The demand for video streaming is growing exponentially. High-quality video content delivery is a challenge for any organization, especially at live events. Delivering a real-time video stream to many viewers can be difficult due to the high bandwidth requirements. CDNs or Content Delivery Networks play a prominent role in delivering video content. A CDN is a system of servers used to store and deliver digital content, such as videos or software. When a user requests a file from a CDN, the closest server in the network will deliver the content.
It is important to use a multi-CDN strategy to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted streaming experience. Multi-CDN is a superior content delivery technology that uses a combination of two or more CDNs to deliver video content. By using multiple CDNs, you can ensure that your video stream will reach its destination quickly and without any buffering. This can be especially useful for live events, such as concerts or sporting events, where viewers expect a smooth and uninterrupted streaming experience.
In this article, we will discuss the basic concept, functions, and benefits of using a multi-CDN strategy for real-time video streaming and how it can be implemented.
What is CDN?
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a collection of interconnected servers that are geographically distributed and used to fast digital content delivery. Unlike traditional methods of keeping your website in one place (wherever your web hosting company’s data center is located), a CDN behaves as if the website is hosted in different locations without the need to sync your website content between all hosts manually. CDN services are often used to provide a better experience for users by delivering content quickly and reducing page load times.
What is Multi-CDN?
A multi-CDN is a custom CDN with multiple content delivery networks working together to deliver content. This is often done to improve performance or provide redundancy if one CDN performance goes down. Since a multi-CDN setup combines multiple CDN providers, it can also help with geographic coverage, as it can reach areas a single CDN might not be able to. Some CDN vendor has region-based strongness, and hence a combination of different CDN providers will help you avoid a single point of failure.
How is Multi-CDN Implemented?
When using a multi-CDN strategy, the first CDN will deliver the content to the edge servers. These servers are located close to the viewers and are used to cache or store the content. The edge servers will then send the content to the viewers. If there is a problem with one of the CDN providers, the other CDN vendors will take over and ensure that the content is delivered to the viewers.
Multi-CDN can be used for live video streaming, such as gaming, church streaming, TV shows, VOD streaming, and so on. The common multi-CDN strategies include:
Why should you use multiple CDNs?
Since websites’ traffic load increases, relying on a single CDN to distribute your website’s content is getting more difficult. Most websites today use services from a multi-CDN provider for their traffic needs.
Reasons to use multiple CDNs:
- Improved performance and reliability
- Increased reach to global audiences
- Improved page load times
- Reduced cost
The demand for a Multiple CDN strategy arises to manage large-scale traffic and distribute content from different data centers worldwide. Different CDNs have their performance, coverage, or price advantages. They provide a cost-effective, high-performing, and reliable solution for distributing content when used together.
CDNs work to improve the performance of your website by caching static files and delivering them from the closest point of presence. It reduces the load on your origin server and can improve page loading speed times.
Most CDN providers ensure that they have a global network of servers to deliver your website quickly to any corner of the world. They are promised to serve you the best performance from the nearest location to the viewer, minimizing the latency and improving the overall streaming experience. But the fact is that the world of technology is always unpredictable. So, it is always advisable to have a backup plan.
When you use a multi CDN solution, you use two or more CDNs instead of a single CDN. So, you have multiple backup plans instead of a single one. If one CDN goes down, the other CDN can take over and ensure that your content is delivered to the viewers.
A multi-CDN setup can also help with geographic coverage, as it can reach areas a single CDN might not be able to.
Multi-CDN Approach to Video Streaming Technology
Multi-CDN strategies are essential for delivering real-time video streaming because they provide redundancy and failover. If one CDN is unavailable or experiencing issues, the other CDNs can pick up the slack and ensure that the video stream is still delivered quickly and without interruption. It’s significant for live events, where viewers expect a smooth and uninterrupted streaming experience.
Using a multi-CDN strategy, you can ensure that your video stream will quickly reach its destination without any buffering. It can be a lifesaver for live events, such as concerts or sporting events, where viewers expect a smooth and uninterrupted streaming experience.
Castr uses a multi-CDN strategy in a streaming solution. Using multi-CDN architecture allows us to offer our customers the best possible viewing experience failover in case of any issues with one of the CDNs. If you’re looking for a real-time video streaming solution that can offer the best possible viewing experience, consider using a multi-CDN-based streaming software like Castr. io. Castr uses its own CDN with a combination of multi CDN architectures rather than using a single CDN provider.
Multi-CDN Strategy of castr.com
Castr is a video streaming solution that uses a multi-CDN strategy for streaming solutions. Castr never sacrifices content quality. Their video quality is always perfect, and they work to ensure that videos are delivered as quickly as possible. When using Castr, you can be confident that your viewers will have a smooth, uninterrupted streaming experience.
Castr’s multi-CDN architectures are built using various of the world’s best CDNs, including Akamai, Fastly, and Cloudflare. It ensures that your video stream will be delivered quickly and reliably, no matter where your viewers are.
Let’s see why Castr uses these CDNs for combining their multi-CDN strategy and how it can benefit your video streaming solution.
Akamai
Akamai is a CDN (Content Delivery Network) that provides services with high-speed to approximately 1250 networks worldwide. These content distribution networks play an integral part in providing fast download speeds for videos, music files, and other digital media when downloaded from popular websites such as YouTube or Spotify without any errors due to their choice of hosting providers who have been carefully selected based on performance metrics like Kilobyte.
Key Features of Akamai CDN provider:
- Image & Video Manager
- Adaptive Media Delivery (AMD)
- API Acceleration
- Media Analytics
- Media Services Live
- Adaptive Media Player
- API Gateway
- Google Cloud Platform Interconnect
- CloudTest
- DataStream
- Global Traffic Management
- mPulse
- Ion
Cloudflare CDN
With the popularity of video streaming on the rise, it’s no wonder that CDN services are becoming more important. Cloudflare CDN offers a wide range of great features for any size business or personal site!
Key Features of Cloudflare CDN Provider:
- Video CDN Provider with Fast & Agile Network
- Static and Dynamic Content Delivery
- Highly Customizable CDN
- Increased Bandwidth Savings
- Real-time Traffic Analytics
- Support for HTTP/3
- Support for HLS, CMAF, and MPEG-DASH Video Files
- Web Cache Deception Protection
Fastly CDN
One of the most popular CDN services for video streaming is Fastly. They offer a wide range and some great features that will help you deliver an excellent user experience, such as their fully configurable network with global caching at multiple points around it to make media available closer to viewers who are trying to watch your videos on-demand or download large files like software without any problems!
Key features of Fastly CDN provider:
- Real-time visibility
- Low Latency
- API friendly Control
- Change the Content Rapidly
- Stress-free Rollbacks
- Device Detection
- Detect Geolocation
- Edge Dictionaries
Conclusion
When delivering a smooth and uninterrupted streaming experience for your viewers, using a multi-CDN strategy is the best way to go. Castr uses a combination of two or more CDNs to provide their customers with the highest quality video streams possible. If you’re looking for a reliable and high-quality streaming solution, Castr is a perfect choice. Thanks for reading!
