Cisco Edge Cloud for Content Delivery is a global solution that leverages the communication service provider (CSP) edge to bring content closer to users, thereby reducing latency to improve the quality of streaming experiences to subscribers. It combines Qwilt's open caching software, cloud services, and cloud-based APIs with Cisco's edge compute technology and enables CSPs to take proactive control of content traffic from multiple publishers. The CSPs' advanced traffic management can further enhance streaming quality.

For wholesale carriers, the argument may go, "I don't own the end subscriber session and therefore this doesn't make business sense for me".

Wholesale carriers own/operate an open access network and sell network capacity to other CSPs. Although the end subscriber session is owned by the CSP, the wholesale carrier is providing services to that CSP. This means that the wholesale carriers can leverage the use case for open caching to serve content to the CSP's subscribers.

Open caching nodes can be deployed in a centralized model in the wholesale carrier's network and the content traffic could be injected midstream between the subscriber and the CSP in a point-to-point protocol terminated aggregation (PTA) architecture. This happens as the wholesale carrier hands over the subscriber traffic to the CSP and/or as the wholesale carrier exchanges IP packets with the subscriber over the PPP link.

In a distributed model, the caching nodes could be deployed in the CSP's environment as a managed service, where the wholesale carrier (in partnership with Qwilt) takes responsibility for the lifecycle management of those nodes. The distributed model in effect is a miniature of the broader Cisco/Qwilt CDN architecture. The content publishers delegate traffic to the Qwilt nodes supported by Cisco in the wholesale carrier's network. Similarly, the Qwilt nodes in the wholesale carrier's network will delegate traffic to the open caching nodes that would be deployed in the CSP's network.

These models would present a win-win situation for all the role players involved because as the wholesale carrier witnesses traffic growth on their access footprint, they'll be able to capture a share of that traffic and monetize it through open caching and not fall victim to escalating Opex and flattening revenue.

It's a win for CSPs because they'll be able to reap some savings on their peering costs, thereby optimizing their Opex. They'll no longer have to transmit traffic over their gateway routers, running the risk of congestion and potentially needing to upgrade capacity. And because the caching nodes are deployed in their wholesale carrier's network, the subscriber over-the-top (OTT) requests would be serviced locally.

Content publishers benefit from this solution because when they delegate content to the Qwilt caching nodes they leverage the last mile of the wholesale carrier and deliver content from very close to the subscriber.

Lastly, the biggest winner here is the subscriber because locally cached content means lower latency, low buffering rates, higher resolution, and improved quality of experience.

If you are a wholesale carrier and would like to learn more about the Edge Cloud for Content Delivery solution, please visit our web page or speak with your local account representative.