Swarmcast Strives to Amplify Content Delivery
The typical user experience associated with CDN Amplifier is to start with an in-page embedded video that then gives users the capability to go full-screen with their video of choice. To utilize the CDN Amplifier technology, a small download is needed on the user side; that software is typically bundled along with a content owner’s custom media player. Once it’s been downloaded, it’ll work across any content owner using Swarmcast’s technology.
Complementary, Not Competitive
The as-of-yet unmentioned piece of this puzzle is the cost. While Swarmcast was not immediately forthcoming regarding hard numbers, Chapweske did have this to say: "Our target is to have this service essentially have a net zero cost to customers." He goes on to explain that this will be accomplished because some of the data being sent by CDN Amplifier’s customers will come from Swarmcast’s system, which will offset data that would normally be coming from the CDN. (Of course, this doesn’t take into account the fact that overall transfer costs will have to rise as CDN Amplifier enables higher bit-rate videos to be delivered.)
Despite Swarmcast’s business model for CDN Amplifier seemingly being based on taking business away from CDNs, becoming a major CDN is not one of their goals. "We do host our own infrastructure, and there is some encoding of the data that’s coming from our network, but it’s purely as an augmented source of that data. Our company is definitely not focused on being the point of origination for content," says Chapweske. "The CDNs have great management tools. They provide good facilities for ingesting and tracking content. A CDN also provides a strong, clear source signal. We’re really designed to just be the amplifier that powers the quality of the video."
And assuming CDNs embrace this technology, it could result in their customers distributing video at bit rates many times that of current standards—thereby upping the transfer costs they pay to CDNs.
It should also be noted that for companies large enough to host their own content, essentially serving as their own CDNs, CDN Amplifier is applicable to the delivery of content in that space as well.
Customers and the Future
The only two customers of Swarmcast’s technology that one can point to are MLB.tv and a reference to their licensing technology to for the "distribution of 250GB Hollywood movies to North America’s largest network of digital cinemas," per a late November release regarding a successful $5 million round of funding. Chapweske hinted, though, that an initial list of beta testers for CDN Amplifier should be forthcoming in the not-too-distant future.
In more general terms, Chapweske cites professional sports as one market that has shown a strong demand for Swarmcast’s earlier swarming technologies, as well as movie distribution sites. He defines CDN Amplifier’s overall market as encompassing any content distribution service "where the audience expects a very high-quality piece of content. Our focus is primarily in areas where there is some sort of business model associated with the video," he concludes.
Set-top boxes provide another significant area of interest for Swarmcast to apply this product, perhaps even going so far as to embed the technology right into the display, but as of today, no customers or partnerships have been announced.