Panel Examines the Business of CDN Federation

As CDN federation takes its first steps, companies are stopping to ask what the business impact of federation will be. A panel discussion at the recent Content Delivery Summit in New York City looked at questions such as what new models will develop, and what market factors will influence success or failure?

Starting out the panel discussion, Tony Lapolito, director of product management and IP video solutions and CDN for Cisco, looked at how CDN federation has begun and how the conversation now changes.

"I think we're already seeing it happen," said Lapolito. "I mean, when do you consider the birth of anything? What we're seeing, which is I think the most critical first step, is that virtually every service provider has decided that they need to build a CDN. And this is dramatically different than the way the world was three to five years ago."

The next questions for CDNs, then, are financial.

"Once you have that CDN, whether you're offering retail services, or taking the content right from your own and distributing it to your own users, or doing other types of business models including wholesale, et cetera, all of a sudden you start looking at, 'How do I optimize this platform for revenue?' And once you kind of make that leap from 'this is an infrastructure investment' to 'this is about making a new business for myself,' then you start forming a relationship with other groups," said Lapolito. "So it's happening. So when does it become reality? When is the tipping point? I think that remains to be seen, but there are hard economic drivers that are doing that."

For more on the business of CDN federation, watch the full video below.

The Business of CDN Federation

CDN federation allows participants to offer a global CDN service by pooling and sharing resources amongst major regional players. Ideally a Federated CDN would enable regional CDNs to pool their capabilities into a broader offering that improves utilization and reduces overall investment. This panel examines the business prospects of CDN federations, considering the market opportunities, enablers, challenges and timing.

Moderator: Barry Tishgart, VP, Comcast Cable
Tony Lapolito, Director of Product Management, IP Video Solutions and CDN, Cisco
Peter Papavasiliou, VP, Marketing, Concentric Cloud Solutions
Ditlev Bredahl, CEO, OnApp
Hui Zhang, Chief Scientist, Co-Founder, Conviva

EdgeCast Talks OpenCDN, its Federated CDN Solution

CDN federation is here. In this presentation, EdgeCast explains how it works and the benefits it brings to content owners.

10 Aug 2012