By Ben Rosenblum, Vecima Networks; Nick Dunkin, Vecima Networks
As consumer use of the internet for entertainment-grade video delivery steadily grows, associated increases in bandwidth present several challenges. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must manage increases in network congestion, and consumers often experience degraded stream quality, leaving Content Service Providers (CSPs) in a struggle to consistently and dependably deliver high-bitrate content. One solution to the problem of network congestion presents itself: bring the content closer to the viewer by caching that content within the Service Provider’s network. However, with over 2,242 [1] ISPs in the US alone, that could mean an enormous number of Content Delivery Network (CDN) integrations.
Open Caching, a non-proprietary specification developed by the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA), provides a uniform interface for the configuration of CDN infrastructure and traffic delegation.
This provides a fabric of interoperability essential for the development of a sustainable multi-vendor ecosystem but unfortunately only solves in part the problem of integration between CSPs and CDNs.
While it eliminates the effort of implementing proprietary interfaces, it does not address the everincreasing burden of configuring a multitude of different CDNs, each with their own supported functionality and features.
A system that can aggregate multiple edge network CDNs into a single homogenous global CDN would allow the configuration and utilization of deep edge caching without extended effort.
In this paper, we describe such a system. Independent ISPs serving different regional markets are consolidated behind a single global Open Caching Control Plane and Open Caching Request Router that propagates configurations to downstream caches located deep inside edge networks adjacent to subscribers and manages the delegation of streaming sessions from origination at the CSP to the appropriate edge caching node. Reporting, logging, and observability metrics are also aggregated for delivery to an upstream CSP, presenting to the delegating entity as a single CDN.