Netflix switching from Akamai to Level 3 CDN services
After three years with Akamai Content Deliver Network (CDN) service, Netflix will switch to Level 3 Communications for its CDN service. Why would Netflix do this? Presumably because Level 3 is offering a more attractive deal to Netflix for outsourced server, storage, and Internet services.
Level 3 will have to double its storage capacity and add 2.9 terabits per second (Tbps) of bandwidth to accommodate Netflix video streaming services. To wrap our head around that 2.9 Tbps number, that’s enough to serve one million concurrent users at an average of 2.9 Mbps which is sufficient for 720P “HD” video streaming. That one million concurrent user capacity should be sufficient to serve 12 million Netflix subscribers. This enormous apatite for bandwidth seems to reflect the enormous growth of Netflix with revenues as big as all the other rental businesses combined.
Contrary to “Net Neutrality” myth that “all Internet sites run at the same speed“, there are very few websites that has this kind of reach into American homes. There is no such thing as “server neutrality” or “storage neutrality”, “IT neutrality”, or “Net Neutrality” because economics demands that companies should get more if they pay more. Google’s YouTube and Netflix are likely the only two content providers on the Internet that can operate at this scale, and Netflix requires even more bandwidth than YouTube according to data from Sandvine.
Netflix occupies 20% of all North American Internet traffic during peak 8PM to 10PM hours which is likely the time families are watching movies and TV shows on demand from Netflix. It’s quite possible that Google YouTube has more “views” than Netflix but each YouTube video typically lasts less than 5 minutes while Netflix videos are 30 to 90 minutes long.
[...] is moving its content delivery platform from Akamai back to Level 3. Level 3 is adding 2.9 terabits per second of new capacity specifically to support NetFlix’s [...]
Where are you getting your information that Netflix is “switching from” Akamai?
Even the incorrect Dan Rayburn later clarified that they’re maintaining a multi-vendor strategy.
Netflix also buys from Limelight, FWIW.
@Jack Moves
If they are still going to keep other vendors, that means they’ll require even more bandwidth than what Level 3 is adding.
Or not. The Level 3 CDN is pretty light on capacity compared to, say, LLNW or AKAM. $15M in capex may sound like big cash, but it works out to a thousand or two servers, or 2% of AKAM’s total (published) footprint.
[...] server farms, or the use of premier CDN providers like Akamai or Level 3. As George Ou recently noted, there is no such thing as “server neutrality” or “storage neutrality”. Thus, there has [...]
[...] server farms, or the use of premier CDN providers like Akamai or Level 3. As George Ou recently noted, there is no such thing as “server neutrality” or “storage neutrality”. Thus, there has [...]
There is no news to report here, as Jack points out.
[...] [...]
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