Digital media Series - transparent-caching & opportunity landscape - mobile video

1. .
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SPINOVER
|
DIGITAL
MEDIA
SERIES
.
.
.
.
Mobile Video & Caching
Opportunity
assessment
Sujit
Mishra

2. Introduction
As
video
streaming
and
rich
media
downloads
continue
to
flood
operator
networks,
with
no
end
in
sight,
network
operators
are
evaluating
and
deploying
transparent
Internet
caching
inside
their
networks
to
address
a
broader
range
of
Internet
content.
Telcos,
carriers,
MSOs
and
ISPs
are
hard
at
work
building
out
CDN
and
transparent
caching
services
inside
their
network
for
the
delivery
of
video.

3. Changing landscapes
• TV
is
no
more
‘the
entertainment
gatekeeper’
–
consumer
wants
connected
experience
(seamless
between
–
device,
network,
content)
• Realtime
entertainment
is
big
-­‐
*25%
of
US
mobile
phone
owners
watch
video
at
least
once
a
week
on
their
phone
• Tablet
users
like
long-­‐form
content
-­‐
*Thirty-­‐two
percent
of
people
who
watch
video
on
tablets
weekly
are
viewing
full-­‐length
TV
episodes
or
full-­‐length
movies
• Customer
experience
is
critical
pillar
of
differentiation
-­‐
*49%
of
consumer
(in
a
survey)
said
they
are
“very
willing”
to
pay
an
extra
10
percent
per
month
for
higher
speeds
automatically
provisioned
to
them
based
on
usage
to
improve
their
QoE
• The
lines
are
blurring
between
the
roles
of
over-­‐the-­‐top
(OTT)
providers,
network
owners
and
devices
manufacturers
* Source : Yankee & various online reports

4. Impact vs. opportunity
• Build
on-­‐deck
3-­‐screen
entertainment
• Increased
capital
investment
to
propositions,
which
becomes
more
build
new
bandwidth
capacity
in
appealing
as
consumers
get
more
fixed
and
mobile
access,
comfortable
watching
video
on
smartphones
and
tablets
aggregation,
backhaul,
edge
and
• Introduce
tiered
pricing
models
that
core
network
bring
customers
back
to
paying
for
what
• Increased
transit
costs,
especially
they
use
for
Tier
2/3
network
operator
• Build
their
own
CDNs
to
compete
for
CDN
retail
and
wholesale
spending
and
• New
investments
in
tiered
optimize
existing
network
investments
bandwidth
pricing
and
usage
caps,
for
online
media
delivery
content
caching
or
traffic
shaping
• Leverage
their
own
network
footprint
to
cache
content
closer
to
users,
• Enhanced
interest
in
network
increasing
perceived
QoE
by
reducing
optimization
solutions
content
response
times
• Investments
in
organic
CDN
• Package
subscriber
intelligence
insights
capabilities
into
usable
formats
for
interested
third
parties
such
as
content
owners,
aggregators
and/or
advertising
agencies

5. Focus : Transparent caching
Transparent
caching
scores
high
in
network
operational
savings
and
enhancing
perceived
QoE.
It
scores
high
because…
• Optimizes
bandwidth;
store
and
deliver
popular
OTT
Web
content
in
caches
positioned
locally
within
a
service
network
• Brings
in
better
QoE
altogether,
specially
for
popular
contents
• They
are
“transparent”
-­‐
they
do
not
manipulate
content
protocols
or
file
types,
nor
do
they
disrupt
business
logic
for
the
owners
of
cached
content
• Is
low
on
capital
intensity,
making
it
particularly
attractive
to
evaluate
closely
• Brings
in
new
revenue
opportunities
for
OTT
content
monetization
–
guaranteed
QoE

6. History
Content
caching
technology
utilized
for
network
optimization
has
been
available
for
many
years,
and
today,
there
are
a
couple
of
different
types
of
caching
approaches
being
used.
• Originally
for
basic
web
caching
–
Web
pages,
HTML
files,
Web
objects.
• Objective
:
application
acceleration
&
scale
• Then
there
are
“service
specific
caching”
like
“Google
cache”
• Business
model
:
content
delivery
network
(CDN)
make
their
money
from
content
publishers
who
typically
pay
based
on
volume

7. Twist in the tale
Content delivery network
Network service operators
• They
are
paid
by
content
• Their
money
comes
from
their
publishers
subscribers
• Internet
bandwidth
cost
has
• Bandwidth
cost
inside
wireless
gone
much
cheaper
in
last
ecosystem
is
too
high
decade
• Huge
investment
with
hardly
any
• They
tend
to
gain
from
return
–
“non-­‐sustainable
increasing
video
traffic
business
model”
• Good
job
distributing
content
• Handle
content
travel
inside
regionally,
until
traffic
leaves
the
network
service
operators
until
CDN
servers
last
mile
(network
edge)
• Content
stored,
based
on
• Cache
the
content,
based
on
business
agreements
intelligent
decisions

8. Internal-­‐‑CDN & Transparent caching
two
technologies
complement
each
other
in
the
context
of
holistic
media
delivery
architecture
• An
internal
CDN
store,
distribute
and
deliver
on-­‐net,
premium
content
such
as
IPTV
and
mobile
video.
Within
a
CDN,
a
transparent
cache
is
not
necessary
because
CDN
is
used
to
distribute
content
it
has
legal
rights
to
cache
• A
combination
of
internal
CDN
and/or
transparent
caching
help
monetize
network
and
IT
assets.
SPs
can
monetize
their
CDN
investment
by
cost-­‐
effectively
distributing
their
own
content
or
renting
capacity
to
content
owners
in
a
business
model
similar
to
that
of
stand-­‐alone
CDNs
such
as
Akamai
and
Limelight
• The
single
biggest
driver
for
SP
interest
in
transparent
caches
is
that
they
bring
popular
content
closer
to
users
in
cases
where
the
SP
does
not
have
the
legal
right
to
use
its
internal
CDN
for
caching
HTTP
content.
This
type
of
traffic
represents
up
to
80
percent
of
all
Web
traffic
traversing
Internet
peering
links.
This
is
particularly
important
as
more
IP
traffic
types
move
to
standard
HTTP-­‐based
delivery
models

9. Solution segmentation
• Fast
ROI
for
Tier
2/3
operators
with
PeerApp,
Oversi,
expensive
IP
transit
costs
Transparent
• Better
QoE
and
cost
reduction
for
Bluecoat*,
BTI,
Dialogic,
Juniper,
Caching
only
Tier-­‐1
Verivue,
Huawei,
• Most
Tier
1
network
operators
are
Cisco,
Juniper,
Internal
CDN
&
pursing
internal
CDN
strategies
to
lower
opex
costs
to
deliver
their
own
Edgeware,
Verivue,
transparent
rich
media
services
and
position
Huawei,
ZTE,
themselves
to
offer
CDN
services
to
caching
enterprise
customer
AlcatelLucent,
Azuki,
Skytide
Consumers
want
the
freedom
of
the
internet
but
with
the
QoS
of
walled
garden
services.
Telcos
can
deliver
that
promise
* Bluecoat is bought over by Thoma Bravo

10. Future
* Img source : JS ref doc

11. Transparent caching – QoE/RT*
*
RT
–
Response
Time
The
global
transparent
caching
market
is
poised
for
robust
growth
driven
by
an
increased
demand
for
web
based
video.
Still
in
its
infancy,
the
market's
worldwide
revenues
should
equal
just
over
$140M
in
Yr-­‐2011
and
is
expected
to
grow
at
a
compound
annual
growth
rate
of
39.3%
from
2010
to
2014
to
reach
over
$400M
dollars
in
revenues
by
2014
*
Frost
&
Sullivan

12. Transparent caching : Must have feature
1
• Should
cache
:
most-­‐viewed/viral,
potential-­‐viral;
in
multi-­‐codec,
multi-­‐size,
multi-­‐device
prof
• Should
keep
unique
copy
of
content
for
different
URL
• Should
do
“Prefix
caching”
-­‐
where
initial
portions
of
videos
are
cached
to
reduce
playback
latency.
SMART
• Should
do
“Segmented
caching”
–
with
the
basic
minimum
implementation
of
“popularity-­‐based
segmented
caching”,
where
caching
of
entire
videos
is
dynamically
managed
based
on
popularity
predictions.
• Should
do
“caching
with
network
DVR
like
seek
functionality
• Must
support
multiple
protocols
and
content
types
:
HTTP
video,
HTTP-­‐based
file
sharing,
Adobe,
QuickTime,
Silverlight,
real-­‐time
messaging
protocol
(RTMP)
and
real-­‐time
streaming
protocol
(RTSP)
2
• Should
not
impact
any
application
or
service
logic,
meaning
critical
functions
TRANSPARENT
like
authorization
and
click-­‐thru
impressions
are
preserved
so
as
not
to
impact
OTT/content
business
models
• Should
not
serve
stale
content
or
content
that
has
been
removed
from
the
Internet

13. Transparent caching : Must have feature
3
• Rules
should
be
controlled
within
the
realm
of
its
network
operations.
BUSINESS
PROCESS
Allowing
SPs
to
determine
the
speed
at
which
content
should
be
accelerated
while
being
mindful
of
congesting
downstream
elements
in
the
network.
• Should
allow
SPs
to
manage
–
“white-­‐listing
/
black-­‐listing”
of
URL
(content
source,
request
source/subscriber)
and
specific
content
or
content
genre/
category
• Should
allow
SPs
to
define
:
“house-­‐keeping
rules
-­‐
o For
cache
time
to
expire
o Content
cache
hit
vs.
content
cache
level
o Clean-­‐up/purging
rules
• Should
allow
SPs
to
configure
:
content
sync
rules
between
master
&
cache
content
serving
nodes;
manage
ACCP
(access
control
for
content
copy)
4
ARCHITECTURE
• Should
support
“distributed
&
hierarchical
–architecture”
(for
broadband),
and
“distributed-­‐arch”
(for
wireless/IP-­‐Core)
• Should
support
“transparent
in-­‐band
architecture”
:
where
the
session
between
the
subscriber
and
origin
would
be
preserved,
but
requested
objects
are
cached
or
served
from
cache
based
on
analysis
performed
by
the
cache
system
…

14. Transparent caching : Must have feature
… • Traffic
for
“transparent
in-­‐band
cache
systems”
would
be
redirected
using
:
o policy-­‐based
routing
(PBR)
o deep
packet
inspection
solution
ARCHITECTURE
o Web
Cache
Communication
Protocol
(WCCP)
o application
load
balancing
equipment
• Should
support
“transparent
in-­‐band
architecture”
:
where
border
gateway
protocol
(BGP)
or
static
routing,
is
would
direct
request
traffic
to
a
cache
manager,
where
request
is
analyzed
and
based
on
an
algorithmic
decision,
a
specific
content
request
is
directed
to
a
cache
server
that
has
the
object
in
storage
to
serve
the
object.
In
the
event
that
the
requested
content
is
not
available,
the
cache
manager
would
forwards
the
request
to
the
origin
and
the
content
would
flow
directly
from
the
origin
to
the
requester.
And
it
would
tell
a
cache
server
to
retrieve
the
content
from
the
Internet
for
the
next
user.
Cache
managers
(masters)
would
be
centrally
located.
5
• Should
have
QoE
agent,
continuously
monitoring
and
measuring
following,
and
accordingly
system
should
optimize
itself
automatically
:
QoE
o Perceptual
quality
(as
user
would
see)
of
content
available
in
cache
o Quality
measurement
of
content
received
from
source
vs.
cached
vs.
stream
downwards
o Quality
measurement
of
content
served
directly
from
source
to
end-­‐device,
passing
through
cache
manager

15. Transparent caching : Must have feature
6
• System
should
log
every
metadata
of
request,
response
into
database
and
CDR
• System
should
allow
data-­‐query
interface
&
API
for
“Business
intelligence
and
STATS
&
OAM
analytics”
• System
should
provide
some
real-­‐time
information
on
via
dynamic
UI
(browser-­‐based)
o Cache
gain
details
(The
ratio
between
Cache
Output
and
Cache
Input).
A
higher
Cache
Gain
indicates
higher
cache
efficiency
o Cache
hit
ratio
• System
should
allow
–
Network
management
&
OAM
stuff,
along
with
SNMP
support.

16. Disruptions & threats
• If
major
OTT
or
virtual
MSOs,
starts
encrypting
content
while
streaming
downstream
–
caching
then
solves
only
a
part
of
problem
• OTT
never
liked
middleman
between
his
customer
and
himself
–
as
they
are
scared
of
missing
valuable
behavioral
&
analytical
data
of
their
end-­‐
users
o OTT
would
continue
changing
HTTP
header
parameters,
URL
and
their
metadata
encoding
schemes
• Video
advertising
on
mobile
videos
would
make
life
of
cache
middleman
more
difficult
• DMCA
(Digital
Millennium
Copyright
Act)
and
related
EU
copyright
act,
doesn’t
define
very
clearly
the
copyright
rules
for
mobile
internet,
as
was
originally
done
for
ISP
(open
internet)

17. What’s happening in the field?
• Alcatel
partners
with
Bluecoat
to
deliver
comprehensive
“internal-­‐CDN
and
transparent
caching
solution”
to
a
tier-­‐1
telecom
operator.
(Note
:
Alcatel
acquired
Velocix,
which
got
them
media
delivery
infrastructure
capabilities
and
real-­‐world
experience
in
running
a
CDN
business)
• EdgeCast
and
PeerApp
Team
Up
To
Combine
CDN
With
Transparent
Caching
• True
Internet
selects
Oversi
OverCache
for
its
superior
performance,
scalability
and
Out-­‐of-­‐Band
architecture
(reaches
100
Gbps
of
net
cache
out
capacity)
• Oversi
Signs
Nine
New
Customers
in
Latin
America
• Verivue
Joins
itaas,
RGB
Networks
and
Verimatrix
to
Ease
Deployment
of
Live
Video
Streaming
to
Multiple
Screens

18. Snapshot : EdgeCast & PeerApp

19. Thank you.
Sujit
Mishra
Sujit@spinover.com
New
Delhi,
India