FROM THE INDUSTRY
Traditional Content Delivery Network (CDN) approaches are struggling to keep up with the demand for new formats, including virtual and augmented reality (AR/VR), Ultra High Definition (UHD) video, immersive social media and online gaming. The rising challenge of large- scale live sports streaming Recent data from Amdocs predicted that the Paris Olympics will be the first Games where streaming becomes the preferred viewing method for the majority of viewers in the US (51%, up from 28% at Tokyo 2021). This anticipated increase in live streaming viewership poses a significant challenge for traditional CDNs and streaming service providers as they strive to uphold a high QoE for viewers. Traditional CDNs place their caches primarily outside of Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks at public or private peering points. This approach typically means content delivered by traditional CDNs must traverse the public Internet and peering sites to enter ISP networks, making it vulnerable to congestion or capacity limitations on the path to the end user.
closer to users. This distributed network architecture reduces reliance on long- distance backhaul links, often congested in underserved areas. By caching content locally, Open Caching significantly cuts latency and improves throughput. Unlike traditional commercial CDN nodes located centrally in the mid-mile range, open caching nodes are deployed at the closest possible location to the users – often tens of miles or even just a few streets away. This proximity allows applications and content to bypass peering and exchange points, often the biggest roadblock to high QoE. A win-win situation for all Sports rights holders, who have invested billions of dollars in content rights, face increased consumer churn due to poor streaming QoE. Fans want a broadcast- quality experience and expect the underlying content delivery infrastructure to perform flawlessly. This issue of streaming QoE is so significant that regulators in some European countries are getting involved.
Open Caching: A compelling solution
CDNs are crucial for delivering the smooth and high-quality playback live streaming audiences expect. However, many traditional CDNs face significant limitations, particularly during massive live events like the Paris Olympics. Traditional CDNs still create an individual unicast stream for each viewer, typically originating outside the core network. These redundant live streams consume substantial bandwidth as they travel from the CDN’s point-of-presence (PoP) through a peering point across the Content Service Provider’s (CSP’s) core network and finally over the last mile to each viewer’s home or mobile device. This method is highly inefficient in terms of bandwidth utilisation. Sports viewers in underserved markets often do not get the best QoE but expect real-time immersion and want to catch every moment as it unfolds. Disruptions like buffering, pixelation and high latency can harm their viewing experience, leading to viewer churn. Open Caching – an open specification developed by the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) – offers a compelling solution by placing the edge caches and content
SEPTEMBER 2024 Volume 46 No.3
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