Akamai, Juniper demo elastic CDN system to meet the needs of telco clouds

Akamai TechnologiesandJuniper Networksshowcased anElastic Content Delivery Network (CDN) system designed to enable network operators to address network scalability challenges driven by the rapid increase in video traffic.

The proof-of-concept demonstration leveraged Akamai’s virtualized Aura Licensed CDN (LCDN) software and Juniper Networks’sContrail Controllerfor software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) to scale up and down network resources to support content spikes resulting from the broadcast of large events.

The technology is also designed to accelerate service creation for service providers utilizing CDNs to launch multiscreen video services that help drive subscriber acquisition and loyalty.

Video consumption has shifted dramatically from a relatively predictive and controlled model to one that is highly dynamic.To meet customer demand for multiscreen video services, network operators are increasingly migrating their delivery architecture to CDN-assisted IP video to scale delivery and stay current with the latest technologies. Additionally, many operators are now looking at virtualization of the CDN network function as a key component in scaling delivery.

To address the scalability challenge, the Elastic CDN solution running on virtualization platforms leverages Juniper Networks Contrail to quickly configure virtual network resources within a virtual CDN, and allows additional caching capacity to be deployed in minutes instead of weeks. The Elastic CDN is highly distributed and virtually networked to enable efficient use of resources. Operating in an OpenStack environment, the combined solution is designed to help reduce time and cost associated with adding new caching capacity to the network, decreasing both capital and operational expense.

“Content delivery networks are evolving to meet the needs of increasingly real-time, distributed applications and users. Overlay networks have proven to simplify and automate the delivery of application and user-centric services without the administrative overhead of traditional infrastructure approaches. By combining Akamai’s virtualized caching components with Contrail’s scale-out network service automation, the companies have created a truly elastic CDN solution to meet the emerging needs of telco clouds,” saidJennifer Lin, senior director product management, Juniper Networks.