Cache is King Intelligent Content Networking

Intelligent Content Networking

 

Executive Summary

 

The rapid growth of consumer Internet traffic, mainly due to increased viewing

of video content via their broadband connections (known as “Over-the-Top”

Video or OTT Video), is driving increased stress on service provider networks

and business models. The frequency, duration, and resolution of content

requests are increasing, which has a dramatic effect on bandwidth requirements.

As we enter into the era of Hyperconnectivity, more and more devices

are accessing this rich content anywhere, and at anytime. Demand is accelerating

quickly as more content (for example mainstream movies and TV shows) is

becoming available and broader set of Internet-connected devices are able to

access it.

The ability to manage the delivery of certain content types and reduce

bandwidth requirements over Middle Mile, core, and Internet transit networks

can improve profitability for service delivery. Intelligent Content Networking

reduces the strain on the network and improves the user experience by serving

a broad range of popular, frequently accessed content closer to the subscriber,

reducing service delivery and internet transit bandwidth requirements.

 

Video Takes Over

From peer-to-peer downloads to online gaming, from instant messaging to

email, from web to video the amount of internet traffic is growing significantly.

Video content is rapidly changing the composition of consumer internet traffic

and is anticipated to make up nearly 60% of requests by 2014. The growth of

video will continue as subscribers’ viewing habits change from broadcast to

on-demand—at home and on mobile devices—and with higher definition

and increased availability of mainstream content, such as movies and television

series, being offered via the Internet.

 

Is your network ready for next wave of Internet traffic?

The prevalence of IP-based video has greatly affected the makeup of the packets

traversing a residential internet connection which now includes multimedia

content, communications, and data; it is the primary communications link to

many residences.

31%

46%10%

Operators and Users Win with Intelligent Content Networking

 

Irrespective of the type, OTT content puts significant stress on the network

because it must traverse internet peering connections, core network infrastructure,

Middle Mile connections, and finally the access network to be delivered.

An individual subscriber’s request for video content, where a user is highly

utilizing their connection for a long period of time, has a compound effect on

the network as subscribers’ linear-based requests are aggregated, causing

network congestion and sub-optimal quality of experience (QoE).

The traditional approach to address bandwidth growth, reduce congestion,

and ensure customer satisfaction is via incremental network overlays and

increased Internet transit capacity. This is effective to address bandwidth

requirements, but it’s not efficient from an economic standpoint as overlays

drive additional CAPEX and OPEX. Considering that the average revenue per

user (ARPU) will stay static (if not diminish with increased competition), this

continued investment fuels a divergence of cost and revenue, leading to less

profitable service offerings.

Secondly, as a subscriber’s internet connection usage grows more bandwidthintensive

with OTT and other sources of video, the experience will deteriorate.

This is based on time to download and view content as well as system response

times for control commands (play, pause, etc.). As expectations continue to

become more difficult to meet, more service complaints will be logged and

subscriber churn will increase as they move to competitive service offerings.

An alternative content delivery approach, that is beneficial to both service

provider and customer, is needed. This approach will need to deliver content

effectively and efficiently, provide a high QoE for the end-customer, and limit

the service providers’ requirements to augment the network.

Intelligent Content Networking at your service

Intelligent Content Networking is a new approach that distributes frequently accessed

content closer to the subscriber, at the edge of the network, to

expedite downloading or streaming and limit the impact of repetitive requests

on the entire network. This approach allows for reuse of the locally cached

content and provides:

■■ Subscriber value: an improved quality of experience. Content is rapidly

accessible and system control requests are reacted to quickly based on the

content being sourced from a much closer location

■■ Network Operator value: with a sizeable reduction in the bandwidth

required to serve content over the network and internet transit points,

this defers investment in network capex and opex.

 

How does it work?

Intelligent Content Networking focuses on data sessions established between

Service Provider subscribers and Internet content sources, such as Web servers,

CDN networks, P2P nodes etc., supporting all of the HTTP services and P2P

protocols. As shown in Figure 3, applicable content requests are analyzed

and classified on the basis of file type, and are assessed based on download

frequency, size of file, last download, etc., to determine their caching potential.

Frequently requested—popular—media files are held locally, whereas

infrequently or rarely requested files will continue to be sourced from farther

back in the network.

 

For subsequent requests, the content cache will determine whether the

requested file has been previously stored and determine the integrity of the

content to ensure that it is valid, up-to-date, and what the subscriber requested.

If this is the case, it will stream or download the file to the requesting

subscriber(s). By serving the data from the edge of the network, traffic over

transit and peering links is reduced and delivery is accelerated.

■■ Flash video services (YouTube, Yahoo Video, MSN Movies)

■■ Software updates (operating system and anti-virus)

■■ Peer-to-peer file sharing (music, podcasts, movies)

■■ HTTP downloads (user manuals, product brochures)

 

In addition, the content cache, in conjunction with a network element that is

tasked with redirection of user’s requests for cacheable content, will let other

forms of traffic bypass this redirection point.

 

Are there Concerns for Copyright Infringement?

Content delivery can be fraught with legal complexity; however the Digital

Millennium Copyright Act—USA (DMCA) and other similar documents were

authored to recognize caching of P2P and HTTP-streaming content for the

purpose of network efficiency and without modification as legal and protected

by law. Similar documents in the European Union (EU) also provide guidance,

acknowledge the requirement, and protect network operators from liability

for routing, caching and hosting 3rd party content.

The transparent caching strategy used within Intelligent Content Networking is

fully compliant with the procedural “safe harbor” requirements of these legal

acts. A transparent caching strategy works by intercepting the network traffic

transparently to the browser. It short-circuits the retrieval process of the desired

file if it is in the cache. Transparent caches are especially useful to service

providers because they require no browser setup modification.

Figure 4: Synopsis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (USA)

The transparent caching approach provides several distinct advantages relative

to proxy-based solutions where requests are terminated at the proxy cache and

web servers are not aware of the request.

■■ With a proxy cache the web server loses all visibility to content requests

or webpage hits

■■ Connections from a proxy cache will appear to originate from its IP address,

leading to inaccurate utilization and popularity metrics (ie: YouTube video

viewing statistics)

■■ Proxy-based caching methodologies cannot always guarantee if content

is current or not

Based on these points, a proxy-based strategy could be considered in violation

of the DMCA where “The provider must not interfere with the technology that

returns ‘hit’ information to the person who posted the material” and “the provider

must comply with rules about ‘refreshing’ material—replacing retained

copies of material with material from the original location—when specified

in accordance with a generally accepted industry standard data protocol.”

 

What’s the Value?

Intelligent Content Networking reduces the strain on the entire network

by serving a broad range of popular, frequently accessed content closer

to the subscriber.

Alleviating network congestion and propagation delay associated with delivering

requested content to the subscriber means content is viewable faster, and

without interruption—in some cases subscriber response time is 7x faster!

In many cases the investment in Intelligent Content Networking can be easily

justified on an ROI basis against saved OPEX and CAPEX that would have been

required previously to augment network capacity. Service Providers are finding

that up to 70% of content is cacheable, and bandwidth savings realized are

between 25–30%.

Intelligent Content Networking frees up bandwidth to deliver other services,

such as VoIP and video conferencing more effectively. The quality of these

offerings is higher as they are no longer contending with as much OTT content

transiting the network concurrently. They also provide incremental, “value

added services” revenue streams that compliment internet access services.

As Service Providers are providing improved QoE to their customers, Intelligent

Content Networking approaches are opening up opportunities to increase ARPU

by providing tiered services and partnering with OTT content providers

to jointly offer enhanced service offerings.

 

Operators and Users Win with Intelligent Content Networking

 

Why BTI Systems?

BTI Systems understands networks. For over 10 years we’ve been supporting

a diverse range of networks within service provider, utility, web and cloud service

operators, and enterprise environments. We have the expertise to deliver

mission critical information, communications, and content and are relied upon

by over 250 customers globally.

The BTI portfolio has evolved to a best-in-breed packet optical network

foundation offering optical service delivery, and a completely integrated Carrier

Ethernet packet services layer. Our focus on enabling content-optimized

solutions is a natural evolution complementary to our existing capabilities and

ensures our customer’s networks continue to evolve to address new application

and service requirements.

WidecastTM, is BTI’s edge-based Intelligent Content Networking solution.

It’s a blade server and storage platform focused on network-based content

serving and distribution that is tightly integrated with BTI’s packet services

layer. Widecast positions key network functionality and content at the fibered

network edge—at the head end of the access network or literally at the

subscriber’s “front door” to effectively address OTT requests with network

efficiency, operational savings, and a high quality of experience.

BTI optimizes Intelligent Content Networking for the edge of the network with

our focus on fundamental principles when architecting network solutions:

efficient service delivery, low power, compact form factor, and simplified

management and operations.

 

Intelligent Content Networking from BTI—a WIN/WIN Solution

 

The key to addressing critical network requirements as we enter the era of

Hyperconnectivity is to use an innovative approach for content delivery; with

Intelligent Content Networking solutions, BTI provides a WIN/WIN for service

providers and subscribers.

The service providers’ high-speed internet services must leverage an efficient

service delivery infrastructure to address high-bandwidth subscriber requests

for content and information. An Intelligent Content Networking approach

defers metro network build outs and reduces internet transit costs through

a more effective content delivery model, using content caching technology

tightly integrated with a packet optical networking solution.

The consumer demand for content is growing at an unprecedented rate and

with it is the expectation that content will be readily available, timely in delivery,

and easy to control. An Intelligent Content Networking approach provides

an “at the front door” delivery model for popular content and ensures sufficient

bandwidth to deliver longtail content, and other communications services, over

the same Internet pipe effectively; providing an improved quality of experience

for the subscriber.

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