AWS Elemental Media Event Management (MEM)

The MEM program offers two types of engagements: MEM Launch and MEM Annual. MEM Launch is a fixed-term engagement with a typical duration of 2-5 months depending on the complexity of the workload. MEM Launch is ideal for new workload launches, critical video workload migrations, and important live events. MEM Annual is a subscription model designed for more complex deployments where the duration is uncertain, or for ongoing live event support such as coverage of an entire sports season.

MEM Launch engagements consist of four phases: an initial Planning phase, a Preparation and Testing phase in the weeks leading to the workload launch or event, Event Support on the day of your event, and a Retrospective summary after the event is completed. An Event Delivery Manager and a Media Enterprise Account Engineer from the AWS Elemental Customer Success team will work with you throughout the engagement. The cost and duration varies depending on the size of your event and the complexity of your workload, with typical engagements lasting between 10 and 18 weeks.

MEM Annual engagements are ongoing and offer customers that need support with coverage for extended periods of time. Like MEM Launch, a MEM Annual engagement includes an onboarding process with an initial discovery, documentation, and planning phase. MEM Annual is ideal for complex workload migrations like an SSAI deployment or season-long sports coverage where you regularly need experts on a live event bridge. MEM Annual requires a 6-month minimum commitment and automatically renews each month.

The MEM program is designed for end-to-end video workloads. While complex video workloads running in AWS often include other AWS Services beyond the Media Services, the MEM program is intended for workloads that use AWS Elemental hardware and software, AWS Elemental Media Services, and Amazon CloudFront. If there are issues with the video workload that involve other AWS Services, the MEM team will engage the appropriate support teams.

1 - 24x7 on-call support, an optional add-on feature for MEM Annual, does not include Amazon CloudFront

The experts assigned to your event form the principal value-add of a MEM engagement. Each engagement includes both a Media Event Delivery Manager and a Media Enterprise Account Engineer.

The Media Event Delivery Manager leverages technical experience and account management skills to understand workflows, timelines, and priorities, giving you the freedom to focus on what matters: transforming ideas into compelling content that captivates viewers. The Media Event Delivery Manager collaborates with your key stakeholders to drive the MEM engagement from start to finish, and coordinate action items, scheduling, and communications with all stakeholders.

The Media Enterprise Account Engineer is a media workflow technical expert who works to address technical issues that may arise. This individual is available to respond to any technical questions and workflow issues, evaluate how the workflow is implemented, understand recommended configuration settings, and identify associated risks.

The 24x7 Video Subject Matter Expert (SME) On-call Support team is made of video-specialized Enterprise Account Engineers that work as an extension of your team. You can leverage this optional add-on to any MEM Annual subscription (subject to availability) and achieve peace-of-mind knowing that you have a team of experts who understand your most critical workloads and are available on-call 24x7x365.

We will make every reasonable effort to respond to your support case within the corresponding timeframes:

Our experts help you optimize video encoding parameters, aiming for the highest video quality per bit. We review your encoding configurations and provide recommendations for content-specific optimizations to accommodate your workflow limitations. The MEM team’s depth of experience enables us to adapt parameters and make adjustments based on interoperability issues as those needs arise.

Our experts also help you define packaging configurations designed to provide your viewers with an optimal experience, and at the same time meet your requirements for content protection and compatibility with playback devices.

An optimally configured Content Distribution Network (CDN) is a critical component of any media event. As a result of our specialized video knowledge, our team is aware of the primary concerns and considerations that should be looked at when communicating with your CDN providers.

Monitoring live events can be challenging, even for experienced operators. Our experts help you develop a monitoring strategy that keeps you up to date with every aspect of your video workflow, so you can spot issues before they impact your viewers.

Our team helps you determine an appropriate level of redundancy and resiliency. We can provide configuration recommendations to help you reduce impact to viewer experience even if a component in your workflow fails. Another key factor of failover and redundancy is knowing when and how to act; we help establish runbooks so your operational teams know what to do if they are faced with issues during an event.

Our team’s specialized video workflow knowledge means we can leverage AWS Media Services in complex workflows that include components from multiple vendors. We can recommend how to appropriately tune your workflow to avoid or quickly adapt to any critical interoperability issues that may arise.

MEM provides guidance on how to test your workflow before the event, highlighting the critical areas to focus on. Our testing recommendations target mission-critical points in the workflow, simulate failover with components, and focus on any unique or novel areas in the workflow. This testing guidance helps your team develop the overall test plan, dashboards, and runbooks in preparation for game day, with dress rehearsals leading up to the event.

The MEM program is a consultative and specialized solution support service. MEM requires that you already have an AWS Enterprise Support plan and the MEM team works side-by-side with AWS Support Engineers when issues involve services outside of AWS Elemental appliances and software, AWS Elemental Media Services, or Amazon CloudFront. MEM does not supplant support coverage for AWS Elemental appliances and software and an Elemental Service Plan is also required separately for coverage of Elemental appliances.

The cost of a MEM engagement varies depending on the size of your event and the level of support needed. Please contact us to get a workflow assessment and price quote for your event.

AWS will invoice you for MEM Services upon the conclusion of your engagement. Charges for other AWS Services, AWS Elemental Products and Services, and AWS Support Plans are not included in your invoiced amount.