The Community Expert Spotlight will highlight forum members whose significant contributions designate leadership and advanced streaming experience.
Swarna Ananthan 
Tell us about a streaming workflow your company specializes in.
MagicPolygon is an interactive story-telling platform that brings your kids closer to their distant family members through real-time stories. We use HTTP live streaming for both live and on-demand storytelling.
Parent approved storytellers can narrate stories in their own style and voice from anywhere in the world using synchronized picture books with interactive animations. Our product is for kids age 3 to 7. The recorded story feature lets you replay stories as many times as you want. We keep adding interactive books to our library every month. The users can also upload pictures and create their own picture books and narrate them. For schools, we allow teachers to use MagicPolygon to record stories for students or ask them to record their own stories, maintain storybooks, or add their voices to an existing book. Parents can also share their kids’ stories with teachers for private reviews and feedback.
How long have you been in the video streaming industry?
I started working in the mobile streaming applications in 2010 using Shoutcast/Icecast protocol at Thumbplay (later acquired by iHeartRadio). I worked extensively on video streaming applications during my tenure at Peloton. I was one of the very first Engineers at Peloton. I left Peloton and started MagicPolygon in 2018. MagicPolygon does both live and on-demand streaming.
What is the most important reason you use Wowza?
Wowza provides tools and plugins for customized streaming solutions. Wowza also provides the ability to develop custom Wowza modules and HTTP providers as per our needs. Wowza has a great community. I love the Wowza slack community.
What are your predictions for streaming trends in 2021?
This year we have seen the different number of use-cases for streaming expand drastically, more and more companies see added value in live and on demand streaming. My prediction is that this will only grow further in 2021, with more focus on more specialized needs such as deep integrations, payments and statistics.
Is your company or product focused primarily on video streaming?
Video streaming is at the core of what we do, but our added value is with the tools and analytics we offer to make that video stream a success. Recordings, payments, email campaigns, registration flows and processes, integrations with other platforms and video hosting.
If you’d like help with your streaming workflow, all of our 3rd party consultants can be contacted in our Hire a Consultant forum.
Consultants are video-streaming experts, but not affiliated with Wowza Media Systems.