I have often wonder why Netflix doesn't uses its Fast.com to offer CDN services.
They could also have offer their Encoding System as Services. I upload a video file, sets a few requirements and I get Netflix Quality encoding in return without me fiddling anything.
The answer to both of those is "because Netflix is a video delivery service, not an infrastructure service". It would be a whole new skillset for the company to offer such a service. Running those things, and selling them, are two very different things.
I guess so, It is just a nice idea. It was one day I notice how Fast the response time were in Fast.com compared to others. I am not even sure if Google Edge Node in the ISP even works with the GCP CDN, because their performance don't seems to be leading the pack.
The Market for CDN and Online Video Encoding that Netflix could get are properly in the sub annual $1B range, may be too small for Netflix to even consider.
I just thought the more traffic passing through those FreeBSD Server the better.
It's only incompatible when ISPs actually act on their natural preference for consumption to go towards in-house edge caches. It's not that much different from the ancient art of configuring http servers and caching proxies to get along well (back even caching proxies were still a thing).
So Akamai, CloudFlare et al. will locate servers in a large ISPs data centre. TIL, I just assumed once a resource had been cached then they'd effectively have that collocation (logically); I'm surprised if avoiding the cost of the first hit really saves anything for static content.
Obviously anyone streaming video, it's different.
I wonder if BBC iPlayer (major streaming service in UK) collocate with ISPs.
Will those servers have a local (to the ISP) IP, or do the Akamai IPs get physically routed to the AS?
It is a CDN, but what's new is that the openconnect appliances are distributed not just in datacenters, but directly to ISPs. Traditional CDNs aren't in your ISP.
Do Akamai has Servers right in ISP's DC / Network? I know they are within 1 hoops in lots of places, but never heard they are actually inside ISP's network, which is what Netflix OpenAppliance and Google Edge Node has done.
https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/
It's a smart move really. Netflix saves bandwidth and ISPs save transit capacity.
Might also be the reason Netflix is so good at detecting if you're connecting from a "residential" IP block.