The world tunes in by the billions for the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl. Few realize that behind the cameras, a hidden layer of technology ensures every frame is delivered flawlessly. That engine is often Harmonic—now running on Akamai’s Connected Cloud.

Jean Macher, Sr. Director of Global SaaS Solutions at Harmonic, described their role bluntly: “We offer what we call a complete video pipeline for streaming and broadcast workflows—playout, transcoding, packaging, all the way to ad insertion and delivery.” This video pipeline, offered as SaaS, underpins some of the most complex live events on Earth.

From CDN Partnership to Cloud Integration

Harmonic and Akamai are hardly strangers. For years, Harmonic relied on Akamai’s CDN to deliver professional video content worldwide. When Akamai launched its Connected Cloud, promising both performance and much-needed cost efficiency, extending the relationship was natural. Harmonic’s VOS360 Media SaaS and VOS360 Ad SaaS solutions are now natively available on the platform.

The impact is tangible: media and entertainment companies can run their professional video workflows with predictable performance and global reach, without incurring hyperscaler-level costs.

The Engine Behind Professional Media

The average viewer may only see the broadcaster’s logo on screen. But behind the banner, Harmonic’s technology powers the packaging, ad insertion, and delivery of the content itself. As Macher put it, “We specialize in large-scale streaming events with best reliability and quality.”

Together with Akamai, Harmonic enables professional media companies to deliver content at global scale, without compromising on economics or performance. For broadcasters, the partnership represents both a proven path to reliability and a strategic hedge against hyperscaler complexity.