Content Delivery Network Strategies, by Stef van der Ziel

On Friday evening Gerard from Initio dbk called that our iPad 3G’s were finally in store, in Bremen (Germany). So we had a great trip on the Autobahn. 250KM/h (155MPH) :) The iPad is a wonderful and addictive device. It is great for video. We run some test live streams in our lab (shielded off from the internet) so I actually could watch the World Soccer Championship today live in my garden. Netherlands vs Slovakia. We won!

Anyway, the short demo video below demonstrates how easy it is to stream live and vod video to mobile devices. The fact that we can stream to an iPad isn’t that exciting though. What is exciting is that our CDN solution is 100% web-based controlled… Read more

It started last year in New York and San Francisco. AT&T’s network was degrading. Phone calls dropped. At some peak times a third of all calls dropped. More and more AT&T customers throughout the U.S. started to complain about slow data, lost data connectivity and dropped calls.

When I attended Content Delivery Summit in New York this month I experienced exactly the same. Calls dropped, or I suddenly got voicemail messages without getting calls. 3G was slower than GPRS. The phone constantly switched between 3G, GPRS and Edge, and lost connections many times. The signal strength kept changing from max to a single bar. In-session switching between 3G, GPRS and Edge is a drama, because your IP address gets lost so your stream / email / surfing session gets lost too.

I’ve had the same issues in the past with KPN when they just introduced 3G. In the first 2 years, I had to switch 3G off to be sure I could be reached. It has been fixed, but in recent months I occasionally miss phone calls and get voicemail messages much later.

Last week, T-Mobile (another provider with exclusive iPhone contracts) publicly admitted having similar problems in the Netherlands.

Read more

I’m happy to inform you that our CDN software flagship VideoExchange (‘VDO-X’) now offers full support for  Apple HTTP streaming and Microsoft Smooth Streaming.

Read more

Telcos sell flat-fee broadband with unlimited traffic for a fixed price. Competition is strong, prices are going down. To compete, telcos have to offer even faster connections at the same, or lower prices.

With over 85% broadband penetration, the markets are saturated. At the same time, traffic usage is growing strong. To cope with the growing demand of traffic, telcos face deep infrastructural investments. But margins are shrinking.

Read more