Major CDN Providers To Announce P2P Service By Year's End

Love it or hate it, the topic of P2P delivery has been coming on strong over the last twelve months. While our industry has been talking about P2P for many years, this year we've seen many signs of actual adoption on the way. As I outlined in a post back in April entitled "P2P Delivery Networks Can't Survive On Their Own" the biggest thing stopping P2P from becoming a mainstream product is companies thinking of it as a replacement for CDN, as opposed to a compliment. That is about to change.

By the end of this year many of the major CDNs will announce a hybrid CDN/P2P service for customers who want to leverage P2P in situations where it makes sense. No one solution of any kind works for all customers and for all types of content, so it's only natural that CDNs are going to be forced into offering the widest selection of delivery options possible. While these P2P services may not be commercially available until early next year, expect to see three or four of the major CDNs announce a service sometime in the fourth quarter. I won't say what companies are launching, when, and with what P2P technology or platform as I am not at liberty to share the details I've received from multiple people, but the service is on it's way sooner than people may think.

For content owners and CDN providers, this is a good thing. What content owner really wants to deal with how their content is delivery and the protocol or technology used? They want it delivered to the right user, at the right time, to the right device and for the right price with performance, which is defined in many ways. And for CDN vendors, why not give customers more options and potentially different levels of performance and price?

This will be a positive step in the right direction for all involved as with choice comes more adoption and with more adoption comes more growth.

Other P2P Posts

- Confusion Reigns Supreme When It Comes To P2P Delivery Networks

- Do P2P Networks Really Support Streaming?

- P2P Delivery Networks Can't Survive On Their Own

- Online Video Distribution Requires A Hybrid Approach

- Carriers Speak Out On Peer to Peer

Comments

[Stephen Condon]

I hope this reflects a greater understanding in the marketplace that P2P are not necessarily dirty letters. Some commercial P2P networks have the ability to optimize peering within ISP's networks and minimize any resource drain on users PCs - often areas where some P2P networks of ill-repute get criticized. P2P optimize the cost, speed and quality of content that is in high demand.

Its also interesting that P2P networks are including CDN capabilities in their service offerings and now CDNs are looking to offer P2P capabilities. Verisign which acquired the Kontiki P2P network has been adding a range of CDN capabilities to fully meet the needs of all media clients. Dan, I guess you do not consider Verisign a "major CDN" so I will excuse you from not calling us out as an exception to the above rule :)

[Jonathan Speaker]

This is the right angle. P2P done correctly, will provide for blended solutions, especially for large single events, but more over for branded content with loyal viewers who wont mind the extra downloads, and sharing of bandwidth. One point still stands out and that is it has to be secure.