{"id":5571,"date":"2014-05-16T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=5571"},"modified":"2014-05-16T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T14:00:11","slug":"netflixs-many-pronged-plan-to-eliminate-video-playback-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/05\/16\/netflixs-many-pronged-plan-to-eliminate-video-playback-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s many-pronged plan to eliminate video playback problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW YORK CITY\u2014For all of Netflix\u2019s complaints about Internet service providers harming video performance, one of the company\u2019s top technology experts is confident that the streaming company can solve most of its customers\u2019 problems.<\/p>\n

David Fullagar, Netflix\u2019s director of content delivery architecture, spoke about the company\u2019s plans Monday at the Content Delivery Summit in New York. He described the hardware Netflix uses in its Open Connect content delivery network (CDN), noting that the company has a technological advantage over traditional CDNs because it\u2019s always delivering content to devices running Netflix\u2019s own software rather than using a hodgepodge of products built by other companies.<\/p>\n

The best-known parts of Open Connect are probably the storage boxes that Internet service providers can take into their own networks to bring content closer to consumers. ISPs can also peer with Netflix, exchanging traffic directly without hosting Netflix equipment. But these aren\u2019t the only ways Netflix\u2019s Open Connect technology can deliver good quality.<\/p>\n

Netflix used to use third-party CDNs such as Akamai, but it has moved most of its traffic over to Open Connect in the past couple of years. Outside the US, 100 percent of Netflix traffic is distributed using Open Connect equipment. The percentage is in the \u201chigh 90s\u201d in the US, with plans to hit 100 percent this summer. Even if the storage boxes aren\u2019t inside an ISP\u2019s network, they\u2019re not too far away. They could even be in the same data centers, the Internet exchange points where Netflix transit providers connect to ISPs.<\/p>\n

Fullagar was asked by an audience member how Netflix works with ISPs who offer competing products. \u201cFrom a quality point of view we don\u2019t need to be that close to the end user for the sort of video we serve,\u201d Fullagar said. \u201cHaving extremely low latency is nice\u201d because it allows videos to start playing faster. However, \u201cwhat we\u2019re most interested in is a good, uncongested link, and that doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be very low latency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s peering with ISPs has been controversial because some of the Internet providers have demanded payment in exchange for accepting Netflix traffic. Netflix gave in to Verizon and Comcast, agreeing to pay both companies, but it has claimed that the Federal Communications Commission should force the ISPs to provide free peering. Netflix has sent its traffic through congested links when its business disputes have gone unresolved, deteriorating quality despite the other steps Netflix takes to improve it. (Comcast and analyst Dan Rayburn accused Netflix of purposely sending traffic through congested links.)<\/p>\n

When asked how much Netflix can affect streaming performance given that it controls the server end of the connection as well as the user\u2019s software, Fullagar said, \u201cI think we\u2019re on the tip of the iceberg of being able to do quite a lot there.\u201d Netflix\u2019s access to information about each customer\u2019s device and Internet connection will fuel some as-yet-unrevealed strategies for improving quality, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have extra information beyond just, hey this is someone wanting this file,” he said. “At connection time we know the sort of client they are, whether it\u2019s a Wii or a PS4 or a streaming stick. We know the network they\u2019re on, we know a bunch of historical information about latency and quality of service we\u2019ve had to those networks. We know whether they\u2019re connected on a device that\u2019s wired or wireless. There\u2019s a bunch of hints that we have there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company has started some \u201cexperiments that are working out really well, and in the future we\u2019ll talk more about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix itself has equipment at about 20 Internet exchange points in North America and Europe and has “tens if not hundreds of embedded caches in ISP networks,” Fullagar said.<\/p>\n

Full Story: Netflix\u2019s many-pronged plan to eliminate video playback problems | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK CITY\u2014For all of Netflix\u2019s complaints about Internet service providers harming video performance, one of the company\u2019s top technology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,9],"tags":[572,740,1046],"class_list":["post-5571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking","category-software","tag-isp","tag-netflix","tag-streaming-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1rR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9374,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/07\/08\/this-week-in-tech-674-go-dung-beetles\/","url_meta":{"origin":5571,"position":0},"title":"This Week in Tech 674: Go Dung Beetles!","author":"NCCT","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AUy6JMi1pRw Survival of the Richest, Failing Facial Recognition Tech, \/r\/thanosdidnothingwrong, and More! -- Billionaires prepare for the coming apocalypse: have you bought your missile silo condo yet? 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