By Marc Latouche, Manager, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Service Provider

As more and more video traffic streams across service provider (SP) networks, many SPs are deploying content delivery networks (CDNs). In addition to supporting their own operations, these CDNs provide a viable commercial alternative — or complement — to pure-play CDNs (such as Level 3 and Limelight), and enable SPs to earn extra income from the content flowing over their network.

The Cisco^® Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) believes that CDN federations will provide an even farther-reaching solution. Cisco began to develop the concept of CDN federations in 2011, envisioning them as multi-footprint, open CDN capabilities built and shared by autonomous members. With CDN federations, SPs can interconnect — and leverage — one another’s CDN resources, ultimately benefiting all players in the value chain. Consumers gain in quality of service, SPs benefit through increased revenue potential, and content providers benefit in the assurance that their product will be distributed with guaranteed service and to a wider, potentially global audience.

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Tags: cdn, CDN federation pilot, Cisco, content delivery network, content providers, IBSG, online video, pure-play CDNs, service providers, SPs, web video, web video value chain

A mobile paradox—huge growth and customer demand, yet significant business and market challenges—is causing many companies in the mobile value chain to question where the industry is heading. They’re struggling to understand the key drivers that will shape the industry and what this new world will mean for them in terms of new challenges and opportunities. Most of all, they want to know the winning strategies for achieving success in this New Mobile World Order.

A number of major disruptions, or strategic inflection points, in the mobile industry are radically altering the entire mobile ecosystem as we know it. Some of these disruptions have been slowly building up steam over the last couple of years, although many of these have just started and have yet to really play out. In the recently published white paper, “The New Mobile World Order: Perspectives on the Future of the Mobile industry,” Cisco IBSG identified eight strategic inflection points that are causing—and stand to cause even greater—disruption and uncertainty in the industry: Read More »

Tags: Cisco, content providers, disruptions, disruptors, equipment providers, future, IBSG, Internet services, mobile, mobile devices, mobile industry, mobile service providers, New Mobile World Order, research, scenarios, software providers

Whether driven by live sports or blockbuster movies, the explosive demand for Internet video keeps rising. Indeed, by 2015, Cisco projects a quadrupling of IP traffic, 90 percent of which will be video.

This is an exciting trend. But headaches abound, up and down the value chain. One solution is the CDN federation, which Read More »

Tags: cdn, cdn federation, CDN federation pilot, Cisco, content delivery network, content providers, IBSG, online video, pure-play CDNs, service providers, SPs, web video, web video value chain

If any doubts remained about the soaring demand for online media, the London Olympics probably dispelled them.

With 217 million viewers in the United States alone, it was the most-watched television event in history. But it also illuminated the evolving habits of online consumers. For starters, two events—the women’s soccer final and women’s gymnastics final—accounted for more online viewership than all events combined during the 2008 Olympics. Tablet computers, particularly the iPad, are driving this trend.

These kinds of striking transitions in online media consumption were top of mind during two gatherings that I attended last week. The first was a roundtable discussion of media executives in Hollywood, which I moderated; the other was a World Economic Forum Industry Partnership Strategy Meeting in New York, focused on media entertainment and mobility.

It was a privilege to be around such industry brain trusts and to share research from Cisco IBSG. Here are four core topics of conversation that emerged: Read More »

Tags: Cisco, content providers, IBSG, internet video, media entertainment, media providers, mobility, online media consumption, online video, service providers, SPs, streaming, WEF, World Economic Forum

Whether driven by live sports or blockbuster movies, the explosive demand for Internet video keeps rising. Increasingly, consumers want it all, and they want it on any device, at any time. Indeed, by 2015, Cisco projects a quadrupling of IP traffic, 90 percent of which will be video.

This is an exciting trend, for sure. But headaches abound, up and down the value chain. For service providers (SPs), this torrent of web content places an undue burden on the network. And SPs gain little in revenue, since over-the-top content providers often outsource the distribution of their material to pure-play content delivery network (CDN) companies. Meanwhile, the content providers—who increasingly charge consumers for their offerings—fear that they may not be able to maintain standards of quality. As for those paying customers? They want their video now, and they expect it to stream perfectly.

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Tags: cdn, cdn federation, CDN federation pilot, Cisco, content delivery network, content providers, IBSG, online video, pure-play CDNs, service providers, SPs, web video, web video value chain