Give Your Rural Customers Better Streaming Content Experiences – Cisco Blogs

The NFL, March Madness, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, and more – the wish list of streaming experiences your subscribers are vying for is never-ending. Are you and your network ready?

Here’s some good news for service providers in rural communities. As you invest to expand broadband access and reach more unserved and underserved rural households, you now have an opportunity to augment your broadband service with content experiences that can both delight your customers and improve your bottom line.

We understand the challenge rural service providers face. Just like anywhere else in the world, once you deliver increased bandwidth to your subscribers, your network pipes fill up due to the insatiable demand for live and on-demand content streaming.

And therein lies the problem. Traditional content delivery approaches deliver content that enters the service provider network through CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) and peering points. As content requests increase, the streaming traffic entering the network grows. This increased load drives increases in the cost of capacity at your network core and peering points. At the same time, traffic bottlenecks from content entering your network strain your subscribers’ quality of experience. The traditional content delivery approach results in increased latency increase and degraded viewing experiences which means your subscribers experience longer video start times, and more buffering.

Solve network capacity challenges, improve streaming quality, and tap into new revenue streams

You may have heard of the Cisco® Edge Cloud for Content Delivery. It’s a solution based on Cisco innovations in edge computing combined with open caching technology developed by the Streaming Video Alliance (SVA) and commercialized by our solution partner, Qwilt. The solution helps ensure high-quality streaming by bringing content closer to subscribers using edge nodes owned by the service provider and embedded in their networks.

This approach reduces latency and improves the quality of experience by offloading traffic at the network core and peering points. Instead of multiple concurrent unicast streams causing bottlenecks at the core of your network or at peering points, you can cache them at your network edge for more efficient and higher quality unicast streaming to your subscribers.

The solution is also federated into Qwilt’s global content delivery network, giving service providers access to a wide variety of content choices to deliver to subscribers. At the same time, with greater visibility, predictability, and traffic control, you can collaborate more directly with publishers in the content delivery value chain, providing new business models and revenue opportunities for assured content experiences.

But wait – there’s more for rural broadband providers

The National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) and Qwilt recently announced the launch of a joint initiative. Broadband service providers who are members or become members of NCTC can upgrade their infrastructure with Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) hardware preconfigured with Qwilt software and services at no cost!
In addition, the solution is provided as a managed service to NCTC members. Qwilt partners directly with NCTC and its members to embed and operate the content delivery infrastructure and provide a revenue-sharing model with participating service providers.

And remember that subscriber wish-list of streaming experiences? Qwilt has already partnered with major content publishers such as Disney+ and another major global live and On-Demand streaming platform.

Here’s what Qwilt CEO and Co-founder Along Maor said:
“The way we consume video has changed, and content delivery must change with it. Our shared vision is to help NCTC members enable open caching in their networks as a core component of their broadband infrastructure. Together with NCTC, we will help their members establish a content delivery platform that will serve as a foundation for today’s applications and new experiences coming in the future.”

If you’re keeping score, here’s what you gain:

● Improve customer experiences with a solution that optimizes the delivery of over-the-top (OTT) content as well as your own managed content.
● Reduce costs by deploying a solution without requiring capital investments while benefiting from a managed service that simplifies operations and offers flexible expansion options.
● Grow revenue by participating in the content delivery value chain and a revenue-sharing business model.

Expanding broadband access is the first step and we have that covered as your partner to deliver rural broadband network solutions. I’m excited to work with you on the second step and encourage you to explore your eligibility to participate in this joint opportunity with Cisco, Qwilt, and the NCTC. Also, take a few minutes to find out more about the Cisco Edge Cloud solution for Rural Broadband Content Delivery.

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