CDNs Evolve into a New Generation, Attracting Renewed Attention ~ 少子高齢化対策。　https://neovisionconsulting.blogspot.com/2024/04/744-4-e-dxtv.html

2022年6月20日月曜日

CDNs Evolve into a New Generation, Attracting Renewed Attention

https://atmarkit.itmedia.co.jp/news/200811/13/lime.html

LimeLight is close to 100 customers in Japan.

November 13, 2008

　CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) are once again attracting attention. CDNs distribute the load on servers by caching images and other data that are too heavy to be downloaded directly by users by placing them on edge servers located near ISPs. The edge servers should be located within the ISP or near the ISP in terms of network topology. In this way, users of the ISP can use heavy data without stress. Such backbone-based services for content providers were CDNs.

CDN is the second generation of servers peering with multiple ISPs

lime01.jpg David M. Hatfield, Senior Vice President of LimeLight Networks, Inc.

　The first generation of CDNs handled only small objects such as still images. But now, rich content such as video is much larger.

　David M. Hatfield, Senior Vice President of Limelight Networks, a leading CDN service provider that claims to be a "second generation CDN," said. LimeLight was established in 2001, about three years later than Akamai Technologies, the industry's largest competitor. As a late starter, LimeLight has taken a different approach to CDN design than Akamai and other "first generation" companies from the start.

　Whether or not it is appropriate to call it a generation, there are two major approaches to CDN design: one is to install CDN servers at each ISP or carrier's connection point, as Akamai does, and the other is to install CDN servers at each ISP or carrier's connection point, as Limelight does. The other is to place a large number of cache servers, as LimeLight does, and peer these servers with a large number of ISPs. LimeLight links its servers not with the public Internet network, but with a private optical network.

cdn01.png Diagram of conventional CDN service (excerpt from LimeLight's document)

cdn02.png Diagram of LimeLight's "second generation" CDN service (excerpt from LimeLight material)

　Nowadays, a single video content can be as large as 20 GB, and it is not realistic to cache it on a 1U server," said Hatfield. With the spread of broadband and the increase in the number of video service users, the CDN approach of scattering small cache servers deep into the ISPs is no longer effective.

　The advantage of a centralized cache server such as Limelight's is not only that the individual content capacities that can be handled are larger, he says. Shinji Tsukamoto, president of LimeLight Japan, said, "We are very pleased to be able to provide a centralized cache server like LimeLight.

lime02.jpg Shinji Tsukamoto, President of LimeLight Networks Japan

　Although we are connected to the top dozens of ISPs in Japan, the number of locations where we have installed a group of cache servers itself is not large. However, the small number of locations lowers maintenance costs and gives us an advantage in terms of scalability.

　Compared to CDNs, which have servers located "deep inside" ISPs, Limelight's CDN, which consolidates servers directly connected to multiple ISPs, makes it easier to expand storage capacity and network bandwidth. Currently, the total bandwidth is already 2.2 Tbps, and although Akamai does not disclose the number, based on the information we can find, Limelight is the largest CDN. 2.2 Tbps is equivalent to 3 to 4 million people watching a program, according to Nielsen, a research company that measures viewership. We will increase the number of sites and bandwidth to handle 20 to 30 million viewers," Hatfield said. As the price per capacity and bandwidth of the servers and switches drop, the company's CDN will be able to scale out accordingly.

No need for P2P in CDNs at this time

　The incorporation of P2P technology into CDNs by using cache servers as peer nodes, or by incorporating P2P into the CDNs including the clients, can significantly reduce costs, and this technology trend is attracting a lot of attention. For example, Akamai acquired P2P venture Red Swoosh for $15 million in April 2007, and in September 2007, a commercial CDN using BitTorrent, the most successful P2P protocol in the consumer market, was launched and announced its entry into the Japanese market. (Reference article: BitTorrent, a commercial P2P network to be launched).

　Regarding the possibility of combining CDNs and P2P, Hatfield said, "I was asked the same question six months ago. If you had asked me the same question six months ago, I would have answered in the affirmative. However, the cost of existing CDNs has come down, and we have demonstrated that we can achieve sufficiently large capacity and bandwidth using what we have now. P2P will continue to be studied in the lab, but I don't think it is necessary to meet customer needs under the current circumstances; P2P will end up using ISP bandwidth, and from the ISP's perspective, the bandwidth reduction may not be that great."

High growth rate brings domestic adoption close to 100 companies

　In terms of CDN market share, Akamai is the clear leader, with Limelight in second place in the chase. The figures vary by research firm, but worldwide Akamai has 60-65%, while Limelight has 18%. There are more than 50 other companies, including venture capital firms and regional services, but even the third largest company, after the top two, has only a 4-5% share," Hatfield said.

　Currently, worldwide, Limelight has about 1,500 customers, with an increase of about 100 companies per quarter. In Japan, a Japanese subsidiary was launched in July 2007, and "we are approaching our initial target of 100 companies by the end of 2008," Tsukamoto said.

　Worldwide, YouTube has been a customer, Microsoft, Amazon, and TV stations such as FOX and ABC are using the company's services. In Japan, clients include Nintendo, Toyota Motor Corporation, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, EC Navi, and GREE. Worldwide results over the past three years have been $22 million, $65 million, and $105 million, and the company expects $125 million in sales for 2008.

　As a CDN specialist, Limelight can achieve economies of scale. "There are not many companies in the world of a size where it makes sense to have an in-house CDN, because CDN operations are very complex. Even companies that have their own CDNs are coming back to us when they need to support video and music," Hatfield said.

Success at the Beijing Olympics

　While the company's video service has garnered much attention, the dramatic success of its online distribution of the Beijing Olympics in North America caught the attention of the public.

　NBC, which owned the broadcasting rights, asked the company to "do something that had never been done before," and the company worked with Microsoft and 10 other companies to set a new record for online live streaming. The 19-day live webcast was viewed by 50 million people, resulting in more than 70 million video streams. The company said, "Using Microsoft's Silverlight, we were able to watch different videos on six different screens at the same time. If you have three kids at home, the older one can watch soccer, the middle one can watch weightlifting, and the younger one can watch gymnastics," Hatfield said. Unlike conventional services that simply provide highlights, "we covered everything, including things like clay pigeon shooting, for example, which is not often televised from the qualifying rounds. It was a groundbreaking model that only the Internet could provide," Tsukamoto said.

　Due to broadcasting rights issues, the broadcast site could only be accessed from North America, but the global expansion was possible both technically and in terms of CDN capacity, according to Tsukamoto. During the U.S. presidential election in November, which caught the world's attention, the news site attracted a record number of accesses from all over the world, and a lot of video content was also seen.

Specializing in infrastructure and division of labor with partners

　Hatfield emphasizes that the company's strength lies in its specialization in infrastructure technology, namely CDN. J-Stream, one of Japan's largest video delivery companies, is in the business of supporting the entire video delivery business, but Tsukamoto does not see J-Stream as a competitor, saying, "We have a different model.

　CDN is not just about delivering and caching objects, but also encodes media, manages meta information, CMS, analyzes viewing trends, controls delivery based on geographic information, and integrates with media players and RIA technology, among many other technologies. At these layers, "there is still a lot of innovation to be done," Hatfield said. Limelight itself specializes in CDNs for high-capacity delivery and will respond to customer needs by working with partners who are leaders in their respective genres.

　In the U.S., LimeLight has formed alliances with more than 150 partners, and "in Japan, too, we will find such partners and allow customers to select and use the best ones, rather than providing everything on our own," Tsukamoto said. For example, in the case of content for cell phones, "it would be difficult to support 800 or 900 models or all three carriers on our own," Tsukamoto said.

少子高齢化対策。　https://neovisionconsulting.blogspot.com/2024/04/744-4-e-dxtv.html

2022年6月20日月曜日