To help its Members in the domain of OTT (over-the-top) delivery, the EBU is setting up a pilot online distribution service leveraging multiple Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). The pilot is called EBU Flow.
Content providers face increasing costs to bring their live and on-demand video/audio content to their customers over IP. To meet audience expectations, EBU Members need to be able to deliver high performance service anywhere, anytime and on any device. The EBU Flow Multi-CDN service will allow content providers to deliver an efficient performance through selecting the best delivery route in a cost-effective manner. The pilot will kick-off in February and run for one year.
Optimal Routing
The service works by measuring potential data flows for audiences across the world and specifically in Europe. This allows the optimal route to be chosen in real time, directing end users' requests to the most available cache in a CDN. The pilot aims to prove the efficiency of this approach.
The EBU Flow Multi-CDN platform will comprise a number of different elements:
- CDN capacity from a range of commercial suppliers integrated into a single redundant solution for live and on-demand video/audio
- An EBU switching layer across different CDN suppliers, allowing content providers to use CDN capacity in a more flexible manner
- Federation of CDN providers to provide a single integration point for customers, reducing the administration involved in on-boarding new CDNs
- Quality of Experience measurements to provide valuable data on video quality