SmartMEDIA CDN. Purpose & Benefits

April 24, 2024

When an IPTV/OTT operator is thinking about using a CDN, they have to decide whether to use a public CDN (like Akamai, Amazon CloudFront, etc.) or create their own private CDN. They can also use a combination of both to deliver content to their subscribers in the most efficient way possible.

SmartLabs SmartMEDIA CDN is an advanced software product for creating a private CDN. It provides flexible management of network configurations and performance metrics.

Here are the main advantages for an operator of using the SmartLabs SmartMEDIA CDN solution to establish a private or hybrid private and public CDN to improve service quality:

Performance. With SmartMEDIA CDN the operator may deploy edge nodes for popular content in specific segments of the network where subscriber numbers require it, rather than relying on the predetermined locations provided by a public CDN. In addition, SmartMEDIA CDN allows you to place recording servers of local TV streams for Catch-up services (origin nodes) closer to subscribers. This approach allows operators to fully control the content delivery network and achieve faster channel zapping, better content availability, and a better user experience overall.

Customization. SmartMEDIA CDN enables the operator to flexibly customize the logic of the CDN and its nodes to suit the specific traffic requirements, as opposed to relying on the standard settings of public CDNs. This allows the operator to promptly respond and adjust the content delivery network's logic based on evolving traffic patterns, business needs or the customer geographic distribution. To meet these challenges SmartMEDIA CDN provides fast and hassle-free horizontal scaling based on nodes/farms round-robin, weights, node limits, etc.

Cost efficiency. The cost-effectiveness of a private CDN can be much higher than with a public CDN. The amount of regular fees for public CDN services may depend on the amount of traffic consumed, number of requests, distribution region and other factors. Choosing the private SmartMEDIA CDN, the operator pays once for software, inexpensive standard equipment and its installation in data centers with suitable bandwidth and strategic location. Subsequent maintenance duties are taken on by the operator's IT staff, obviating the need to acquire specialized expertise.

To sum up, if an operator knows how traffic moves in its network and wants to improve content delivery at specific locations, using a private CDN with SmartMEDIA CDN would indeed represent the optimal solution.

SmartMEDIA CDN. Purpose & Benefits