In an email Q&A with the WHIR, Mirror Image Internet marketing director Martin Hayward explains how Mirror Image Internet‘s content delivery network helped local UNC fans access NCAA content online.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — As the Tar Heels defeated the Spartans Monday night before a disappointed home crowd at Ford Field in Detroit, more than 600 miles away, local University of North Carolina fans were able to see coverage of their team winning its fifth national championship online.
Mirror Image Internet (www.mirror-image.com) was able to provide streaming and on-demand video to local news network Capitol Broadcasting Company, which makes its local news, weather and sports available online through the group’s regional news site, WRAL.com (www.wral.com).
WRAL.com extended its partnership with Mirror Image to support spikes around NCAA basketball tournament just weeks ago, selecting Mirror Image’s Live Streaming, Flash Stream VOD Proxy and Global Content Caching solutions to serve the Raleigh metropolitan area.
Both CBC’s WRAL.com and special sports site (www.wralsportsfan.com) delivered NCAA content amidst traffic spikes as fans followed the Tar Heels during the March Madness leading up to the national championships, confident that Mirror Image’s support would manage traffic seamlessly.
In an email interview with Mirror Image Internet marketing director Martin Hayward explains how his company’s CDN performed at game time.
WHIR: Can you describe how the relationship between Capital Broadcasting Company and Mirror Image Internet arose?
Martin Hayward: Capital Broadcasting Company (CBC) New Media began using Mirror Image Internet’s video streaming solution in 2006 for a new layer of assurance so their servers could handle whatever and whenever traffic spikes their sites may encounter on a daily basis. Since implementing Mirror Image’s solutions, CBC’s sites, including WRAL.com, the group’s regional news site, are supporting more video than ever, as viewers continue to seek on-demand coverage of news, weather, and sports throughout the day.
What makes Mirror Image Internet’s content delivery solution attractive to regional media companies?
MH: Mirror Image’s global network consists of Content Access Points (CAPs) which are located throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. These CAPs are large data centers that contain hundreds of servers, network switches, and storage devices that enable Mirror Image to deliver digital media, like video from a CAP that’s located close to the person who’s requesting the video. This makes the delivery of the content faster, more reliable and more cost effective than if a regional media company tried to do it themselves.
What specific technical challenges does local and regional news and sports delivery pose to a content delivery network that make it different from, for instance, delivering a syndicated drama?
MH: The technical challenges of delivering video for a local/regional news and sports company, like WRAL.com, are similar to delivering a syndicated drama. Mirror Image can store the news, sports or the syndicated drama at any location on our network, or we can just retrieve it from the customer’s origin server and deliver it to the person who is requesting it. While the technical challenges are similar, there are some differences. Typically, a syndicated drama is pre-recorded, while a news and sports outlet may have both video on-demand and live streaming video. With a news outlet, events can happen in a moment’s notice, which means traffic can spike very easily and quickly, depending on the story. With a syndicated drama, spikes will probably not be as high or as frequent as a timely news or sports story.
How crucial is delivering streaming events like the Presidential Inauguration and on-demand sports clips such as around the NCAA tournament critical to building a media company’s reputation in content delivery.
MH: Delivering streaming events such as the Presidential Inauguration, a shuttle launch, or on-demand sports clips, such as those found on both WRAL.com and CBC’s sports site, www.wralsportsfan.com, and doing it flawlessly is crucial to building a media company’s reputation. For example, with both Mirror Image’s streaming and caching solutions, CBC’s WRAL.com has been able to deliver real-time video reports, sports coverage around the NCAA tournament and more, as well as information via the Doppler radar for regional viewers. During the NCAA basketball tournament, CBC could anticipate potential traffic spikes, as fans followed local ACC teams throughout the tournament, to ensure that their viewers would have the most enjoyable viewing experience possible. As one of the leading regional news and media companies in the country, CBC New Media really understands the value of streaming and on-demand video content to drive viewership and loyalty.
How should a media company approach delivering streaming content versus on-demand content? Are there different things to consider if they are streaming a live, one-time event such as a press conference, versus offering a library of video content for repeat viewing such as highlight clips, interviews, etc.?
MH: Media companies, like CBC, have a variety of delivery choices when it comes to streaming a live event or video on-demand. A live event, like the Presidential Inauguration, does not require any storage space with the CDN (only bandwidth fees), while on-demand videos may require both storage space and bandwidth fees. To handle something on this scale, Mirror Image offers a complete range of video delivery services including VOD proxy streaming which allows customers to maintain their media on their servers. The Mirror Image network will automatically retrieve the content from the customer’s Web server, when needed, and cache it in the network for subsequent requests. With this option, there is no network storage associated with the VOD streaming service. The proxy system ensures that fresh content is quickly and reliably streamed to users from a globally distributed set of Content Access Points (CAPs) without the customer actively uploading content to the Mirror Image (MII) network.
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