5G is stimulating a new paradigm shift in content delivery and consumption – one that requires rethinking the way content is delivered at the edge. With pending 5G rollouts across the country, the expected demand spike for high volume, service and content delivery across multiple devices is pushing key stakeholders in the content delivery ecosystem to revisit and reevaluate their infrastructure options. This is especially true for highly saturated urban markets where 5G is going to have the biggest and most imminent impact. In preparation for the 5G data onslaught, content delivery players – industry stalwarts such as Akamai and growing players such as Fastly – are designing scalable solutions powered by strategic edge Points of Presence (PoPs) to enable the seamless distribution of rich media content to the end users. Here’s why.
5G’s Impact Across Sectors
From online gaming and esports, to music and TV streaming, the media, entertainment and advertising industries are looking for new opportunities to serve always-on consumers. As a result, customers are tuning into live content like never before. For example, on Twitch, where last year the record for most concurrent views of a single live stream was broken twice, the average of overall concurrent viewers has steadily grown. After hitting 1.07 million in 2018, it has already increased to 1.30 million in 2019.
The desire for on-demand content is increasing and the trend shows no sign of letting up. According to GlobalWebIndex’s post on media and entertainment trends to watch in 2019, 46% of internet users prefer to access music through online streaming services, rather than buying it offline, and 44% of us opt for our mobile screen to watch our favorite shows. The consumer’s expectation of ultra-high definition content requires CDNs to virtualize in order to meet increased bandwidth demands. However, implementing orchestrated virtual CDNs in 5G networks won’t be enough; CDNs will still require a physical point of presence to ensure seamless delivery.
The media and entertainment sectors are not the only ones that need to prepare for the 5G revolution. The rise in use of high-definition imaging and the need for near- and real-time processing of high-definition data – from satellite surveillance images for cities to collaborative medical diagnosis, is pushing more and more enterprises to look for scalable and efficient ways to provide the expected Quality of Service (QoS) at the edge.
Preparing for the 5G Content Onslaught – The Time is Now
Leading carriers such as AT&T have already initiated 5G deployments in 12 cities across the country. Although 5G is not yet widely available, strategic edge PoPs can become your competitive advantage tomorrow. Preparing for 5G now by selecting and ramping up these strategic edge PoPs in urban hubs will go a long way to providing that consistent QoS under unprecedented bandwidth demands.
Ready to explore how Netrality can help you build your strategic edge PoPs? Contact us.
