Qwilt and Cisco deploy Open Caching in Japan with J:COM

The deal establishes a standardized content delivery layer across Japan's fragmented ISP landscape, reducing transit costs for local operators while improving quality for viewers. For the broader industry, it confirms the shift from proprietary CDNs to open, federated architectures that allow ISPs to monetize their own network edge. As Japan's video streaming market is projected to grow significantly by 2034, this infrastructure provides the technical foundation for high-bandwidth applications like 4K and volumetric streaming. Watch for more Japanese broadcasters and OTT platforms to bypass public CDNs in favor of this direct edge-caching model.

The Japanese streaming sector is entering a period of rapid consolidation and technical upgrading. Per Media Partners Asia in February 2026, Japan’s premium streaming market reached $7.2 billion in revenue, driven by a 15% annual growth rate. This surge has placed unprecedented pressure on domestic network backbones. While global giants like Netflix command over 21% of the market, local services such as U-Next and the ad-supported platform TVer are increasingly competing on technical performance and low-latency delivery for anime and live sports.

Technically, this deployment aligns with the evolution of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) Open Caching specifications. As of June 2026, the SVTA has continued to refine its configuration and logging interfaces to support more complex multi-CDN strategies. This allows ISPs like J:COM to act as functional CDN providers themselves, rather than just passive pipes. According to reporting from SVTA in early 2026, the inclusion of organizations like the Ultra HD Forum into their technical ecosystem suggests that modern caching architectures are being designed specifically to handle the next generation of high-bitrate HDR and immersive content.

Furthermore, the Cisco-Qwilt partnership continues to challenge the traditional CDN model dominated by Akamai and Cloudflare. Per Light Reading, Cisco’s strategic investment in Qwilt has reached a valuation of approximately $800 million, positioning the duo to capture a significant share of the transparent caching market, which is expected to reach $13.59 billion by 2030. The Japanese expansion is a critical piece of this global federated CDN, which now serves over one billion unique subscribers worldwide through more than 150 service provider partners.