Daniel Loshak, Managing Director of Capella Europe, sits down with Capella’s CEO, Ikuyo Yamada, to talk about regional quirks, real-world customer demands, and how Capella manages to stay truly global.
Daniel: Let’s start things off with something simple — is transcoding really all that different depending on where in the world you are?
Ikuyo: You’d think video is video, right? But no — format preferences, delivery requirements, infrastructure, even how people expect subtitles to behave can vary drastically. Supporting international workflows means paying close attention to the small stuff.
For example, in the UK, we support HbbTV for Freeview Play — that was actually key in us winning the Viacom project. In Japan, we were one of the early adopters of Actvila — a government-backed VOD service developed with major manufacturers — and that helped us secure several other big projects. Wherever you are in the world, there are always region-specific requirements, and we take pride in meeting them head-on.
Daniel: What’s the oddest or most unexpected regional requirement you’ve had to build around?
Ikuyo: In some markets, we’ve had to support surprisingly old formats because broadcasters still rely on legacy workflows, in fact, many legacy playback systems are still in use in aircraft, offshore oil rigs and cruise liners. In others, like Japan, we’ve been asked to handle extremely specific metadata mappings. We’ve learned not to assume anything when it comes to how video gets processed.
Daniel: So when someone asks if there’s a global default setting in Cambria — is the answer basically "no"?
Ikuyo: Exactly. We provide sensible starting points, sure — but a "default that works in LA might be pointless in Lagos. That’s why we make it easy for users to customise deeply, and why our regional partners are so crucial.
Daniel: As a company with a US HQ, how do you stop yourselves from building features just for the home crowd?
Ikuyo: Some of our best feature requests come from EMEA and APAC. If you only listen to your nearest customers, you lose sight of where growth is actually happening. Our roadmap reflects that. Our partners are spread out all over the globe, we recently opened an office in the UK so better support Europe and we’ve had a presence in Japan for nearly 10 Years.
More importantly, our philosophy is to listen to customers everywhere — not just the biggest ones. We don’t prioritise based purely on the size of the deal. If a request makes technical sense and could benefit others, we take it seriously. That mindset helps us keep the product relevant across regions, and genuinely useful to a wide range of customers.
Daniel: Give me a practical example — what’s the difference between selling into Germany vs Brazil… or even Japan or the US? It always fascinates me how different regions approach the same technical challenge.
Ikuyo: It really does vary. Germany is very standards-driven — customers expect tight integration, rigorous compliance, and detailed documentation. Everything needs to be controlled and audit-ready.
Brazil is more about flexibility — fast deployment, adaptable pricing, and strong local partner relationships. The focus is on getting up and running quickly.
Japan values precision, but in a unique way — metadata handling can be very specific, and support for region-specific standards like Actvila was key to us winning early projects there.
And in the US, it’s a mix — cloud-first thinking, automation, and scale tend to drive the conversation. So yes, quality matters everywhere, but what “quality” means can differ wildly.
Daniel: When it comes to live streaming, what regional quirks stand out?
Ikuyo: Quite a few. Some customers prioritise low latency, while others need bulletproof redundancy — especially in regions with limited bandwidth. In North America, cloud-first is the norm, particularly for sports broadcasting, where full redundancy and zero failure points matter more than cost — even if it’s just a few high-value channels.
In contrast, in parts of Latin America and Asia, we often see high-density channel streaming, where the priority is keeping the cost per channel as low as possible. And in the Middle East or parts of Asia, hybrid or on-prem is still common due to regulations or infrastructure limits. Our job is to support all of these without adding unnecessary complexity.
Daniel: And on the commercial side — pricing, support, the human stuff — how much of that gets localised?
Ikuyo: A lot more than people think. Support hours, quote structures, even how we follow up on leads — it all changes by region. There’s no point offering brilliant software if you can’t match the buying style or expectations in-market.
Daniel: Let’s talk cloud. Some vendors push cloud-only like it’s the answer to everything —but is that realistic globally?
Ikuyo: Not really. Cloud has obvious advantages — scalability, ease of deployment, no hardware headaches — but not every region is ready for it. In parts of the Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe, either the infrastructure isn't there or local regulations make full cloud workflows impractical. That’s why we offer full flexibility — cloud, on-prem, and hybrid — so customers can work the way they need to, not how we dictate.
Daniel: So what does hybrid actually mean for Capella’s customers — is it just marketing fluff or something people really use?
Ikuyo: Hybrid is very real. We’ve got customers who do heavy transcoding on-prem but still burst to the cloud when they have spikes in throughput needs. Others run live ingest locally and stream via cloud-based CDNs. Cambria makes it easy to build hybrid pipelines without rearchitecting your entire workflow. And it’s not just about tech — hybrid gives customers control over cost, security, and reliability.
Daniel: Alright, final one — what would you say to international customers who might think you’re just another US software company exporting west-coast ideas?
Ikuyo: I’d say: spend five minutes talking to our partners in Europe, Asia, or South America. They’ll tell you we’re invested, responsive, and not afraid to build for their needs. We don’t just support international customers — we co-design with them.
