Qualification process

Follow these steps to get your encoder qualified for Media Services Live.

Contact the Partner team at partner_qualifications@akamai.com.
Do a technical review of encoder guidelines by vendor.
Akamai analyzes the encoder and the streams, provides feedback, and approves the encoder once it tests successfully.

Third parties interested in qualifying an encoder should contact our Media Technology Partner (MTP) team at encoder_qual_requests@akamai.com with their business information. We'll set up a call to discuss the MTP program, the protocols supported by the solution, and the process for thoroughly testing the solution in Media Services Live to provide a qualified rating. Third parties should review the current guidelines for encoders to be compatible with Media Services Live. Reviewing these guidelines and returning their associated checklists should be completed as early as possible.

Testing is performed by our engineering department's encoder lab. To support testing, third parties should provide a loaner encoder that can be set up in a lab.

Testing in our lab environment efficiently determines compatibility, flexibility, and reliability. Remote testing may be possible in certain circumstances, but it presents additional logistical challenges and cannot adequately test fault recovery in the same way we can in the lab. Arrangements for remote testing will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Once qualified, both parties should ensure that the following items are in place during the partnership:

Formal business and technical contacts
Business and technical escalation paths
Technical documentation and resources for our customer support group
Mutual updates provided for new versions of hardware and software
Cooperation to ensure that new versions will continue to be compatible with Media Services Live.

Qualified partners are highlighted to our field teams and suggested to our customers and prospects as recommended solutions to enable their live events in Media Services Live. Partners can also inform their customers and prospects that they have been qualified for use in Media Services Live.