The tech that propels video streaming giants

Over the past hundred years, the way we consume media has evolved dramatically. Behind every significant shift? Key advancements in technology.

In the 1920s, silent films gave way to “talkies.” In the 1950s, the rise of broadcast television had people glued to their TV screens. In the 1980s, cable TV broadened viewers’ choices. And while people still went to the movies and watched TV in the late 2000s, yet another upheaval was around the corner: the rise of streaming services with on-demand videos.¹

Today, over-the-top streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+ have become household names. And, in 2020, as the pandemic kept most of the world indoors, people were binge-watching even more. Netflix, for instance, went through a growth spurt in the first quarter of 2020, gaining almost 16 million new accounts. This is almost double the number of sign-ups they got during the tail end of 2019.²

Indeed, their tech-driven nature allowed streaming services and other highly digital companies to survive, and even thrive, during the pandemic.

But how exactly are these companies able to handle the massive amounts of data required to make every show available to every viewer anytime, anywhere? Technologies like SDN played a big part.

Software-defined networks, or SDN, are a key technological enabler of services like Netflix, Amazon, and Google.³ They enable large-scale data centres, which companies like Netflix rely on to store content. Without SDN, these companies would not be able to scale and serve massive user bases with different demands all at the same time.

But SDN isn’t just for companies who need to deliver enormous amounts of content to subscribers. Any global enterprise that requires agile and elastic networks can also derive significant benefits from the technology.

Its origins can be traced back to a research collaboration between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.⁴

SDN is essentially a network architecture approach that separates the control plane and the data plane.⁵

This means decoupling the mechanism that decides where network traffic gets sent, and the mechanism that does the actual transfer. Systems can then use more generic machines to focus on transporting traffic (these can be distributed across network switches), and more powerful ones to run software that’s in charge of network management (this centralises the control plane).⁶

By allowing for the centralised management of the control plane, large networks of hardware components and applications could be monitored, configured, and automated as if they were a single network. This also gives users full visibility of their network.

Streaming services take advantage of technologies including cloud computing, SDN, and network functions virtualisation (NFV) to deploy new features quickly, make high-quality content always available to millions of users at a time, and reduce operational costs.

Network virtualisation—transforming once hardware-dependent networks into software-based ones—enables the seamless delivery of content to users' devices. The reduced operational expenses also allow content providers to pass on the cost savings to their users in the form of more affordable subscription fees.

Industries all over the world are embracing SDN because it paves the way for increased competitiveness and innovation. It allows them to create new revenue streams, as well as reduce capital expenditures and operating expenses.⁷

SDN enables new network capabilities such as traffic engineering, network virtualisation, verification and troubleshooting, and orchestration and automation for cloud applications. This makes companies more efficient, agile, and flexible.

The technology is also highly adaptable and can also be used for different types of networks, such as enterprise wired and wireless networks, data centres, service provider networks, and cellular wireless networks.⁸

Among the applications and services that SDN can optimise are security services, network intelligence and monitoring, compliance and applications bound by regulation, high-performance applications like computer-aided design (CAD) and engineering software, and the control of applications distributed across data centres and the cloud.⁹

Compared to traditional networks, SDN is more agile because it’s software-based and can manage and configure resources in real-time. It’s also more secure because it regulates compliance and traffic easily, provides centralised management of security, and allows for the use of virtual machines.

It also offers cost savings, as users won’t need to buy new equipment to expand the network. Instead, they can optimise existing hardware. Because users can switch between network configurations without having to physically access their devices, it’s also easier to control than traditional networks. Lastly, it’s significantly more powerful and can handle data-intensive processes and applications.

All these benefits can open up pathways for innovation and give companies an edge over their competition.

If you provide content or services to users' hardware, consider these benefits that SDN can bring to your business. Aside from making your organisation more agile and efficient, SDN may even restructure your business model or open doors to new revenue streams. It could also help you adapt to shifting customer needs.

In today’s demanding and rapidly changing business environment, SDN can help your company be more flexible, innovative, and digitally resilient.

For businesses in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region, Liquid-X offers connectivity that boosts flexibility and resiliency. It’s our suite of cloud services that simplifies enterprise networking and makes it easier to connect, manage, monitor and expand globally.

Contact us to learn more about how SDN and Singtel can transform your business.

¹ The New York Times, The Streaming Era Has Finally Arrived. Everything Is About to Change, 2019.

² Forbes, Netflix Subscriber Growth Slows After Surging During Pandemic, 2020.

³ InfoWorld, ​​SDN secrets of Amazon and Google, 2014.

⁴ Network World, What is SDN and where software-defined networking is going, 2019.

⁵ TechTarget, Definition: plane (in networking).

⁶ CodiLime, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) - a gentle introduction, 2021.

⁷ Stanford University, Software Defined Networking.

⁸ Stanford University, Software Defined Networking.

⁹ Data Center Knowledge, Top Five Apps and Services That Can Benefit from SDN, 2016.