The Upcoming CDN Juggling Act

Sometime during the next five years, content delivery networks (CDNs) are going to be faced with the challenge of delivering increasingly large volumes of over-the-top (OTT) video. This appears to be particularly true in the Asia Pacific region.

According to research firm Informa, OTT video traffic accounted for 32.6 exabytes (EB) of network traffic on fixed lines in Asia alone, and that number could jump 200 percent by the end of 2015.

To handle this, CDNs need to deliver OTT video to a range of devices, including connected TVs, tablets and smartphones. “Each of these different devices will make different demands on OTT video, requiring video to be delivered in the appropriate resolution, format and the correct DRM,” the group says. “A one-size-fits-all approach of simply offering standard Web video will not be sufficient to provide an excellent experience to users on all of these devices.”

By 2016, Informa believes that there will be 331 million connected TVs in Asia Pac, accounting for almost one third of its total TVs. In a connected home full of new smart devices, CDNs must serve two masters: the smartphone with its demands of short-form, lower-quality video; and connected-TV devices that demand high-quality, long-form video. “Any CDN that can manage such a juggling act will find itself in great demand,” it notes.