RealEyes Media

Adobe announced today that Flash Media Server 4 is now available for trial/purchase.  In its most basic form, Flash Media Server 4 (FMS 4), is an advanced media delivery solution for those looking to leverage the advantages of dynamically streamed video over progressive download.  However, the FMS 4 family is capable of much more than that.  Aside from the free Flash Media Development Server, which is used to develop new applications for Flash Media Interactive Server, as well as run very low-volume streaming applications, FMS 4 comes in Three flavors:

• Flash Media Streaming Server
• Flash Media Interactive Server
• Flash Media Enterprise Server

All three versions offer new features from what were available in FMS 3.5, such as:

Full 64-bit support - Server resources improved by being supported on 64-bit processors. Able to be installed on a wider range of platforms. Now supports CENTOS 5.3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3, and Windows Server 2008.

Enhanced buffer performance – You can now take advantage of Flash Player 10.1′s ability to interactively access media held in the buffer, which allows for actions such as fast motion, slow motion, etc.

Live HTTP Dynamic Streaming – In addition to streaming content via RTMP/RTMPE, FMS 4 can now take advantage of the industry-standard HTTP protocol, and still enjoy the quality-of-service features provided by dynamic streaming. FMS 4 also allows for the addition of DRM protection with Flash Access 2.

Faster Switching with RTMP Dynamic Streaming – FMS 4 provides improved adaptive bitrate delivery, giving your end users seamless video playback regardless of their bandwith stability.

The Three Flavors of FMS 4

Flash Media Streaming Server 4

• Designed as an affordable step up from progressive download video delivery.
• Faster dynamic switching, HTTP dynamic streaming, and server-side Access C++ plug-ins to enable more secure communication with Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3.1.
• $995

Flash Media Interactive Server 4

• Takes advantage of new IP multicast to maximize network efficiencies.
• Enhanced multi-user experiences, such as chat, VoIP, video overlays, server-side playlists, and server-side recording.
• $4,500

Flash Media Enterprise Server 4

• Utilizes the new RTMFP (Real Time Media Flow Protocol) to allow for peer-to-peer assisted networking.  Drastically increase network efficiencies by leveraging peer-to-peer communication without being routed through a server.
• Take advantage of both IP multicast and Application multicast.
• Call for pricing (303-862-8611)

With the release of FMS 4, the possibilities for creating interactive, seamless video delivery experiences have never been more promising. By taking advantage of the many features available from the Flash Media Server family, as well as from the production tools provided in the OSMF, Creative Suite, etc., media content providers are now in a great position to make exciting advances in the area of media content delivery.

• For more information about the Flash Media Server family, or to inquire about purchasing options, please call 303-862-8611.

• Contact RealEyes Media

More than 40,000 students use A Beka Academy’s home school curriculum each year.  This stalwart of distance learning for primary and secondary education has traditionally delivered its video-based instruction to students using physical media, a costly and time consuming process.

A Beka Academy engaged RealEyes Media to create a digital process to augment their traditional delivery model.  The resulting project used the spectrum of Adobe tools to yield both an automated process to encode, encrypt, and transfer more than 14,000 hours of video to a CDN as well as a consumer application that students will use to view assigned classroom video content.

The automated encoding process was designed to empower A Beka Academy to process and deploy new video content without dependence on an external vendor.

The consumer application’s purpose is to allow for secure, on-demand access of high-quality video lessons to each student while strictly enforcing business rules and safeguarding intellectual property. Two versions of the consumer application were created to meet the school’s needs fully.  A Flash, browser-based version allows students to view assigned streaming video lessons by day or by subject.  The AIR desktop version extends these capabilities, allowing students to download DRM-protected files for offline viewing.

Challenge

In addition to providing a convenient, new delivery option for families using A Beka Academy curriculum, and realizing considerable ROI over time, the school undertook this project to meet the challenge of adequately enforcing its business rules.  For example, the consumer application implements complex view rules based upon an individual student’s academic program, and enrollment status.  This was not possible with the physical media delivery model.  Furthermore, the school desired to enact more stringent control over its intellectual property to reduce or eliminate unauthorized use. DRM protection and SWF validation met this need.

This project also addressed other significant development challenges.  These include:

• Thousands of hours of source video content needed to be captured from original physical media, encoded into H.264 format, secured with DRM protection, and deployed to a CDN.

• Families using the school’s curriculum are geographically diverse, with extreme variances in connection speeds, hardware performance, and technical knowledge.

• Instant access to streaming files was desired; however, it was also critical that students have the ability to view lessons when an internet connection was not available.  Also, the ability to send the entire library of lessons via fixed media was desired to accommodate remote A Beka Academy schools.

Benefits

The school’s physical media delivery model required that three shipments of DVDs were sent to each student, and then returned to the school.  There is considerable financial cost to this process including shipping, media, processing, and replacement of lost/damaged disks.

Providing these files as h.264 Flash Video files for streaming and DRM-protected download access via a CDN is significantly less expensive per-student than the traditional physical delivery model.  Additionally, as more students adopt this digital delivery method, there is an economy of scale as origin storage costs are distributed among a larger student base.

RealEyes Media has been working at fever-pitch for the last few months to bring you the most Flash-tastic event in Denver’s history: Rocky Mountain Adobe Camp.  And, of course, our crew will be there (alongside other premiere designers and developers) to present sessions on how you can best use Adobe’s web technology in your career.  We invite you to join us in Downtown Denver on June 22, 2009 for the first ever Adobe Camp!

Here are the sessions that our team is presenting:

• Building Flash Video Players: Progressive and Streaming (David Hassoun)
• Enterprise Encoding and Encrypting (Jun Heider & David Hassoun)
• Building Your First Flex/AIR Application with Flex 4 (Jun Heider)
• Building Custom Connect Pods in Flash with Sync SWF (Nils Thingvall)
• Creating Courses and Curricula in Adobe Connect Pro (Jorma Jennings)

And, while we’re giving props to our team, we want to thank the Adobe Camp planning duo: Amanda Johnson and Josh Lucero.  Make sure to meet them at the camp as well – they are making sure it will be a great day!

Beatport is the recognized leader in electronic dance music downloads for DJs and club music enthusiasts.  As much of the company’s success relies upon a customer’s ability to successfully navigate the Beatport.com website to preview and purchase tracks, Beatport’s decision to rebuild their Flash Platform website from the ground up was  a significant one.

Although the site was highly successful, it was not as scalable and extendable as was required to incorporate the  leading edge features Beatport desired for the 3.0 release of its site including:

• My Beatport, a robust user preference system for tracking musical tastes and favorites throughout the site
• Enhanced Playlists that allow users to queue albums and tracks for preview without interrupting browsing
• Sophisticated Menu Docking, akin to a desktop application makes full use of the visitor’s screen real estate
• Keyboard Navigation Support, allowing advanced users to navigate the site and player controls quickly
• Multi-Lingual Support to allow a full browsing experience for Beatport’s global community
• Personalized Offers, integrating features such as “users  also bought” and other associations
• History Management, including full support for browser forward and back buttons
• Deep Linking that created a unique URL for all application views to restore state and included content

Beatport already had success working with RealEyes to develop the groundbreaking AIR application Beatport Downloader.  RealEyes was then tasked with leading Beatport’s own internal development team in rebuilding all aspects of the current website, engineering a sophisticated new feature set, and architecting a scalable ActionScript 3.0 Flex application framework.

Challenge

To make the redevelopment effort a cost-effective one for Beatport, RealEyes leveraged two existing resources heavily during this project: existing data services and the internal Beatport development staff.  The integration of both created some significant project challenges, while allowing for powerful synergies between the RealEyes and Beatport teams.

The existing data services were in a variety of formats and were constructed to facilitate the functionality of Beatport’s existing web application.  RealEyes was able to use these existing services, regardless of XML, JSON, RDF, or RSS format, by using data translators to construct the appropriate Flex objects for Beatport’s new web application.  While additional Flex development time was required, this decision represented a significant savings in time and budget when compared with constructing services customized for the new application.  Further, should Beatport desire to optimize or change the data services in the future, the application allows for inversion of control, meaning that it is possible for Beatport to change data service properties without recompiling the Flex application itself.

One of the larger challenges of the development process was fully integrating RealEyes’ and Beatport’s internal developers and managers into a cohesive project team.  Several processes including Agile project management, continuous integration, peer review, unit testing, and source control were implemented at the start of the project to facilitate open, yet streamlined collaboration.  Further, RealEyes worked with the Beatport team to provide custom training and one-on-one developer mentoring.

Benefits

Beatport’s 3.0 website redevelopment project was a highly successful endeavor, benefiting the company’s community of music enthusiasts, while yielding substantial business gains.

Functional updates in the 3.0 release were targeted at making the web experience easier to navigate while providing additional levels of application personalization.  User analytic data as well as testimonial feedback show new features such as the sophisticated menu docking system, robust user preference caching in My Beatport, and keyboard navigation enhanced user satisfaction levels as the site now conforms better to the target audience’s hardware and workflow choices.  This increase in user experience resulted in tangible business benefits including higher user retention and additional store purchase revenue.

The 3.0 Beatport website is well equipped to change with the company’s evolving business objectives.  Without recompiling, Beatport can modify how dynamic data is brought into the application.  As Beatport’s own technical staff was an integral part of the development team, maintaining and extending the application after the initial launch was a seamless transition.  Further, the use of industry best practices – such as a Cairngorm-based ActionScript 3.0 Flex framework – not only eases the ramp-up time for new developers, but makes the final application more stable, extensible, and scalable.

Executive Summary
The manner of delivering a video file to a customer can greatly influence the perceived quality of and experience using a video delivery application. Therefore, the selection of a content delivery network (CDN) partner is among the most important decisions to be made during the application development phase.

This document aggregates the research compiled during CDN analysis for a particular sample project and is based upon research from the companies’ web sites as well as extensive phone conversations. The conclusions reached in terms of a recommended CDN partner are therefore appropriate for the sample project only as bid out in Q4 2008. If another scope of work was evaluated, RealEyes Media’s provider recommendation may be different.

The recommended CDN for the sample project is Level 3. This provider partner is the best value for the customer, including mirrored Origin Storage, 100% uptime guarantee, and a caching option in which video content would never fall out of cache due to viewership levels. In addition, Level 3 owns the most extensive fiber backbone in the United States as well as many of the patents underlying video streaming technology.

Sample Project Overview

• 5,000 – 10,000 hours of video content in library (10,000 – 20,000 separate video files)
• Each viewing module would be approximately 30 minutes in length
• Approximately 5,000 application users, each viewing up to 4 hours of content daily
• Multi-bitrate delivery strategy will be employed, using three files, averaging 500kbps
• Users may have low bandwidth constraints, or may be offline at the time of viewing a video. Therefore, a download option is available in addition to a streaming option
• Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection will be applied to downloaded files. It is assumed in this analysis that the client already has the Adobe Digital Rights Management Server
• The project may require a desktop delivery option as well as a web-based delivery application.
• Principally US based viewing audience

Content Delivery Standards
The development paradigm chosen will give use the option to either stream video content or to download this content to their own computers and view independent of an internet connection. Based upon this development direction, content delivery standards and CDN delivery goals have been established for this project. These goals were used when selecting which CDN partners to include as part of this analysis process.

CDN-Specific Delivery Goals

• Adobe Flash Video Streaming Solution (FVSS) Partner
  - Built-in load balancing and failover to scale video even in the heaviest traffic
  - Video streaming that starts the instant viewers click Play
  - A high-performance network that helps ensure that video isn’t hung up on the Internet
  - Automatic tracking and report generation at the click of a button
  - Flexible bandwidth and storage based on client needs
• Migration to next generation FMS server (FMS 3.5) By Q2 2009
  - Automatic multi-bitrate streaming delivery
• Download and streaming options
  - Preferable that these options be at the same rate and plan structure.
  - Supports DRM protection for downloaded files.
• Origin Storage provider
  - 99.99% + uptime guarantee
  - Content in Origin Storage housed inside CDN’s own network
  - Preferable that Origin Storage be stored in more than one geographic location.
• Own or lease dedicated network bandwidth
  - First-tier U.S. network, with strong international presence.
• Content reporting tools

Solution Recommendation
To execute the stated Delivery Goals, RealEyes recommends that a top-tier CDN that specializes in Flash Video Streaming (and gives both download and streaming content options for FVS). Video files will be encoded at three different bitrates (low, medium, and high) with an average bitrate of 500kbps. These files will be protected using Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Content Delivery Network Inclusion Criteria
RealEyes has vetted four industry-leading content delivery networks (CDNs) for the purposes of this analysis: Akamai, Level 3, Limelight, and Streaming Media Hosting. The analysis for each is included below, followed by RealEyes Media’s recommendation for a CDN partner organization for the project outlined.

CDN Qualifications
All four of these companies are leading CDN providers with distinct delivery solution models. Each of them is a high-quality company that would be a good choice for this video delivery project. Additionally, all of these CDNs and share the following qualifications that were essential for inclusion in our analysis group.

Adobe Flash Video Streaming Solution (FVSS) Partner
As an FVSS Partner, these CDNs have a specialization in streaming Flash content. Additionally, their close partnership with Adobe provides them access to the newest software advances and Adobe engineers if needed. All FVSS providers offer the following capabilities to help ensure the best delivery for Flash Player compatible video content: Built-in load balancing and failover to scale video even in the heaviest traffic; Video streaming that starts the instant viewers click Play; A high-performance network that helps ensure that video isn’t hung up on the Internet; Automatic tracking and report generation at the click of a button; Flexible bandwidth and storage based on client needs.

Migration To Next Generation FMS Server Before Application Launch
Video streams over RTMP from intended future releases of Flash Media Server can dynamically change bitrate as network conditions change. Quality of Service metrics, exposed via ActionScript and providing real-time network or CPU information, allow developers to take control of the video playback and adjust the streaming experience accordingly. This feature is part of Flash Player 10 but will only be available with intended future releases of Flash Media Server. Flash Player 10 now supports dynamic switching between media with different audio sampling rates as well. ^1,2

Own or Lease Dedicated Network Bandwidth
When a user requests a video file, it is important that it is available right away. Dedicated bandwidth agreements or backbone network ownership ensures that the CDN can bypass general internet traffic to get video content to users as quickly as possible.

Download and Streaming Delivery Options
To meet the requirements for this project, all considered CDN partners must be able to deliver videos via download or streaming methods with equal efficiency. These four CDN partners also do not differentiate between pricing for downloaded vs. streaming video content in their CDN.

Origin Storage Provider
Origin Storage will allow a client to place video content within the CDN’s own network so that it can be accessed by the edge servers more quickly than if it were hosted outside the CDN’s network. All of these CDN providers have a dedicated 10GBps connection out from their Origin Storage (10-100 times faster than from outside the network) to the edge servers. For the purposes of this document, Origin Storage and Net Storage are grouped together as providers use these terms to describe similar solutions.

Content Reporting Tools
All of these companies have tools that can determine how video content is being accessed. As we have not established any specialized reporting requirements for this project that would require special investigation from CDN providers and RealEyes does not feel that reporting tools will provide a clear differentiation of service, a full analysis of these tools is not given in this document.

Akamai
Akamai is the largest CDN in the world – in seven visits to the Internet, a user will view at least one asset (graphic, video, or other file) hosted on the Akamai network. This network prowess, coupled with the company’s proprietary software offerings (such as StreamOS), makes Akamai the undisputed industry leader in content delivery.

Akamai pioneered the content delivery market a decade ago, and today its services have been adopted by the world’s most recognized brands across diverse industries including:³

• Large on-line educators Plateau Systems, Learn.com, Rosetta Stone, Outside the Classroom, Englishtown, Columbia Video Network
• Many of the largest on-line media companies including ESPN.com, MLB.com, MTV, Fox, NBA and Travel Channel
• 5 of the top 6 online music sites
• 6 of the top 10 Global 500 companies and six of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies
• Top 5 internet portals including Google, Yahoo and MSN.
• More than half of Internet Retailer Top 50 retailers
• 7 of top 10 global marketers
• 8 of the world’s top 10 automakers
• Over 70 of the world’s leading financial institutio
• All branches of the US military

Serving hundreds of gigabits per second of FLV traffic daily, Akamai is a premier authorized FVSS provider. Akamai’s intelligent routing dynamically transports streams along routes that avoid Internet congestion while proprietary mapping technology identifies an optimal streaming server for each individual viewer or listener. Load balancing ensures that only streaming servers with available resources are chosen to fulfill user requests.⁴

Network
Akamai Streaming utilizes Akamai’s proprietary streaming technology and the world’s largest fault-tolerant network to deliver both live and on demand streaming media. The service transfers original streams to Akamai’s massive, globally distributed network of servers, resulting in a lossless stream delivered from the edge of the Internet every time.⁵ Akamai has dedicated usage agreements with backbone network as well as local internet providers to ensure that 90% of Internet users are one “hop” or less from an Akamai Edge server.⁶ No Full Network Map Available.

Points of Presence (POPs)
The Akamai Platform has over 34,000 servers in 950 networks deployed in 70 countries in their network, makingthem the largest CDN with the most robust presence footprint globally.⁷ This platform allows Akamai to deliver cached content up to eight times faster than a traditional web server.

Origin Storage
Akamai terms their particular flavor of Origin Storage as “Net Storage.” In this report, the two terms will be used interchangeably when comparing offerings across CDN providers. To Akamai, the Origin Server would be the server from which the customer uploads the video content to the Akamai network.

To use EdgeSuite NetStorage, Akamai customers simply upload their content to a designated directory. As soon as the upload is complete, NetStorage replicates the content to ensure availability, placing additional copies of your files at two of Akamai’s many worldwide storage centers. These delivery services make use of the Akamai Platform, a massive, distributed global network of servers that work together to intelligently place content close to Web users. Then, EdgeSuite Global Traffic Management determines the optimal storage location (storage center or edge server) from which to pull fresh content.⁸

Uploaded content is replicated across multiple Akamai storage centers in different locations and within different networks. This ensures fault tolerance for both high performance and high reliability. Content is replicated immediately after file upload to ensure consistency across servers. Upon deletion, it is automatically purged from all storage centers.⁹

Caching & Delivery
Akamai HTTP Downloads helps you deliver large-file downloads quickly and reliably to users anywhere in the world, in real time or through scheduled downloads. Whether the files are multi-gigabyte software files or video images, the Akamai Edge Platform handles your downloads – scaling on demand, optimizing delivery paths, and providing accurate tracking and reporting on completion rates.¹⁰

One of the key features of Akamai’s delivery system as it pertains to the sample video delivery project is Akamai’s Large File Download Optimization. Leveraging the distributed global Akamai network, this unique capability significantly enhances download performance for end users who are downloading large multi-gigabyte files. The key technology behind Large File Download Optimization is a system for storing, retrieving, and delivering large files as a cluster of individual file pieces. This enables you to increase file sizes in response to market demand, while in parallel providing a quicker, more seamless download experience for the end-user.¹¹

Akamai has developed SureRoute, technology that would help to route video file delivery to users by employing the most effective (fastest) possible route. SureRoute identifies alternate paths over which an Akamai edge server can communicate with a customer’s origin server and uses these alternatives to either improve the performance of the connection, or to provide for failover in the event that a direct path is congested or otherwise unavailable. When an Akamai edge server contacts the origin server, the “direct” path typically is a route obtained through BGP (Border Gateway Protocol). When SureRoute is used, alternate paths to the origin server are accessed, for example, by sending a request from the Akamai edge server to other Akamai servers, which then issue their own requests to the origin. Based on real-time performance measurements of HTTP download, latency, and loss frequency, SureRoute may use an alternate path to communicate between an edge server and the origin if it can bypass network congestion.¹²

SureRoute is used to optimize communication between edge servers and the origin server. SureRoute chooses the most optimal path to the origin to ensure that a site is continuously accessible and that dynamic content is delivered to end users via the optimal path. SureRoute enables an Akamai edge server to obtain content from a customer origin server through the Akamai network via an optimal Akamai server near the origin. Inside the Akamai network, proprietary techniques are being used to accelerate the content delivery and avoid Internet congestion points and unnecessarily long routes. An optimal path between the origin site and edge server is selected based on real-time data collected by Akamai – based on this data, it may be direct (as recommended by BGP), or indirect through an intermediary Akamai edge server.

StreamOS
This robust management tool helps to control access to and distribution of their video content. As the breadth of this tool is unique in the CMS industry, RealEyes is including it in this analysis.

Akamai Stream OS is an enterprise solution that simplifies rich media management and offers flexible tools to control content and enforce business policies. Together with the Akamai Media Delivery solution, Stream OS helps companies aggregate more impressions across the Internet through controlled syndication while lowering the total cost of distribution, and ensuring the highest quality experience for audiences regardless of scale, geography, format, or device.¹³

• Content Manager: This easy-to-use drag-and-drop upload and check-in procedure uploads your content and distributes it via the global Akamai network so it’s ready for immediate playback over the best- performing connections and paths on the Internet. Simply cut and paste the URL onto your Web page and your media file is ready to go.¹⁴
• RSS Manager: Capture on-the-go audiences with easy-to-create Podcasts. Simply create content, upload it to Akamai Stream OS, create an RSS feed, and publish it to your Web site or other locations such as iTunes or Yahoo! Podcasts. Akamai Podcasting has the flexibility to support many types of content—downloads, live streaming, or on-demand streaming.¹⁵
• Profile: Control access and target on-demand and live streaming and downloadable content delivered over the Akamai global network. Apply and prioritize business rules to deliver your media online.¹⁶
• Enterprise Manager: Media businesses supporting multiple groups that all need to manage, publish and distribute their own content can reduce operational complexity with Akamai Enterprise Manager. This Web-based application lets you create multiple sub-accounts under one main administrative group and manage all content and processes via a single portal, while providing sub-account administration and reporting to enable autonomy and simplify multi-department billing policies.¹⁷

Pricing Overview
Although pricing figures will not be presented for any of the companies included in this analysis document, RealEyes has chosen to indicate how the company’s pricing for the sample project compared with the other companies in this analysis. Based upon the constants discussed in the CDN Price comparison section, Akamai ranked third, meaning that only one company was more expensive than Akamai.

Level 3
Level 3 Communications has integrated Flash Media Servers into its CDN platform. Level 3 Flash Video Streaming provides high-performance solutions for Flash Player compatible on-demand and live video. The service is offered globally and delivered over the Level 3 Internet backbone, one of the world’s largest and most connected IP networks.

Each day, the Level 3 network carries 70% of the United States’ internet traffic.¹⁸ The company also has strong network performance and invests in unprecedented network scale. Although Level 3 is seen as a newcomer in the CDN space, it has acquired two of the oldest CDN companies, Savvis and Sand Piper, along with their engineering teams and technology patents.¹⁹ This unique combination of assets, engineering innovation, and portfolio allows Level 3 to offer a cost-effective and powerful solution.

Level 3 is the provider of choice to many of the world’s most sophisticated communications customers: ²⁰

• 19 of the world’s top 20 telecom companies
• 9 of the 10 largest telecom carriers in Europe
• 9 of the top 10 U.S. Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
• Top U.S. cable companies
• 3 of the top 4 telecom companies in Asia
• 4 of the top 5 U.S. Wireless Service Providers

Additionally, Level 3 was the CDN selected to stream the 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions, as well as the Presidential debates as seen on CNN.

Network
One distinct business differentiation for Level 3 is that they own their own fiber network (backbone), other CDN companies such as Limelight and Streaming Media Hosting, rent dedicated transfer on this same network (and others such as AT&T, etc.).²¹ This means that Level 3 is not marking up the cost of using their network, which is why their rates are so competitive.

Points of Presence (POPs)
Additionally, the Level 3 network points of presence (POPs) are an excellent fit for a project with a mainly US- based audience. The Level 3 network continuously monitors internal traffic to determine which POP caching site, or Origin Storage site will provide the fastest response time for a user so streaming can begin immediately.²²

Origin Storage
Files uploaded to Level 3 Origin Storage (green dots in the POP map above) are automatically redundantly stored on geographically diverse servers in the United States. This allows for faster file access and optimized network traffic when users want to access your video files. Their Origin Storage super nodes are directly attached to dedicated serving clusters and the Level 3 Network through 10 GigE connections. By the end of 2008, Level 3 will have 1.2PB (1200TB) of dedicated CDN storage and you pay for only what you use.²³ Level 3 is one of the few companies who guarantee that your files will be available 100% of the time after they are uploaded.²⁴

Level 3 also offers an API to integrate with any custom file or encoding management program that a customer would use to encode video files – allowing for a more automated process of uploading content to the CDN.²⁵

Caching & Delivery
Based on caching and download delivery models and features, Level 3 supports multiple holistic methods and implementations for content delivery, providing flexibility in designing compatible customer workflows.

When paired with Origin Storage, the basic workflow would be: customer uploads content (via push or pull) to Level 3 Origin Storage servers within the Level 3 CDN. In turn, the CDN feeds the edge delivery network without adversely impacting your infrastructure. This option is particularly useful for customers with a well-defined set of popular content and an interest in outsourcing the origin infrastructure. Content will remain in the edge cache for a few weeks, and fall out if not accessed during this time period.

Another delivery option, and one unique among the CDNs in this analysis is the Level 3 Content Delivery for Extended Libraries.²⁶ In this scenario, a customer uploads a large library of content (via push or pull) to Origin Storage. Then Level 3 applies advanced intelligence to redirect requests to the optimal path from storage to the end user based on the popularity of the object at the time of the request. This option is designed for customers with “long-tail” assets or content with dynamic popularity profiles. With the Extended Library option, a file will never fall out of the cache, perfect for content that rarely changes.

RealEyes prefers the Level 3 Content Delivery of Extended Libraries (“long-tail”) solution for the sample project as it was noted that the majority of the users will be watching the same video files during a relatively short time period (over a few days or weeks). A smaller number of users will consistently be viewing content that is not part of whatwould be cached by the majority, however. With a traditional caching system, this small (but significant) This “long-tail” solution allows this highly-viewed content to be cached at the very edge of the “cloud” while content that is losing popularity is delivered from locations closer to the Origin Server while still providing end users the quality experience. Intelligent algorithms instantly detect a change in popularity, and populate the edge caches with the relevant files. It’s an automatic service that will substantially increase end user experience.

Pricing Overview
Although pricing figures will not be presented for any of the companies included in this analysis document, RealEyes has chosen to indicate how the company’s pricing for the sample project compared with the other companies in this analysis. Based upon the constants discussed in the CDN Price comparison section, Level 3 ranked first, meaning that it was the least expensive (the CDXL solution was marginally more expensive than Limelight’s basic solution as the overall bandwidth commitment increased).

Limelight
Limelight Networks’ Content Delivery Network is built to support global distributed delivery of rich media to audiences of any size. Limelight is an efficient high-performance delivery provider for large libraries, large files and large audiences. The infrastructure is designed to deliver media and entertainment content to a complete range of IP-enabled devices, like cell phones, music players, game consoles and other devices.

The design the Limelight network is massively scalable. With over 1 terabit per second raw egress available, and dedicated network usage rights, Limelight can bypass the public internet traffic to deliver lessons with minimal wait and at the fastest download speed the customer’s machine will accept.²⁷

More than 1300 companies rely on Limelight Networks including²⁸:

• Microsoft
• MSNBC
• Amazon
• DreamWorks
• EA Games

Network
The innovative Limelight CDN starts with thousands of servers deployed around the world, interconnected via a dedicated high-speed fiber-optic network. Limelight connects to more than 900 access networks throughout the world, often with dedicated bandwidth agreements.²⁹ No full network map is available.

Points of Presence (POPs)
Limelight’s CDN spans the globe with a dedicated high-speed fiber-optic backbone, and regional content delivery centers use a multi-tiered cache architecture to store content for immediate access. Large-scale data centers at each POP ensure that requested content delivery is reliable and quick.³⁰

Origin Storage
Limelight Networks would provide a dedicated server for Origin Storage requiring 1TB plus of storage, as would be the case in the sample project. As this server will be within the Limelight network, when files need to be pulled from Origin Storage to the edge cache, it will be done quickly and efficiently. Limelight provides various options for placing content on this server including HTTP, FTP, sFTP, and Aspera, depending on your security and performance requirements.³¹

Caching & Delivery
Limelight Content Delivery uses a local caching scheme with several specialized rules to provide the optimal balance between content freshness and network usage. The rules are as follows: 1. Freshness checks are performed through “Last-Modified” HTTP request calls to determine if the file is 20% older than it was when last checked. 2. If the content has been in cache for more than 3 days, the cache will check for freshness. Because the Limelight Network cache is so large, files can stay cached in the system for days or weeks, instead of minutes or hours as is common with other CDN providers. Limelight Content Delivery also honors content expiration headers specified by the origin server.³²

The workflow for delivering content via the Limelight CDN: Using an FTP account and a special customer URL prepend variable, the customer would upload video files to the Limelight Networks HTTP Origin Server. The uploaded content would then be placed in the cache the first time it is requested by a user and released from the cache using the caching rules stated above.

Limelight Networks also offers a security option that protects your content from unauthorized access. With MediaVault a protected URL is associated with each user and/or each request as part of the download URL. This helps to prevent abuse from spiders, bots, and deep linking. Additional MediaVault controls include settings for start and stop dates/times, perfect for time-sensitive content. While this type of protection is an asset, another way to secure content similarly is to prohibit video files from being viewed outside of a custom video player. This is the model that was chosen for the sample project.

Pricing Overview
Although pricing figures will not be presented for any of the companies included in this analysis document, RealEyes has chosen to indicate how the company’s pricing for the sample project compared with the other companies in this analysis. Based upon the constants discussed in the CDN Price comparison section, Limelight ranked second, meaning that only one company was less expensive.

Streaming Media Hosting
Streaming Media Hosting provides content delivery services for thousands of businesses and consumers worldwide. Streaming Media Hosting’s proprietary technologies provide customers with advanced capabilities to manage, deliver and monitor audio, video, and multimedia content over the Internet.

Streaming Media Hosting’s particular marketplace advantage is superior customer service for small to medium sized businesses. Their company is small enough to be able to react to each customer’s business needs with individual attention, creating custom solutions that are not always possible with larger providers. They pride themselves on being quick and nimble, providing excellent quality media hosting, with the utmost in integrity and customer service.³³

Of particular note is that Streaming Media Hosting does business with many faith-based organizations around the world including The Lutheran Hour Ministries, Christian International, The Louisiana & Oklahoma Baptist Conventions, and The Arch Diocese.³⁴ As part of their commitment to faith-based communities, Streaming Media Hosting does not house any adult content on its servers, nor does it stream any such content via its CDN.³⁵

Streaming Media Hosting’s clients range from Fortune 500 to small businesses including:³⁶

• The Tennis Channel
• McGraw/Hill
• ASPCA
• The Lutheran Hour Ministries
• Harrah’s Entertainment

Network
With direct access to the backbones of the world’s leading carriers, Streaming Media Hosting has agreements with tier-one network providers including Level 3 and Global Crossing.³⁷ Through these relationships, Streaming Media Hosting consistently delivers the quality of service required by the most performance sensitive applications. Streaming Media Hosting’s Origin Storage and primary data center is located in Anaheim, California.³⁸ No full network map is available.

Points of Presence (POPs)
Streaming Media Hosting has two “Super POPs: a highly-sophisticated $50M Data Center in California (15 network data providers funnel in to this one location, each with a 10GBps pipeline); and a presence in Ashburn, Virginia. Using these two POPs, Streaming Media Hosting is able to minimize hops from their Data Centers to the internet backbone.³⁹ No map showing POP locations is available.

Origin Storage
Streaming Media Hosting provides origin storage at their Data Centers.⁴⁰

Caching & Delivery
The workflow for delivering content via the Streaming Media Hosting CDN: Using an FTP account, the customer would upload video files to the Streaming Media Hosting HTTP Origin Server. The content would then be placed in the cache the first time it is requested by a user and eventually released from the cache.

Pricing Overview
Although pricing figures will not be presented for any of the companies included in this analysis document, RealEyes has chosen to indicate how the company’s pricing for the sample project compared with the other companies in this analysis. Based upon the constants discussed in the CDN Price comparison section, Streaming Media Hosting ranked fourth, meaning that this was the most expensive option.

• Videos average 30 minutes in length
• Total of 140,000 video views per month
• Videos average a bitrate of 500kbps
• Total transfer / month = 156,000 GB
• Total video storage needs = 1TB

Price Comparison Listing
The following pricing matrix includes relative costs as communicated to RealEyes Media in our conversations with the CDN providers related for the project outlined in the Pricing Constraints section.

1. Level 3 – Least Expensive
2. Limelight
3. Akamai
4. Streaming Media Hosting – Most Expensive

Content Delivery Network Recommendation
RealEyes Media recommended the Extended Library option from Level 3 for the example video delivery project. This service offering is not only of the highest quality, it is the best match for the client’s needs for this project and comes at a very reasonable price point. In short, it is the best value for the expenditure.

Company Match
Level 3 built one of the world’s largest and most connected IP network backbones. Each day, the Level 3 network carries 70% of the United States’ internet traffic. The company also has strong network performance and invests in unprecedented network scale.

Although Level 3 is seen as a newcomer in the CDN space, it has acquired two of the oldest CDN companies, Savvis and Sand Piper, along with their engineering teams and technology patents. This unique combination of assets, engineering innovation, and portfolio allows Level 3 to offer a cost-effective and powerful solution.

Level 3 is poised to become a market-leading CDN, alongside Akamai. In RealEyes’ estimation, this is a great time to establish a relationship with Level 3 to lock in favorable rates.

Product Offering Match
The Extended Library Option from Level 3 ensures that once a video file is within the Level 3 cache that it will not fall out of cache without explicit intervention (administratively, or updating the file with a newer version). This option is typically only available with CDN providers that are twice as expensive. Having the file within the cache gives the fastest, best file access experience to all users.

Additionally, Level 3 offers superior origin storage options – only Akamai’s are more robust. Files that are placed in Level 3 Origin Storage are automatically placed on two, geographically separate servers (east and west coasts US). This mirroring backs up Level 3’s guarantee of 100% uptime and allows for efficiencies when a file does need to be pulled from Origin Storage.

What Level 3 does not include in its pricing is as important as what is – you are not paying for management tools that are CDN-specific (meaning that moving to a different CDN in the future would be more difficult) and contain features geared for advertising and live events – situations that are not within the example application’s intended use cases. Level 3 provides programmatic access to the tools that it does offer, allowing a client to easily integrate custom administrative services.

Network Match
Level 3 owns the network on which many of the other CDN providers included in this analysis lease space. Not only is this cost savings passed through to Level 3 customers, Level 3 can provide the best, most optimized path through the backbone for their CDN customers.

Alternate Recommendation: Akamai
Akamai is the undisputed leader in the CDN space, and would certainly be an excellent choice for a CDN partner for any client and this project. RealEyes chose not to place our primary recommendation with Akamai as the large difference in cost does not justify the additional administrative services, which may not provide much incremental value to this project in particular.

Citations:

1. Adobe Edge Newsletter, August 2008 http://www.adobe.com/newsletters/edge/august2008/articles/article2/index.html?trackingid=DLFXH
   
2. Where available, citations have been given to support the research presented herein; however, many of the statistics and descriptions provided
   
3. arethe result of many hours of telephone meetings with each of the networks included in this analysis and are not cited.
   
4. Akamai email; however, a public client listing is available at http://www.akamai.com/html/customers/index.html
   
5. Akamai Media Delivery Streaming, http://www.akamai.com/dl/feature_sheets/Akamai_media_streaming.pdf
   
6. Akamai Media Delivery Streaming, http://www.akamai.com/dl/feature_sheets/Akamai_media_streaming.pdf
   
7. Akamai phone conversation.
   
8. Akamai Facts and Figures, http://www.akamai.com/html/about/facts_figures.html
   
9. Akamai EdgeSuite® Net Storage, http://www.akamai.com/dl/feature_sheets/FS_NetStorage.pdf
   
10. Akamai Net Storage, http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/products/netstorage.html
    
11. Akamai HTTP Downloads, http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/products/http_downloads.html
    
12. Akamai HTTP Downloads, http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/products/http_downloads.html 12
    
13. Transform the Internet into a Business-Ready Application Delivery Platform for Enterprise SOA based SAP Deployments,
    
14. https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/406cc24a-cf60-2a10-58ab-da02fc76d217
    
15. Akamai Stream OS, http://www.akamai.com/ninesystems/
    
16. Akamai Stream OS, http://www.akamai.com/ninesystems/
    
17. Akamai Stream OS, http://www.akamai.com/ninesystems/
    
18. Akamai Stream OS, http://www.akamai.com/ninesystems/
    
19. Akamai Stream OS, http://www.akamai.com/ninesystems/
    
20. Level 3 phone conversation.
    
21. Level 3 phone conversation.
    
22. Level 3 Content Delivery Portfolio, http://www.level3.com/downloads/CDN_Portfolio_eBrochure.pdf
    
23. Level 3, Akamai, Limelight, and Streaming Media Hosting phone conversations.
    
24. Level 3 Phone Conversation.
    
25. Level 3 Origin Storage, http://www.level3.com/index.cfm?pageID=41
    
26. Level 3 Phone Conversation.
    
27. Level 3 Origin Storage Customer Presentation, http://www.level3.com/downloads/Origin%20Storage%20Customer%20Presentation.pdf
    
28. Level 3 Content Delivery for Extended Libraries (CDXL), http://www.level3.com/index.cfm?pageID=38
    
29. Limelight Networks CDN Infrastructure Overview, page 4
    
30. Limelight Networks Customers, http://www.limelightnetworks.com/customers.htm
    
31. Limelight Networks’ Network, http://www.limelightnetworks.com/network.htm
    
32. Limelight Networks’ Network, http://www.limelightnetworks.com/network.htm
    
33. Limelight Networks DELIVER, http://www.limelightnetworks.com/limelightdeliver.htm
    
34. Limelight Networks CDN Infrastructure Overview, page 9
    
35. Streaming Media Hosting Phone Conversation
    
36. Faith Streaming, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/streaming_faith.htm
    
37. Streaming Media Hosting Phone Conversation
    
38. Clients, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/clients.htm
    
39. Data Center Location, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/colocation_hosting.htm
    
40. Data Center Location, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/colocation_hosting.htm
    
41. Data Center Location, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/colocation_hosting.htm
    
42. Data Center Location, http://www.streamingmediahosting.com/colocation_hosting.htm