active from 2006 to 2015. It was founded by three engineers formerly of the semiconductor company Pixelworks: Sam Blackman (CEO), Jesse Rosenzweig (CTO), and Brian Lewis.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2012-07-30|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20061016006227/en/Pixelworks-Invests-Elemental-Technologies|title=Pixelworks Invests in Elemental Technologies Inc. |publisher=Business Wire|date=October 16, 2006}}</ref> In 2015, it was acquired by Amazon.
==History== In July 2012, Elemental products supported the broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics on internet devices for media companies including the BBC, Euro sport, Terra Networks, and others.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2012/07/16/elemental-helps-power-olympics-coverage.html |title=Elemental Helps Power Olympics Coverage |last=Siemers |first=Eric |date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=2012-07-30 |newspaper=Portland Business Journal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Markowitz |first=Erik |date=July 11, 2012 |title=Now Playing on Your iPhone: The Olympics |url=http://www.inc.com/olympics/eric-markowitz/meet-the-4-year-old-startup-powering-the-olympics.html |magazine=Inc. |access-date=2012-07-30}}</ref>
In September 2013, Elemental was named to the Silicon Forest top 25 by ''The Oregonian''. The company ranked #24 among the region's largest technology companies.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2013/09/silicon_forest_25_--_2013_edit.html |title=Silicon Forest 25 -- 2013 edition |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=September 23, 2013 |work=The Oregonian |access-date=2013-09-23}}</ref>
In October 2013, Elemental provided live 4K HEVC video streaming of the 2013 Osaka Marathon in a workflow designed by K-Opticom, a telecommunications operator in Japan.
In April 2017, the company changed its name from Elemental Technologies to AWS Elemental.<ref name="changes name">{{cite news|last=Rogoway|first=Mike|title=Portland's Elemental Technologies changes its name – and logo|newspaper=The Oregonian|date=April 17, 2017|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2017/04/portlands_elemental_technologi.html|accessdate=2017-08-30}}</ref>
===Feared security compromise=== In 2015, during security testing conducted as a prelude to a possible acquisition by Amazon, it was reported that some Elemental servers contained chips from Chinese manufacturing subcontractors that allowed backdoor access.<ref name="BB">{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies |title=The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies |first1=Jordan |last1=Robertson |first2=Michael |last2=Riley |date=October 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004172410/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies |archive-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref> According to a U.S. government investigation, the chips were inserted by a People’s Liberation Army unit.<ref name="BB"/> These reports were denied by all of the companies involved, no such chips were ever found, and the acquisition proceeded without further incident.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/13/tech-giants-us-chinese-spy-chips-bloomberg-supermicro-amazon-apple |title=The tech giants, the US and the Chinese spy chips that never were… or were they? |last1=Naughton |first1=John |date=13 October 2018 |website=The Guardian |accessdate=23 August 2019}}</ref>
==Funding== Elemental received its initial investments in 2007 in the amount of $1.05 million from three angel funds: the Seattle-based Alliance of Angels, the Oregon Angel Fund, and the Bend Venture Conference.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/07/portland_startup_success_is_on.html |title=Portland startup success is on (electronic) display) |last=Brinckman |first=Jonathan |date=July 18, 2008 |publisher=Oregonlive.com |access-date=2012-07-30}}</ref>
In July 2008, Elemental announced it had closed its first round of venture capital financing, receiving $7.1 million, which included investments from General Catalyst Partners of Boston, Massachusetts and Voyager Capital of Seattle, Washington.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2008/07/elemental_technologies_post.html |title=Elemental Technologies lands first venture investment |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=July 17, 2008 |publisher=Oregonlive.com |access-date=2012-07-27}}</ref>
In 2009, Elemental formed a partnership with In-Q-Tel {{En dash}} the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency.<ref name="BB"/> Elemental servers were subsequently used in various secure capacities, including by the United States Department of Defense, the United States Navy, NASA, the United States Congress and the Department of Homeland Security.<ref name="BB"/>
In July 2010, Elemental raised an additional $7.5 million in Series B financing. Steamboat Ventures, a venture capital firm affiliated with The Walt Disney Company, joined existing venture funds General Catalyst and Voyager Capital in the financing round.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2010/07/elemental_technologies_wins_ba.html |title=Elemental Technologies wins backing from Steamboat Ventures, Disney's VC arm |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=July 27, 2010 |publisher=Oregonlive.com |access-date=2012-07-27}}</ref>
In May 2012, Elemental closed its Series C financing for $13 million from Norwest Venture Partners.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2012/05/elemental_technologies_raises.html |title=Elemental Technologies raises $13 million venture round, prepares global marketing push |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=May 7, 2012 |publisher=Oregonlive.com |access-date=2012-07-27}}</ref>
In December 2014, Elemental closed its Series D financing for $14.5 million led by Telstra and Sky.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/12/elemental_technologies.html |title=Elemental Technologies adds $14.5 million investment, led by global broadcasters Telstra and Sky |last=Rogoway |first=Mike |date=December 22, 2014 |publisher=Oregonlive.com |access-date=2014-12-22}}</ref>
In September 2015, Elemental was acquired by Amazon Web Services, for an estimated $350 million.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2015-09-03|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2015/09/elemental_technologies_portlan.html|title=Elemental Technologies, Portland's biggest young tech company, sells to Amazon Web Services|date=September 3, 2015|newspaper=The Oregonian}}</ref><ref name="BB"/>
==Products==
===AWS Media Services=== In November 2017, Amazon Web Services announced AWS Media Services, a group of five services that are intended for video providers to generate video offerings in the cloud, with the ability to scale. AWS Media Services include the following individual services: '''AWS Elemental MediaConvert''' transcodes file-based video content.
'''AWS Elemental MediaLive''' encodes live video for televisions or connected devices.
'''AWS Elemental MediaPackage''' prepares and secures live video streams for delivery to connected devices.
'''AWS Elemental MediaStore''' delivers video from media-optimized storage.
'''AWS Elemental MediaTailor''' inserts targeted advertising into streaming video.
'''AWS Elemental MediaConnect''' transport stream based video contribution and distribution. <!-- most advertising content is in the following paragraphs: -->
===Elemental Live=== In April 2010, Elemental introduced its enterprise product, Elemental Live, a video processing system that provides video and audio encoding for live streaming to media platforms.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2012-07-26 |url=http://gigaom.com/video/elemental-live-shakes-up-the-economics-of-video-streaming/ |title=Elemental Live Shakes Up The Economics of Video Streaming |publisher=GigaOM |date=April 6, 2010|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015010100/http://gigaom.com/video/elemental-live-shakes-up-the-economics-of-video-streaming/ |archivedate=2012-10-15 }}</ref>
Elemental Live made its debut at NAB in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 12–15, 2010, with a four-screen demonstration featuring simultaneous real-time encoding of multiple video streams targeted to mobile, tablet, web and HDTV platforms.
===Elemental Server=== In November 2009, Elemental released the first video server appliance to utilize the graphics processing unit for video on demand (VOD) transcoding. The company claims its performance equals that of seven dual quad-core CPU servers.<ref>{{cite web |accessdate=2009-05-20 |url=http://www.contentinople.com/author.asp?section_id=450&doc_id=176960 |title=Elemental Takes Transcoding to the GPU |publisher=Contentinople |date=May 20, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090523210133/http://www.contentinople.com/author.asp?section_id=450&doc_id=176960 |archivedate=2009-05-23 }}</ref> Other potential benefits include conversion speed, reduced power usage, less physical space, and overall cost, which is reported to be less than half of a CPU server.<ref>{{cite web |accessdate=2009-05-19 |url=http://gigaom.com/video/newteevees-next-big-thing-2009/6/ |title=NewTeeVee's Next Big Thing List 2009 |publisher=GigaOM |date=May 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122221646/http://gigaom.com/video/newteevees-next-big-thing-2009/6/ |archivedate=2012-01-22 }}</ref> Elemental Servers reportedly sold for as much as $100,000 per machine, with a profit margin of up to 70%.<ref name="BB"/>
===Elemental Delta=== Elemental Delta is a video delivery platform designed to optimize the monetization, management and distribution of multiscreen video across internal and external IP networks. Elemental Delta has been presented at IBC in September 2014 and won the IABM Design and Innovation award for Playout and Delivery Systems.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2014-09-26|url=http://www.theiabm.org/news/news_detail.iabm-announces-design-innovation-awards-winners.html|title=IABM Design and Innovation Awards 2014|publisher=IABM|date=September 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020195851/http://www.theiabm.org/news/news_detail.iabm-announces-design-innovation-awards-winners.html|archive-date=October 20, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Elemental Cloud=== Elemental Cloud provides transcoding services in a cloud computing environment using clustered graphics processors.
===Elemental Statmux=== Elemental Statmux is a software-based statistical multiplexer that optimizes content delivery for pay TV operators by reallocating bits in real time between video encoders and combining the outputs from multiple encoders into a single transport stream.
===Elemental Conductor=== Elemental Conductor is a scalable management system of two or more Elemental video processing systems.
===Badaboom=== thumb|right|100px On October 23, 2008, Elemental released Badaboom, a consumer media converter, in partnership with Nvidia. Badaboom uses Elemental's video engine to transcode video files from several formats, including MPEG2, H.264, HDV, AVCHD, and RAW, into the H.264 format for devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and Sony PSP.
Elemental Technologies announced Badaboom 2.0 is the final version and stopped producing the product.<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2012-07-26 |url=http://www.badaboomit.com/node/593 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117124917/http://www.badaboomit.com/node/593 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-17 |title=Badaboom End-of-Life Announcement |publisher=Elemental Technologies |date=April 18, 2012}}</ref> The company supported Badaboom until April, 2013, without further software updates.
==Awards== *2023 NAB Best of Show – Streaming solutions for MediaConnect Gateway<ref>{{Citation | title = NAB Best of Show awards | url = https://nabshow.com/2023/news-releases/poty-award-winners/ | year = 2023 | journal = NAB | accessdate = 2023-06-05 }}</ref> *2017 NAB Best of Show – Recognized for 4K video processing by NewBay Media<ref>{{Citation | title = NewBay Media Best of Show awards | url = http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/video-edge-announces-2017-nab-best-show-award-winners/365152 | year = 2017 | journal = NewBay Media | accessdate = 2017-05-04 }}</ref> *2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year – Sam Blackman was named the winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 award in the Pacific Northwest region in the technology category<ref>{{Citation | title = EY Entrepreneur of the Year | url = http://www.ey.com/us/en/newsroom/news-releases/news-ey-announces-winners-for-the-ey-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2016-pacific-northwest-award | year = 2016 | journal = EY | accessdate = 2016-06-20 | archive-date = 2016-08-11 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160811230816/http://www.ey.com/US/en/Newsroom/News-releases/news-ey-announces-winners-for-the-ey-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2016-pacific-northwest-award | url-status = dead }}</ref> *2015 TVB Awards – Winner in the Multiplatform Production and Delivery category<ref>{{Citation | title = TVB Awards | url = https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/tvbawards-2015-the-winnershttp://vimeo.com/106155397 | year = 2014 | journal = TVB | accessdate = 2015-10-23 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> *2014 IABM Design and Innovation—Best Playout and Delivery System<ref>{{Citation | title = IABM Design and Innovation awards | url = http://vimeo.com/106155397 | year = 2014 | journal = IABM | accessdate = 2014-09-26 }}</ref> *2013 Cable & Satellite International (CSI)—-Best in Digital Video Processing, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = CSI 2013 Award Winners | url = http://www.csimagazine.com/awards/winners.php | year = 2013 | journal = Cable & Satellite International | accessdate = 2013-11-01 }}</ref> *2013 ConnectedWorld.TV Awards—Best Delivery Technology, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = ConnectedWorld.TV 2013 Award Winners | url = http://www.connectedworldawards.tv/content/2013-winners-0 | year = 2013 | journal = Connected World | accessdate = 2013-09-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130930094522/http://www.connectedworldawards.tv/content/2013-winners-0 | archive-date = 2013-09-30 | url-status = dead }}</ref> *2013 Portland Business Journal 100 Fastest Growing Companies—No. 6, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = PBJ100: See where the fastest-growing companies rank | url = http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2013/06/pbj100-see-where-the-fastest-growing.html?s=image_gallery&img_no=96 | date = June 20, 2013 | journal = Portland Business Journal | accessdate = 2013-01-22 }}</ref> *2013 Oregon Technology Awards—Technology Growth Company of the Year, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = The Technology Association of Oregon Names 2013 Oregon Technology Award Winners | url = http://www.techoregon.org/?page=2013TechAwardPress | year = 2013 | journal = Technology Association of Oregon | accessdate = 2013-04-26 }}</ref> *2012 Forbes America's 100 Most Promising Companies—No. 23, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = America's Most Promising Companies | url = https://www.forbes.com/companies/elemental-technologies/ | year = 2012 | journal = Forbes | accessdate = 2013-11-01 }}</ref> *2012 Inc. (magazine) 500, America's Fastest Growing Private Companies—No. 52, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = The 2012 Inc. 5000 List | url = http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2012 | year = 2012 | journal = Inc. | accessdate = 2012-08-29 }}</ref> *2011 Forbes America's 100 Most Promising Companies—No. 54, Elemental Technologies<ref>{{Citation | title = America's Most Promising Companies | url = https://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/28/most-promising-companies-11_land.html | year = 2011 | journal = Forbes | accessdate = 2012-07-30 }}</ref> *2011 Streaming Media Editors' Pick—Elemental Live<ref name=Schumacher-rasmussen2011>{{Citation | title = 2011 Editors' Picks for the Best in Streaming Video | url = http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/2011-Editors-Picks-for-the-Best-in-Streaming-Video-74142.aspx | year = 2011 | author = Schumacher-Rasmussen, Eric | journal = Streaming Media Magazine | accessdate = 2012-07-30 }}</ref> *2010 TV Technology Mario Award—Elemental Live<ref>{{Citation | title = TV Technology Announces STAR, Mario Awards for the 2010 NAB Show | url = http://www.tvtechnology.com/news-technology/0178/tv-technology-announces-star-mario-awards-for-the--nab-show/205625 | year = 2010 | journal = TV Technology | accessdate = 2012-07-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121003085951/http://www.tvtechnology.com/news-technology/0178/tv-technology-announces-star-mario-awards-for-the--nab-show/205625 | archive-date = 2012-10-03 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Official website|http://www.elemental.com/}}
Category:2006 establishments in Oregon Category:2015 mergers and acquisitions Category:Amazon (company) Category:American companies established in 2006 Category:Companies based in Portland, Oregon Category:Defunct software companies of the United States Category:In-Q-Tel Category:Software companies based in Oregon Category:Technology companies established in 2006