Content Delivery Network

Verizon seeks CDN partner links

Dan O'Shea — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:33:13 -0500

Verizon Communications and AT&T during 2008 became two of the most aggressive new players in the content delivery network business, joining network operators such as Level 3 Communications and other traditional CDN firms. Now, Verizon is launching a new discount partner program designed to woo other CDN operators to connect directly to Verizon's network. The Verizon Partner Port Program, according to a Verizon source quoted in a story at Light Reading's Contentinople, seeks to offer less expensive "per-meg" pricing than other IP network transit operators

Verizon also is looking to create network routes with fewer hops, which logically would result in better broadband performance, from the view of both content owners and end users. The CDN market has become very competitive with the emergence of new players, and the Verizon move could be a sign that IP transport network operators are ready to more fully exploit their network leverage in order to gain an edge.

For more:
- Light Reading's Contentinople has this post

SPOTLIGHT: Google builds a CDN. Does the WSJ know what a CDN is?

Doug Mohney — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:41:31 -0500

Is Google really abandoning Net Neutrality? Or just spending its cash to improve performance?

The Wall Street Journal says Google's OpenEdge project is designed to give Google content bandwidth priority over other websites and paints the firm as abandoning Net Neutrality. Cable and phone companies are supposed to treat all traffic the same (check). But broadband providers say that content companies should "share" (i.e. pay for) their network costs.

The not-so-subtle difference here is that Google is not asking for its traffic to be treated the same, but it is going to put caching servers within broadband providers' own facilities, so the most frequently accessed data stays closer to the end user and doesn't have to be resent a gazillion times.

Is Net Neutrality allegedly violated if you are paying money out of your (deep) pockets to put servers into broadband provider's facilities? Not really.

If it does, the decade-old content delivery network (CDN) business should have been shut down about the time Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell was climbing on his soapbox on Net Neutrality,

Can the WSJ spell CDN? Here's another tough one: Akamai. No? Limelight Networks?

For more:
- Google buys speed with telcos. Article.

Verizon's CDN push takes different path

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:49:57 -0500

After AT&T and telecom network operators like Level 3 Communications began pushing into the content delivery network market, you might have wondered what was up with Verizon Communications. It now looks like Verizon's CDN push will take a somewhat different path, as the carrier has announced a CDN partnership with Velocix that is notable both for its applicability to Verizon's broadband FiOS residential service, and its optimization for peer-to-peer networking.

Verizon will use Velcix equipment to support a CDN service for media companies looking for faster service delivery, and while past CDN endeavors by traditional network operators have been focused on backbone networks, Light Reading's Contentinople reports that this service also will extend to Verizon's local FiOS plant. This strategy uses Verizon's millions of FiOS customers as bait for the media firm, and also helps ensure that the advantages of the CDN capabilities are more broadly available to end users.

Regarding P2P, Velocix reportedly has been working with the P4P working group to support network-aware file distribution, and its system is designed to cache P2P content, which Verizon claimed as a key difference among CDN companies.

For more:
- Contentinople has coverage

Amazon enters CDN market fray

Dan O'Shea — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:46:57 -0400

Internet retailer Amazon's new content delivery network offering that may not strike fear into the hearts of CDN market leaders and their biggest competitors, but may introduce a new wrinkle to the market in the form of a low-priced service with basic CDN features.

Akamai Technologies, LimeLight Networks and an increasing number of large carriers, such as Level 3 Communications, have gone to war in the CDN space, though their offerings might be described as feature-rich, with live broadcast support, monitoring and reporting capabilities, authentication for video and other attributes. In a story at Telephony, Dan Rayburn, executive vice president of StreamingMedia.com, a publication covering online video technology, says Amazon's service won't have those features, and probably will not appeal to most of the big content customers that Akamai and the telcos are chasing.

Still, as the CDN market gets more competitive, you would think that crafting different types of CDN packages for less sophisticated customer needs will become much more important for everyone involved in the market.

For more:
- see this story at Telephony

Akamai report: U.S. broadband picking up steam

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:45:24 -0400

A new report shows that the U.S. may be making progress with its place in the world rankings for overall broadband adoption. According to the report from content delivery network provider Akamai, the U.S. was in 20th place overall globally after the second quarter, up four spots from the previous quarter. Seventy-one percent of connections in the U.S. are 2 Mbps or higher.

The country's position is even higher--sixth place--when considering higher speed broadband connections of at least 5 Mbps. Twenty-six percent of U.S. users connect at that rate or higher. The U.S. also still leads the world in total connections and is in seventh place globally when considering Internet density.

For more:
- see this story at Contentinople

Level 3 looking up after narrowing loss

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:34:23 -0400

Level 3 Communications continued to bounce back from financial misfortune, executive departures and order bottleneck issues that characterized its recent past by postings second quarter earnings that included a $33 million net loss, vastly better than the loss of $202 million it posted for the same period in 2007.

The company also beat analysts' revenue estimates of $1.08 billion by reporting revenue of $1.09 billion. Is the positive vibe enough to send Level 3 back to the M&A table, something it talked about doing at its most recent annual shareholders meeting? Level 3 seemed to buy its way into the content delivery network business at just the right time, though the CDN sector recently has become more competitive with increasing attention from AT&T and other carriers.

For more:
-see this Associated Press story at Forbes

Related articles:
Level 3 has expressed interest in returning to M&A. Level 3 report
Level 3 saw its COO depart back in March. Level 3 report

Yankee: Carriers could buy CDN assets

Dan O'Shea — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:19:58 -0400

It is no secret at this point that major telecom network operators are increasingly interested in making content delivery network capabilities part of their businesses. AT&T recently announced a new CDN unit, Level 3 Communications has made CDN acquisitions and carriers worldwide, such as Tata Communications, have been forging partnerships with CDN companies.

A large number of start-up vendors also have surged into a space that still is being led by CDN pioneer Akamai Technologies. Meanwhile, carriers may find it challenging to match the capacity and scale that Akamai already has in the market. The Yankee Group, in its new CDN scorecard says that is part of what could drive more carriers to buy up some of the smaller dedicated CDN companies. If that happens, do not expect Akamai to sit still either.

For more:
- see this story at Telephony

Related articles:
AT&T is betting $70 million on the CDN opportunity AT&T report
Tata forged a deal with CDN player BitGravity Tata report

AT&T launches CDN unit, $70 million bet

Dan O'Shea — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:43:38 -0400

It may seem like a telegraphed punch to the current players in the content delivery network market, but AT&T has formally launched its CDN business, three different content distribution services and a commitment to invest $70 million this year alone in CDN technology as it seeks to use its own network to provide multimedia CDN services to corporate customers. The carrier first announced its intention to enter the business late last year, and already touted some CDN success at last month's Streaming Media East event in New York City.

The telco giant also appears to be more interested in partnering--at least for now--with supporting players in the CDN ecosystem, rather than acquiring some of the technology it will plug into its CDN services. As part of today's announcement by AT&T, the company said it will be partnering with ExtendMedia, Qumu and Stratacache.

Leading traditional CDN players Akamai and Limelight Networks, as well as a handful of CDN upstarts, may have the most to lose from AT&T's entrance into their sector, but other carriers who earlier staked a claim in the CDN market, namely Level 3 Communications, should also take note. Still, this is a new business play by the granddaddy of all telcos (never mind that your granddaddy wouldn't recognize this AT&T as the one he knew). Does AT&T fully understand what its new adventure entails?

For more:
- see this post at Light Reading's Contentinople
- check out this story at PC World

Related articles:
AT&T last month touted its emerging CDN capabilities AT&T report
Tata Communications is another telco joining the CDN race Tata report
Level 3 announced a new CDN service in April Level 3 report