Broadpeak takes server-side approach to ABR streaming

Broadpeak, a CDN and video tech provider, is rolling out S4Streaming, a new platform that uses server-side technology for adaptive bit rate streaming.

The company said S4 assesses and selects the appropriate quality for video streaming to reduce the latency of live streams and enable higher bit rates for on-demand content delivery.

"Until now, ABR streaming has been exclusively relying on the players to evaluate bandwidth and perform quality selection. The problem with this approach is that it can cause uneven end-user experiences, and bandwidth evaluation may not work in the context of low-latency video streaming, further worsening viewer experiences," said Jacques Le Mancq, CEO at Broadpeak, in a statement. "S4Streaming represents an inflection point in the industry, giving service providers full control over how their resources are used so that they can deliver high-quality video streams with low latency."

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S4Streaming measures the bandwidth available from the server side, rather than at the player level, so it has improved access to information about network congestion through streaming servers that rely on modern network transport algorithms. The S4Streaming solution allows for control of quality stream selections based on server-side assessments or via operator-defined rules. Broadpeak said service providers can also change video profiles at any time.

The company said S4Streaming also allows service providers to determine how network investments will translate into an improvement in video QoE, prevent events that can cause QoE degradation, anticipate streaming limits and manage bandwidth.

S4 also includes a home network orchestration feature that allows service providers to distribute bandwidth resources among different devices and monitor bandwidth at the home level. For mobile applications, a cell congestion capability enables management of backhaul and radio cell congestion during consumption peaks.

Broadpeak said S4Streaming is compatible with the existing ABR streaming ecosystem and can be used in both unicast and multicast ABR environments.