CDN, Edge Delivery & Streaming Infrastructure News

Coughlin & Associates is presenting Storage Visions 2018 in Santa Clara, a conference focused on advanced storage technology for networked databases and media. The event addresses the significant challenge of managing the massive amounts of data projected by 2025, with sessions covering emerging memory, flash, HDDs, tape, cloud, and AI solutions for data storage and management.

HostStage provides an overview and comparison of dedicated streaming servers from various vendors like OVHcloud, Hetzner, and Leaseweb, highlighting their importance for superior streaming performance, low latency, and predictable bandwidth. The article details key criteria such as latency, bandwidth, deployment time, and billing models, emphasizing GPU support for tasks like live transcoding and AI clips. It aims to guide streaming professionals in selecting the best provider for their specific needs, from individual creators to large-scale event organizers.

This article discusses Hollow-Core Fiber (HCF) as an advanced alternative to Single-Mode Fiber (SMF) for AI Data Center Interconnect (DCI). HCF offers lower latency, improved signal integrity, and reduced operational costs for AI workloads, complementing SMF's role in general data transmission.

Nokia has upgraded Symphony Communication's Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT) subsea cable system with its PSE-6 coherent optics, increasing capacity to 30 Tbps per fiber pair. This enhancement supports low-latency AI and cloud services, critical for over-the-top (OTT) players and streaming infrastructure in Southeast Asia. The upgrade also improves power efficiency, reducing the network's carbon footprint.

IPTP Networks attended MYNOG 13, a conference for network operators and service providers in Southeast Asia, where they discussed traffic exchange optimization, network automation, and AI-driven networking. The company highlighted its strong presence and ability to offer ultra-low-latency connectivity and robust network infrastructure solutions to enterprises expanding into Southeast Asian markets, as well as major global hubs. Their participation aimed to strengthen partnerships and explore new collaborative opportunities in the region.

AWS provides a technical guide on setting up SRT password encryption using AWS Elemental MediaConnect by integrating AWS Secrets Manager and IAM. This documentation targets streaming professionals seeking to secure their content flows with encryption for MediaConnect. The guide details steps for storing SRT passwords, creating IAM policies, and assigning roles to allow MediaConnect to access these secrets securely.

An Ericsson report predicts Western Europe will achieve 95% 5G penetration by 2031, surpassing other regions. This accelerated adoption of 5G infrastructure is expected to significantly influence future content delivery and consumption models in the streaming industry. The report also highlights the increasing role of 5G networks in carrying mobile data traffic, largely fueled by video content consumption.

Alaska's GCI will use Starlink's dedicated enterprise service for backup connectivity across several major community hubs, enhancing network reliability for remote customers. This strategy provides a crucial third path for connectivity, improving resilience and quicker service restoration during outages. GCI plans to install several Starlink bonded gateways before year-end as part of the initiative.

Castlabs has integrated its DRMtoday multi-DRM service and STARDUSTmark forensic watermarking technology into Backlight's Iconik media asset management (MAM) platform. This integration enhances security for proxy media in creative workflows, allowing for single-frame leak tracing and protecting content before distribution. Iconik becomes the first MAM to support frame-accurate forensic watermarking within production workflows.

Fastly highlights credential stuffing and account takeover as major threats to gaming platforms, emphasizing their impact on player trust and revenue. The company advocates for edge-based mitigation strategies, combining behavioral analysis and real-time decisions, to stop automated attacks without disrupting legitimate players. Fastly's Bot Management and Next-Gen WAF products are presented as solutions to protect gaming accounts and APIs at the edge.

NetActuate announced an overview of its networking suite, designed for global traffic routing with features like BGP Anycast and multi-provider connectivity across over 45 edge locations. The platform emphasizes predictable pricing and centralized security for its services, which include IP Transit, IX Peering, DDoS Mitigation, and Load Balancing, available as a full stack or independently.

DEV migrated its image pipeline for the Forem platform to bunny.net, utilizing Bunny Optimizer and Edge Scripting to significantly reduce costs and simplify its architecture. This strategic move addresses prior challenges with multi-CDN chaos, high egress fees, and complex image transformation, while also laying groundwork for future video delivery. The integration allows for dynamic image optimization, permanent edge caching, and fine-grained control over image serving via edge scripting.

SRT Cloud has launched a new service enabling users to distribute live SRT feeds by creating unlimited identical copies with AI assistance. The platform simplifies broadcast distribution for broadcasters, telcos, and media-delivery teams by operating entirely in the cloud without requiring hardware, and supports the full SRT specification. Users can manage streams and partners through an AI assistant, with a flat pricing model per stream.

Vocus has significantly upgraded its Adelaide-Perth 2 (AP2) optical route, quadrupling capacity by leveraging Ciena WaveLogic 6 Extreme technology. This enhancement strengthens Australia's east-west connectivity, enabling 400G services to support the growing demands of AI and cloud workloads. The upgrade uses existing fiber infrastructure to maximize capacity and reduce latency for data movement between cities and data centers.

CableLabs is actively developing an optional annex to DOCSIS 4.0 to support 3GHz spectrum and 25 Gbit/s speeds, while also exploring future possibilities at 6GHz for 50 Gbit/s. This alongside ongoing DOCSIS 4.0 certification and interoperability events ensures vendors can develop compatible devices for the cable industry's next-generation broadband infrastructure. The organization emphasizes the importance of reliability over pure speed in HFC networks.

A research report by Cisco and Foundry Research warns that surging AI-driven network traffic could cause severe latency, threatening digital ad serving by triggering real-time bidding (RTB) timeouts. The survey of over 3,400 IT decision-makers reveals that 73% of organizations anticipate network capacity constraints within two years, potentially forcing ad-tech and streaming providers to migrate workflows to edge computing.

Google is investing $1.5 billion to expand its Alabama data center, committing to power it with 100% carbon-free energy. This expansion is driven by the growing demand for compute from AI and machine learning models, which underpin Google's cloud and consumer services. This initiative supports Google's broader goal of running its data centers on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

AWS has published guidance for configuring HLS output from AWS Elemental Live to AWS Elemental MediaPackage v2. This includes options for achieving low-latency streaming workflows. The documentation details specific settings and credentials required for reliable content delivery.

AWS Elemental MediaPackage has introduced support for time-shifted viewing for live streams, allowing content playback up to 14 days old. This feature enables viewers to start streams from earlier points and facilitates the conversion of live content into VOD assets. Users can configure a 'startover window' on their MediaPackage endpoint and specify start/end parameters in playback requests.

Amazon CloudFront is seeking a Sr. Software Dev Engineer for its Video Delivery team in Seattle, focusing on global-scale video systems. The role will involve innovating with LL-HLS, Sye, and Media over QUIC (MOQ) for live and on-demand streaming, and driving technical strategy for video delivery infrastructure. This position emphasizes building reliable, scalable, low-cost systems and addressing challenges in real-time content packaging and adaptive bitrate streaming.

Amazon Prime Video is seeking a Principal Product Manager for its Video Playback team in London to lead product strategy for low-latency live streaming. This role focuses on defining and building the video playback roadmap and customer experience across all platforms and geographies. The manager will work with various teams, including engineering, to enhance core video playback areas like encoding, delivery, and ad insertion.

Researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have developed an integrated all-optical signal processor (OSP) that achieves 1.6 Tb/s real-time processing with extremely low latency and energy consumption. This innovation directly addresses data transmission bottlenecks in AI data centers by processing signals in the optical domain, bypassing conventional electrical conversion for greater efficiency. The OSP is designed to improve communication efficiency between servers and data centers, crucial for large-scale AI systems.

This Cisco technical document details the Web Cache Communication Protocol (WCCP), outlining its configuration and features for both WCCPv1 and WCCPv2. WCCP enables transparent redirection of network traffic, often to local content engines, to optimize content delivery by reducing transmission costs and improving download times. The document provides prerequisites, restrictions, configuration examples, and feature information for integrating WCCP into network infrastructures to enhance caching solutions.

A CDN misconfiguration at a large tech company, dubbed "EnterpriseCorp," led to the exposure of internal staging servers and plaintext database credentials. The vulnerability stemmed from an incorrect 'Host' header routing, allowing a security researcher to bypass broken CDN configurations and access sensitive internal infrastructure. This incident highlights the critical need for secure CDN configurations and proper host header validation.

Eutelsat published a guide outlining various TV distribution models, including satellite DTH, terrestrial networks, and OTT streaming, detailing their reach, cost, and infrastructure needs. The article emphasizes that broadcasters are increasingly adopting hybrid strategies, blending satellite with IP networks to maximize flexibility and coverage. It notes that satellite TV remains robust, especially in emerging markets, and is being utilized by established OTT players to extend reach and manage costs.

Harmonic is collaborating with NVIDIA and Akamai to enhance real-time video delivery, particularly for live sports and events. The partnership leverages NVIDIA's NVENC/NVDEC for AI-driven video quality improvements and Akamai's Inference Cloud with NVIDIA RTX 6000 Pro Blackwell GPUs for low-latency edge compute. This aims to reduce latency and improve video quality across multiple codecs using AI models at the edge.

As the FCC plans to auction an additional 100 MHz of Upper C-band spectrum by July 2027, broadcasters and cable networks face critical decisions regarding video distribution. Harmonic is offering solutions like Ku-band with RIST, managed IP, and hybrid Sat/IP to help clients transition from C-band and ensure continued content delivery. The article outlines the challenges and various alternatives for distribution in a post-Upper C-band environment.

AIMultiple published a benchmark of S3-compatible cloud object storage providers including Cloudflare, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Blackblaze, and Scaleway. The analysis compares these providers across nine criteria, such as cost, features, and retrieval times, specifically highlighting egress fees, tiered storage, and integration with existing cloud ecosystems. This evaluation aims to assist streaming professionals in selecting optimal storage solutions for their operational needs.

The MPEG Systems Working Group received a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the standardization of CMAF (Common Media Application Format). This award recognizes CMAF's significant role in unifying fragmented media formats, enabling interoperable internet video distribution across diverse devices. The standard, ISO/IEC 23000-19, is celebrated for eliminating market fragmentation in HTTP-based streaming.

Akamai held its 2026 India Partner Summit, emphasizing its partner-first strategy with over 60% of new India business being partner-generated. The company highlighted advancements in security, cloud computing, and AI inference, including expanded cloud infrastructure in Mumbai and Chennai, and its distributed inference cloud with NVIDIA.

Akamai has updated its Inventory Management Plan to incorporate its CLIMATE guideline, shifting from passive carbon accounting to an impact-driven environmental metrics framework. This initiative aims to provide streaming professionals with more accurate and verifiable data for their Scope 3 value-chain metrics, enhancing reporting integrity. The updated plan focuses on building a decision-ready inventory by integrating real-time power consumption data and applying consequential logic to impact measurement.

Akamai has launched Akamai Functions, a new product designed to reduce hidden architectural costs in cloud optimization, including egress fees and idle capacity. Akamai Functions centralizes high-frequency tasks like personalization, token validation, and bot misdirection at the edge, integrating seamlessly with its CDN, cloud, and security platforms. This edge computing solution aims to simplify architecture, lower operational costs, and improve latency by eliminating unnecessary origin round trips and cross-vendor boundaries.

Turkcell has launched its 5G Standalone (SA) network across Turkey, introducing specific add-on speed packages for daily and monthly use. This move provides ultra-low latency capabilities, directly impacting live streaming and content creation professionals, with packages like '5G+ Yayıncı' tailored for consistent upload speeds.

San Jose is developing standards for data centers amid community concerns about environmental and health impacts, with advocates worrying about fast-tracked approvals. The city aims to create a flexible framework for economic growth and responsible development, with guidelines to return to the City Council in December. The move is significant for streaming professionals as data centers are critical for content delivery and AI applications, though the city currently doesn't track whether specific data centers are AI-focused.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has signed a multi-hundred-million-dollar deal with Corning to significantly expand its data center network with next-generation fiber optic cabling. This agreement aims to secure critical infrastructure to support the increasing demands of generative AI and large-scale cloud workloads, tackling the "bandwidth bottleneck." Corning will supply specialized optical connectivity solutions, including its SMF-28 Ultra 200 fiber, for this multiyear commitment.

Sky has rolled out a new 'Real Time' low-latency feature for World Cup matches on its Sky Glass TVs and Sky Stream set-top boxes, significantly reducing the live signal delay. This technology, previously used for Sky's own sports coverage, streamlines the production and distribution path of broadcasts from BBC and ITV, delivering streams "within seconds." Sky offers dedicated channels for these Real Time World Cup broadcasts.

IO River, a company founded by ex-Akamai executives, raised a $20 million Series A round to develop a multi-CDN software layer. This platform aims to enhance content delivery resilience and optimize performance across various CDNs, addressing single points of failure in internet infrastructure. The company confirmed it is helping deliver the 2026 FIFA World Cup for a German-speaking broadcaster, highlighting its relevance for live streaming professionals.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Resilient Network Graphs (RNG), a new datacenter networking architecture based on random graph theory, offering up to a third faster speeds and 40 percent more energy efficiency. RNG, which uses a mix of deterministic and randomized cabling with a proprietary Shufflebox device, is rolling out across most AWS datacenters by year-end. This new network for core database servers aims to enhance performance and reliability for AWS customers while reducing energy consumption.

Starlink is preparing to launch next-generation satellite terminals by late 2026, which will feature the capability to communicate simultaneously with two LEO satellites. This advancement is expected to significantly enhance connection stability and overall performance for users, particularly in rural areas dependent on broadband for streaming. While the full details are under speculation, it could provide a major performance boost for customers.

Dell'Oro Group reports a 40% surge in cable access network spending in Q1 2026, driven by distributed access architecture (DAA) and PON upgrades. This investment reflects a renewed focus from cable operators like Comcast and Charter on upgrading their networks to DOCSIS 4.0, impacting key suppliers such as Harmonic, Vistance Networks/Aurora Networks, and Vecima Networks.

Virgin Media O2 anticipates substantial broadband and mobile network demand increases in the UK during the FIFA World Cup 2026 due to late-night viewing. The company is actively preparing its networks, including 5G+, and pausing non-essential changes to ensure service stability. This event will serve as a significant real-world test for their 5G+ infrastructure, particularly in pubs, fan zones, and transport hubs.

AutoMQ has integrated Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP as a Write-Ahead Log (WAL) layer for its Diskless Kafka, achieving sub-10ms latency and 94% cost savings. This solution targets streaming professionals by offering low-latency, Multi-AZ resilience, and reduced cross-AZ data transfer costs for Kafka message queues. It compares favorably to traditional Kafka deployments on AWS in terms of performance and cost.

The FCC proposes to auction up to 180 MHz of Upper C-band spectrum by 2027, impacting broadcasters who rely on satellite distribution. In response, broadcast technology companies like Synamedia, LTN, and Zixi are pushing IP-based delivery alternatives to prevent content supply disruptions. This regulatory change is driving a significant shift in media distribution models towards IP.

The global fiber optic market, valued at $7.95 billion in 2025, is projected to reach $18.44 billion by 2034 with a CAGR of 9.8%, driven by increasing demand for high-speed internet, 5G deployment, and data center expansion. This growth is critical for supporting data-intensive applications like video streaming. Key players include Corning Incorporated, Prysmian Group, and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.

This AWS Elemental MediaConnect documentation outlines how output destinations are defined for various streaming protocols, including CDI, NDI, RIST, RTP, SRT, ST 2110 JPEG XS, and Zixi. It details the required port configurations for each protocol, noting that MediaConnect automatically reserves additional ports for error correction where needed. The article serves as a technical guide for configuring media flows through AWS Elemental MediaConnect.

Nimble Streamer has updated its WebRTC capabilities to support HEVC/H.265 for both WHIP ingest and WHEP playback. This enhancement provides streaming teams with another practical codec option for low-latency contribution and delivery, particularly for bandwidth-efficient workflows using compatible browsers.

Google Cloud has published documentation detailing how to configure high-availability, multi-region Cloud Run services with automated failover and failback capabilities using serverless Network Endpoint Groups (NEGs). This functionality is engineered to bolster service uptime and reliability across diverse geographical regions, leveraging global external Application Load Balancers or cross-region internal Application Load Balancers. The guidance includes a tutorial for deploying a sample Go application across two regions, setting up load balancing, and testing automated failover, making it crucial for streaming professionals.