Case Study: Speeding Video Delivery to the Filipino Diaspora

The following is a vendor-supplied case study. Streaming Media accepts vendor submissions on a case-by-case basis; contact Editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen at erics@streamingmedia.com for more information.

What do Perth, Australia; Trondheim, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; Bangalore, India; Sapporo, Japan; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Toronto, Canada; Cape Town, South Africa; Columbus, Ohio; and Ogden, Utah have in common? EdgeStream's Video Delivery Network (VDN) has streamed full-length movies in DVD and HD quality to these locations and many more around the globe from just two data centers located in Los Angeles and New York. Using its patented technologies called Internet Congestion Tunnel Through and Continuous Route Optimization, EdgeStream can deliver high-quality video signal, without degradation, to every corner of the globe from just two or three data center locations.

So when it came to choosing a CDN to distribute long-form, high-quality movies, ABS-CBN International, the Philippines’ largest media company (http://now.abs-cbn.com ), chose the EdgeStream Video Delivery Network as one of its CDNs for streaming to the Filipino diaspora worldwide. "ABS chose to use the EdgeStream VDN for three specific reasons," says Enrique Olives, director of business development for ABS-CBNi. "A) We were looking for a platform that supported high-bitrate (DVD-quality) video streams to the Windows Media player using Microsoft DRM; B) we wanted a network that had the ability to reach the remotest regions of the globe and still provide a QoS similar to regular TV; and C) we wanted a network that would lower our costs."

The Challenge
"We started testing the EdgeStream VDN back in June 2006," he continues. "At first we were skeptical and unsure if EdgeStream would scale and provide a better QoS or lower our costs; there was also the issue of a client-side software download, but once our audiences saw the quality of a 1Mbps encoded video without any buffering or jitters or interruptions, they demanded more programming in high quality. Our traffic grew significantly within a month of introducing a high-quality Movie Channel; we are now delivering more and more movies using the EdgeStream VDN and expect our traffic to significantly increase in 2008."

"Over the last 12 months, our video traffic has grown to more than 3 petabytes per month and we continue to experience explosive growth month over month", says Connie Lopez, head of ABS¬CBN Now. "The last year and a half has been an exceptional ride; we have grown a small online stake to a full scale profitable operation within the ABS Group by providing our regular TV programming and movies to nearly 8 million Filipinos living outside the Philippines via the Internet. If not for CDNs like EdgeStream, our audiences would have to resort to getting tapes and DVDs, many of them pirated, to watch their favorite movies. Using the EdgeStream VDN, we have been able to present our worldwide diaspora with our movies and TV programs in as good quality as aired in the Philippines."

The Solution
EdgeStream has deployed a global video delivery network that enables content owners, aggregators, and broadcasters of any size to provide error-free video-on-demand streaming applications in SD, DVD, and HD quality to broadband audiences worldwide. Founded in 2000 by industry veterans Vinod Sodhi (now CEO), Randy Chung, and Rajeev Sehgal, the company developed a technology platform that allowed it to take a radical new approach in building its Global Video Distribution Network.

While other CDNs deployed massively distributed edge delivery systems, EdgeStream delivers content from a handful of data centers to every broadband user globally. EdgeStream is enabling content distributors to stream HD videos worldwide with fast-forward, rewind, pause, and stop functionalities in 720 and 1080 resolutions. "There has been a lot of hype in the market about HD videos over the internet," says Sehgal, now the company’s CMO, "but none of these providers mention that to watch HD videos the end users often need to download the videos to their PCs before they can watch them. Download, wait, and then watch has very limited scope in today’s world of instant gratification; content distributors can use the EdgeStream Global VDN today and offer true video-on-demand in DVD and HD quality to their audiences worldwide."