Elemental Helps Mobile Video Travel

A recent study by Cisco Systems estimates that mobile video traffic will increase more than fifteenfold by 2015. For ESPN, HBO, and other conjurers of content that traditionally have formatted their programs for TV screens, it isn’t simple to accommodate this shift. Orders come from gadgets with different screen sizes and operating systems. That means videos must be delivered in as many as 250 technological formats.

Elemental Technologies, a 53-person startup based in Portland, Ore., is trying to solve that problem. The company makes a squat, pizza-box-size device that houses fast video processing technology. Install it in a server farm, and it speedily optimizes videos for whatever device sends in a request—be it an iPad, Android phone, or Internet-connected TV. The result is a crisper, smoother viewing experience, says Michelle Abraham, research director at In-Stat, a research firm. Elemental has raised $16.6 million in venture capital, and Comcast, ESPN, and HBO have became customers in the past 13 months, the company says.