As well as providing expert consultancy, de Smidt will work with a team of specialists to develop advanced mobile transcoding technology for the entertainment industry.
de Smidt spent five years at Mobile Streams where he reengineered the company’s content delivery strategy. He helped remove the reliance on development and technical operations staff, empowering the creative and account management personnel to drive Mobile Streams’ and its customers’ businesses. Taking the reins at Destar presents a unique and timely challenge, he said.
“The mobile industry is evolving rapidly and is an exciting place to be right now, but a lot of work remains to be done to ensure that media companies can streamline their content provisioning processes to achieve the scale required and maximise returns on their investments,” de Smidt said.
“This is a gap which Destar aims to plug with an exciting new technology platform which we’ll be announcing in the New Year.”
de Smidt has spent almost two decades in the mobile telecoms industry. Prior to joining Mobile Streams he was technical director at premium voice and messaging supplier Arrow Interactive, part of the Trinity Mirror group, and also spent seven years as an IT development manager at Vodafone UK.