Content delivery networks (CDN) originated in the mid to late 1990s when companies such as Adero, Sandpiper and Akamai developed new methods of increasing the deliver speed of web content. Today, the CDN service provider market has expanded to include small object/site acceleration, software delivery and large object/video streaming. Many CDN providers also offer value-added services such as storage, transcoding, rights management and analytics.
The CDN market is currently undergoing a major growth phase and is estimated at 30 percent CAGR. This expansion is powered primarily by the rapid growth of online video. Cisco’s Visual Networking Index (VNI) study indicates that online video will grow over 4X, from 4 million in 2010 to 17 million terabytes per month in 2015.
This growth is also creating a shift in the market structure as new players enter and as tier 2 firms try to gain share through pricing and differentiation. A consequence of this market turmoil will be a transition in the balance of power between buyers and suppliers and between the media companies and online video companies.
David Dines, video infrastructure/CDN analyst, discusses the CDN market and explores trends and drivers that are creating the evolution in the market.
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