Streaming, Content Delivery and Networks

Dr Angus Hay

Telephony

Mail

Photos

Music

Newspapers

TV

Film

Co

mm

un

ica

tion

sM

ed

ia

The old paradigm…

Telephony

Mail

Photos

Music

Newspapers

TV

Film

Co

mm

un

ica

tion

sM

ed

ia

…disrupted...

Content Aggregation Distribution Devices and software

Med

ia/C

omm

unic

atio

ns…creating a new paradigm

The Internet

• Around 30000 unique BGP4 Autonomous Systems• 50% of traffic on 150 ASs

• More than 5 Exabytes of traffic carried monthly

• 680 million host computers• 1.5 billion unique users• 444 million (fixed line)

broadband connections• “IP over everything &

everything over IP”

Neotel is a member of the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA)

The Internet in South Africa

• Six Regional Tier 1 (Tier 2) providers*• Around 150 ISPs of various sizes and tiers

• Internet Transit and Peering• Two public Internet exchanges (JINX and CINX)• 900 Mbps exchanged publicly; probably 5 Gbps privately

• 4,6 million unique Internet users (2008)• 700 000 dial-up connections (still!)• 1,69 million broadband connections (Q1 2009)

• South African definition includes fixed and mobile

• South Africa ranked 61st on Broadband Quality

* Neotel / Tata Communications Global Tier 1 network is present in South Africa

Sources: World Wide Worx, MyADSL, Oxford Broadband Quality Study, ISPA, ispmap.org.za

Content Aggregation Distribution Devices

The distribution bottleneck

The changing world of broadband

• Broadband access becoming standard– Applications drive bandwidth requirements– Cost of bandwidth must decline over time

• Broadband 2.0– Higher bandwidth, low contention ratio– Symmetrical access and Quality of Service– High-definition video speeds (20+ Mbps)– Multiple sources of content, peer-to-peer

• Two worlds of broadband– Wireless for personal broadband access– Optical fibre for fixed Broadband 2.0 access– Copper access becoming a legacy technology– Wireless will dominate broadband in Africa

SA Population and Internet Users

Sources: UNISA Bureau of Market Research & World Wide Worx, extrapolated

Content on the Internet• Internet is at an inflection point – Connectivity to Content

• Web Applications, Cloud Computing, and Content Delivery Networks

• Traffic Trends• % of peer-to-Peer traffic is reducing in favour of Video / Streaming• Video is fastest growing, now accounts for 25% of all Internet traffic• Google alone (including YouTube) accounts for 6% of all traffic

• Video Content Delivery• Conventional video, IPTV or walled garden (dedicated network)• Live or server content streamed (RTMP/RTSP) over the Internet• Progressive download (HTTP, pseudo-streaming) over the Internet• Trend to HTTP and Flash (RTMP), % Windows Media (RTSP) falling• Typical streaming speeds 500-750 kbps in developed markets

Sources: Frost & Sullivan, ATLAS Internet Observatory

The New Internet

“Hyper Giants”Large Content, Consumer, Hosting CDN

“Hyper Giants”Large Content, Consumer, Hosting CDN

Tier 2Regional ISP

Tier 2Regional ISP

Tier 2Regional ISP

Tier 2Regional ISP

Tier 1Global Transit

Backbones

Tier 1Global Transit

Backbones

IXPIXPIXPIXPIXPIXP

Customer Networks

Concept from ATLAS Internet Observatory

Web pageWeb pagecss, js, xmlcss, js, xml

Image files (jpg, png, gif …)

Image files (jpg, png, gif …)

Flash (swf) fileFlash (swf) file

web page (html, php)

URL

URL

URL

HTTP Servers (w

eb servers)

Initial reque

st

Initial reque

st

Conventional web page retrieval

Any content can be transferred via HTTP/TCP, without QoS

web page (html, php)

URL

httphttp

HTTP Servers

(web servers)

Flash video player

Flash video(FLV, MP4) U

RL

Stre

am

ing

M

ed

ia

Serv

er

httphttp

RTMP(T,E)RTMP(T,E)

OR

AND

Streaming / Progressive download

Compiled application / runtime plug-in (e.g. Flash), downloaded by the browser, that runs locally, fetches and plays a remote video file, starting before it is finished downloading, using either a streaming protocol (RTSP/RTMP) or progressive download (HTTP)

Video – factors to consider

Client requirements (player)RTMP requires Flash player (so does HTTP), any platformRTSP requires ActiveX control in Internet Explorer, or an RTSP/RTP

compliant set top box, or Windows Media PlayerServer features (independent of protocol)

Security features, Digital Rights Management (DRM)Seeking (fast forward, skipping to a point in the video)For true streaming, must match bitrate of user’s connection

Video coding and qualityTrend towards H.264 standard, but multiple codecs existQuality depends on the resolution (e.g. HD), and frame rateBitRate (kbps) = FrameRate (fps) x FrameWeight (kb/frame)

Live or server encoding and ingestion of content

Content Delivery Networks

• Developed to cache (mirror) files across the Internet• Concept pioneered by Akamai in the late 1990s

• Many CDNs, but a few dominate• Akamai• Limelight• Level 3• Panther• BitGravity

• Today account for 10% of all Internet traffic• CDNs today carry more varied traffic, including streaming

• Video is about a third of the traffic, but not of the economic value• The video CDN market will grow to around $1bn by 2012

Sources: Frost & Sullivan, ATLAS Internet Observatory

Content Delivery Networks

• Why use a Content Delivery Network?• Distributed servers, distributed bandwidth• Consistent local performance, close to users• Optimised for content e.g. video delivery• Google, Apple, Microsoft can build their own,

but most content owners prefer to use a CDN

• Role of the telecoms carrier• Historically, CDNs were customers of carriers• Trend towards carriers in the CDN space• Amongst majors, Level 3 is the only carrier• Tata Communications part-owns BitGravity• Network is a key factor in competitive pricing

Source: Frost & Sullivan

FTTx – The new alternative local loop

Jo’burgJo’burgCBDCBD

RandburgRandburgSandtonSandton

RosebankRosebank

GermistonGermiston

BrixtonBrixton

KillarneyKillarney

MidrandMidrand

PretoriaPretoriaCBDCBD

DurbanDurbanCBDCBD

UmhlangaUmhlanga

UmgeniUmgeniPinetownPinetown

Mt EdgecombeMt Edgecombe

Cape TownCape TownCBDCBD

EppingEpping

MilnertonMilnerton N1 CityN1 City

NewlandsNewlands

ObservatoryObservatory

TygerbergTygerberg

Metro Ethernet● Ethernet point-to-point● Speed up to 1 Gbps● Highly scalable● Cost effective

Why optical fibre?

• Almost infinite bandwidth• 25.4 Tbps (160 x 160 Gbps wavelengths) demo• 600 Gbps on a single wavelength in laboratory• Commercial Terabit per second cables

• High reliability and availability vs copper• Highly scalable bandwidth using DWDM

SEACOM – Live July 2009

Submarine cables – 2011

WACS

EΛSSy

Tata Communications

• A global player, delivering a new world of communications • Home base in developing markets: India, South Africa, Far East• Tier 1 IP network carrying 15% of the Internet’s traffic

• Among the top 5 Global IP transit providers, 132Gbps of peering• Largest carrier of international wholesale voice minutes

• >20 billon voice minutes per year, 1400 interconnection agreements• Amongst the largest owners of submarine cable capacity• Presence in 195 countries, across the 5 continents• Neotel’s international PoP in Johannesburg forms part of the

global Tata Communications network, delivering:• Tier 1 Internet transit and value-added services• International voice transit and value-added services• NeoLink Global leased lines, including Direct Global Ethernet• NeoVPN Global MPLS virtual private networks

Tata Communications Global CDN

Node 1 Node 2 Node 3

Bitcast_IP

Bitcast_IP

Load balancer

AS6453global, united, worldwide & consistent

Customer ISP

ISP

ISP upstreamAS6453 peer

BGPannounce Bitcast_IP

BGPannounce Bitcast_IP

BGPannounce Bitcast_IP

Load balancer Load balancer

Bitcast_IP

Bitcast_IP

Bitcast_IP

Bitcast_IP

BGPannounce Bitcast_IP

Neotel: Infrastructure for content

Jo’burgJo’burgCBDCBD

RandburgRandburgSandtonSandton

RosebankRosebank

GermistonGermiston

BrixtonBrixtonKillarneyKillarney

MidrandMidrandPretoriaPretoria

CBDCBD

• New high bandwidth national optical fibre backbone

• New international submarine optical fibre cable systems

• High quality national and international Internet / IP

• Carrier-class voice on IP core• New access networks

• Optical fibre (FTTC)• Expanding to FTTH/FTTB

• 3G wireless (CDMA2000)• Fixed wireless (WiMAX)

• Cisco Powered Metro Ethernet

Neotel and content delivery

• Wholesale• Tier 1 Global IP Transit (AS6453), as well as SA / Regional IP Transit• Deployment of Tata Communications CDN planned in Johannesburg

• Enterprise• NeoVPN –South Africa’s only end-to-end, top-to-bottom MPLS IP

Virtual Private Network, national optical core, access up to 1Gbps• An enabler of corporate CDNs – Bandwidth and QoS are critical

• NeoInternet – Dedicated or shared, fixed-bandwidth leased line Internet connection; Global Tier 1 Internet blended with local transit

• NeoPresence – Public or private Telepresence rooms, global network

• Connectivity and Hosting• NeoMetro Link – Optical fibre Metro Ethernet, up to 1 Gbps

available• NeoHost – Range of hosting services in world-class Data Centres

Hosting and Data Centres

• Data Centres increasingly house content• Makes sense as bandwidth prices decline• National, International, CDN Connectivity

• Neotel’s NeoHost Services (phased)• Collocation• Managed servers• Virtualisation: Multitenant• Managed applications• On-demand / SaaS

• Midrand and Cape Town Data Centres• Meet-me room access for any carrier• Collocation: SEACOM customers (Midrand)• Driving the hosting homecoming revolution

Thank You