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We speak to Chris Wilson, SVP product strategy & management at Pacnet, a global telecommunications service provider headquartered in Singapore and Hong Kong and formed from the operational merger of Asia Netcom and Pacific Internet.

In this interview, Mr. Wilson shares his thoughts on the evolving role of caching technologies, the critical role CDNs will have for content owners as they seek to quickly and efficiently reach viewers, and the challenges facing delivery of content to mobile devices.

What technological progress have you seen in CDNs in the past year?

The largest movement that we have seen is within the website optimisation space taking CDN beyond the store-and-forward caching model into HTML, TCP and HTTP optimisations. As online applications become more interactive, the need to optimise the complete flow of information from the server all the way to the consumer for non-cacheable content has become more prevalent.

Couple that with the multitude of browsers and devices that can display or interact with online applications, and caching no longer solves all problems. Companies like Strangeloop and Google’s Pagespeed have been pioneers in the optimisation of HTML, such that content is optimised to meet the unique requirements of the end-user device and browser, greatly increasing application performance and changing the role of CDNs.


Do you see Quality of Service as the single biggest reason for a content provider or OTT operator to use CDNs?

QoS is a definite factor in moving towards a CDN. With the wide choices of content that is available to consumers today, content owners must ensure that their content outperforms that of their competitors to keep end-users.

However, the QoS benefits of a CDN are a result of the cost benefits to using a CDN when trying to architect a global delivery network. To build, deploy and manage a global footprint that is capable of supporting a content owners network is largely influenced by the cost of Colo and IP Transit.

The ability to rapidly expand that footprint into new markets as customer segments change is a key benefit of CDN’s to the content owners. Pacnet is in a unique position to be able to cover Asia utilising our existing infrastructure and reach markets which are traditionally not covered by CDNs and which would be difficult for content owners to cover themselves.


Are CDNs making it unnecessary to use managed networks for the delivery of IP video?

Managed networks, such as Singapore’s NGN, will play a pivotal role in the delivery of new content services to the Singapore market, greatly increasing the choices consumers have for content. While the Singapore NGN will greatly help Singapore, it will not benefit users outside of Singapore, and given the relatively small market of Singapore, only the largest of content owners will be able to fully utilise the NGN.

CDNs complement managed networks in that they allow content owners to reach a much larger audience through a consistent technology and across large geographies such as Asia. While CDNs will not fully replace managed networks, they are critical for content owner allowing them to quickly and efficiently reach the largest consumer base without distracting from the content owner's core business of creating and producing content.


What role do you think CDNs will take in the overall mix of ways to deliver video content to viewers?

When video was delivered to a single set-top-box on a closed network, there was little need for CDNs in the delivery of video content. However, as viewers now have the ability to view video on a multitude of devices both inside and outside of the home, CDNs have become a key component in the delivery of video content.

As the CDN is network agnostic, it provides the best method for content owners to gain direct access to the networks viewers are using. CDNs allow the content to be accessible to the largest number of users without content owners being locked into a single delivery platform and methodology.

Current trends in the CDN industry which allow for the optimisation and transcoding of content based on the customer's browser greatly simplify content owners' ability to reach the largest number of viewers while maintaining the cost, performance and scalability benefits of a CDN.


What technological challenges lie ahead for the Asian CDN industry?

With the explosive growth of mobile consumption of high definition video, the Asian CDN industry needs to develop solutions to effectively deliver content to the mobile consumer base. The challenges facing mobile delivery are much more diverse than that of traditional fixed-line, and require cooperation with the mobile operators and device manufacturers.


What potential do you see for mobile CDN services?

The largest mobile consumer base in the world is in Asia. Current estimates suggest that up to 60% of consumers in China do not have access to smartphones.  Even before the adoption of tablets, mobile penetration rates in Asia have been higher than 100% in many markets, as many consumers carry two or more mobile devices. 

The relative young age of the mobile infrastructure has allowed mobile operators to deploy 3G extensively, with LTE being actively deployed in several markets, and Japan leading the way.

Based on the size of the market, the potential for growth and the deployed technology, it is clear that Asia is going to lead the way in the consumption of online content via mobile devices. Mobile networks present unique and different challenges to the effective delivery of content compared to that of fixed-line broadband. CDN operators need to focus on both markets, fixed-line and mobile, in order to effectively reach the Asian consumer base.

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