Here is when a Content Delivery Network (CDN) comes into the picture! It is a crucial component of platforms like Amazon Prime Video(a prime competitor to Netflix) since it guarantees that materials are delivered quickly and reliably to viewers all around the world. Amazon Prime Video is one of the most popular streaming services, and it delivers its content using a sophisticated CDN called CloudFront based on its cloud service AWS( Amazon Web Service).
As a matter of fact, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and - you guessed it - Amazon Prime Videos, are all platforms that use AWS to offer us seamless on-demand videos, fast and secure. If you wonder how that works, let me put it simply. AWS consists of a bunch of data centers, both hardware and software placed all over the world that form a Cloud.
To offer online services in today’s big data era, companies work with such cloud service providers, in this case, Amazon, because they get access to computational power, storage space, databases, software, and much more, at a fixed price based on how much they want to scale their offer up or down.
And through CloudFront, which is a worldwide network offered by AWS, our beloved media streaming services have access to a tailored service that facilitates high transfer speeds for videos and much more.
The platform's CDN comprises several edge locations and regional servers that are purposefully situated to decrease latency and give the best user experience possible. How does that work? Well, when a viewer requests a video from Amazon Prime Video, the request is routed to the nearest edge point, where the content is delivered to the user.
CloudFront is also designed for various sorts of material, such as videos, photos, and metadata. This guarantees that each sort of material is supplied as fast as possible. And it also manages abrupt traffic surges. This is critical during peak watching hours. And is also intended to deliver consistent performance across a wide range of devices and platforms, including smart TVs, mobile devices, and web browsers. Viewers can anticipate the same high-quality viewing experience regardless of the device they use because it’s not their device that processes the content, it’s the Cloud behind the scenes.
First of all, the streaming service’s CDN uses compression to minimize the amount of data transported between the origin server and the edge locations. This minimizes the bandwidth needed to send material to viewers, enhancing the CDN's overall performance.
Also, we have to mention how Amazon’s CDN employs route optimization to select the most direct way to viewers. This shortens the time it takes for the material to reach the viewer by ensuring that it is sent most shortly and efficiently.
We expect Amazon to invest in developing its localization programs moving forward. This is mainly because it’s one of the most important factors in delivering content! Localization minimizes latency and enhances the CDN's overall performance. Nothing is more frustrating than a buffering video!
And we also need to mention the artificial intelligence revolution. AI and machine learning are going to play an increasing role in enhancing CDN performance. These technologies may be used to assess user behavior and content distribution trends to optimize content delivery to viewers. Prime Video is already utilizing machine learning to improve its content recommendation algorithms, just like Netflix and others are doing as well.
One thing's certain - Amazon Prime Video will always have access to the latest technologies. And we wouldn’t expect anything less from a service whose parent company is the biggest cloud service provider in the world and one of the few trillion-dollar companies out there.
