Forbidden’s Vision: the Why

Posted: 04/07/2017

Why Forbidden? People often ask me this. They are asking about the name, of course, but the bigger question is about the company itself. This is important because Forbidden is a visionary company.

I set up Forbidden to make something special: a universally accessible internet video experience through powerful but simple interfaces. And furthermore, to excel in this achievement, making the best video software in the world work on everyone’s computer automatically.

Video, as you may realise, is not just another product. Video is special. Video is the most powerful medium in the world. Unlike AI, videos don’t think. But videos carry a message to their viewers – and into their viewers. They can make their viewers think, and evoke emotion. Video can change people’s minds.

While as a small start-up the paths to global success are limited, long term strategic investment and innovation are unhindered by big company bureaucracy. So, by developing cloud web and mobile video technology for the World of the Future, Forbidden has engineered an impressive head start.

Forbidden’s products are now simple and effective enough to be used by video professionals every day, with the results seen billions of times on broadcast television and the web.

While other companies now provide their own versions of some of the features Forbidden pioneered, Forbidden’s accurate technology forecasts and directed innovation have forged it into a video tech leader.

In 2005, Forbidden’s Forscene won the Royal Television Award for Technology in the Post-Production Process. A leading producer announced that “This was like landing a man on the moon for our industry”, but that no one would understand it for a decade.

Forbidden’s technology is now accessible to billions of people through their computers and mobile phones. The need for new technology infrastructure is now transforming our appeal in the market.

Of course, it is one thing to have a vision for the future, but quite another to deliver beautiful practical solutions. The technology we use to underpin our solutions is the subject of my next blog post.

Stephen B Streater
Founder and Director of R&D
Forbidden Technologies plc