Video Working Group
2002. I had done a lot of research on broadband capacity, edge distribution and CDN management. I foresaw that the Internet would break under the increasing load of online video. I had experienced (eh caused) it myself one time.
The ISP’s would struggle to keep their business case positive. Content owners would be forced to outsource delivery to CDN’s. Who would only be able to distribute to ISP’s.
I was (and still am) convinced that deep edge distribution would be the only true scalable solution. Small edge servers, deployed deep within ISP networks, close to metro rings, close to the end users.
So I contacted all the Dutch ISP’s and the Dutch broadcasters. I explained to them that I wanted them to cooperate. They needed to understand each others role in the new Internet value chain. How they do business. How they depend on each other. Because if they understand each others positions, they can start work together on a scalable distribution solution. They agreed. But under one condition: neutral ground.
I did a presentation to the people of the AMS-IX, the largest Internet Exchange in the world. As a neutral body, they represent many ISP’s who interconnect via this enormous hub. They agreed that internet traffic would grow faster than the infrastructure could be built and that by geo-optimized distribution we could offload traffic deeper into the ISP networks. Which means larger volumes, larger audiences, better QoS.
That was the start of the AMS-IX Video Working Group. This group of Dutch leading ISP’s and Broadcasters is working on cooperation. I strongly believe that every ISP will own an on-net CDN. And that we can tie the CDN’s together. This will enable large scale content delivery for the content owners, dealing directly with the ISP’s. At much lower costs for both the ISP and the content owner. Digital Logistics. We have the technology and the experience.
Too bad for the commercial CDN’s…
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