On Demand

 

 

"It is truly becoming anywhere, anytime, anyplace..."

 

In 2000, shortly after I joined the IBM Corporation, I attended a presentation on something called On Demand. This was going to be the best thing since canned beer. Since IBM was in the business of providing IT services to clients, the purpose of On Demand would be strictly software related. If a client needed to have an upgrade to a browser, the client would visit the IBM portal, select what was needed, and presto - it was downloaded and installed instantly. Easy as pie.

 

Towards the end of the presentation, the instructor also mentioned On Demand could also be used for entertainment. You know, if you wanted to hear a song, download it. If you wanted to watch a movie, request it, and it would be downloaded to your TV. Little did that instructor know how prophetic the last part of the presentation would be. While most of us do not deal too much with downloaded software, the majority of us are exposed to On Demand in our entertainment venues.

 

I thought about this last night. Sleep did not come easy, so I decided to watch a movie on Netflix. Netflix is a company most of us are familiar with. It has only been around since 1997. It started out as a mail order house for renting movies. You selected what you wanted to see, they mailed it to you, you watch the movie, and then mail it back. Better than a video store, but still a hassle.

 

In 2007, Netflix started something called On Demand Streaming. You pay a membership fee of less than $10 a month, and you can go on your computer and choose a movie or television series to watch. You can watch it now, or put it in a "queue" to watch later, whenever you want. You demand it, you can watch it. High definition or standard definition. On Demand has comes to life.

 

Back to last night. I chose to watch a James Bond movie - Moonraker. I "demanded" of Netflix to watch it now. The movie appeared on the Netflix site on my tablet. It came though my wireless router, with perfect picture clarity, great sound, and no pause for buffering. About halfway though, I needed to pause the movie to take a "bio break". When I came back to my tablet, Netflix remembered where I paused, and resumed the movie without missing a beat. So easy, it was like falling off a log.

There are other subscription On Demand sites now coming on line. Streampix is the current offering by Xfinity to compete with Netflix. Both Streampix and Netflix boast of having tens of thousands of titles ready to view at a moment's notice. I can't view Steampix on my smart phone as yet (like I do Netflix), but I believe that feature will be here soon.

The next time you decide to watch something On Demand from a service provider, think of the amazing technology that goes into this wonder. On Demand Streaming has been around for less than ten years, and look at how far we have come. I dare say ten years from now, there will be dozens of providers to choose from offering hundreds of thousands of movies, shows, songs and games.

The promise of On Demand is here right now. Anywhere, anytime, anyplace.