The Vital Role of Networking in Corporate Video

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER The Vital Role of Networking in Corporate Video Strategies for Evaluating the Cost and Effectiveness of Video Distribution Solutions in the Enterprise Steve Vonder Haar September 2015 Paper sponsored by: Copyright 2012 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 1

2 Contents Executive Summary... 1 Considerations Shaping Video Networking Investments... 2 Enabling Video Networking in the Enterprise... 4 Do-It-Yourself Media Servers... 4 Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions... 5 Wide-Area Networking Alternatives... 6 Multicasting... 6 Software-Defined Networking... 8 Sorting Through Your Video Networking Options... 9 For business stakeholders... 9 For technology managers About the Author / About Wainhouse Research List of Figures Figure 1: Perceived Importance of Network Capacity for Video Distribution on the Streaming Purchase Decision Respondents from Organizations Using Live Online Video 100 or More Times Annually... 1 Wainhouse Research White Paper: Understanding the Parameters of Corporate Video Networking 2015 Wainhouse Research. All rights reserved Copyright 2012 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 2

3 Executive Summary Video is the most vibrant venue that executives can use to convey their message to large, far-flung audiences within their respective organizations. More engaging than a conference call, more impactful than , streaming video is described as an effective tool for business communications by 83% of 1,201 executives participating in a fourth quarter 2014 survey fielded by Wainhouse Research. Business leaders can employ streaming video in multiple ways. Some use it to disseminate critical company news to employees, others leverage it to boost revenue through better sales force training, and still others employ it as a tool to eliminate travel costs by replacing some company conferences with video meetings. (The idea is to enable employees to stay at home while still delivering a message to them.) Despite video s clear value to the enterprise, it is virtually meaningless without the right distribution infrastructure. For Figure 1: Perceived Importance of Network Capacity for Video Distribution on the Streaming Purchase Decision Organizations Using Live Online Video 100 or More Times Annually video to deliver on its business promise, organizations must have robust internal corporate networks capable of handling the traffic generated by data-intensive video. At organizations that distribute live online video more than 100 times annually, 95% surveyed say that having enough network capacity to distribute video plays either a very important or somewhat important role when making a purchase decision between competing streaming technology solutions. (Figure 1) The importance of networking in enterprise video is reflected by the budgets already being applied to its implementation. Overall, spending on enterprise videos tools and hosted software solutions is expected to top $1 billion in 2015, according to Wainhouse Research forecasts. While this total spend accounts for the entire ecosystem of content creation solutions, encoders, management systems and other streaming solutions, the costs of networking represented in this forecast typically stand as the single biggest expenditure associated with the implementation of streaming solutions in large organizations. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 1

4 Unfortunately, enterprises have no easy template for provisioning the networking capacity needed to handle the burgeoning demand for video behind the corporate firewall. A variety of options including multicast, distributed caches, and hosted networking solutions are available to address an organization s video connectivity challenges. But IT executives must evaluate each alternative closely to determine which one best suits their organization. The challenges facing those evaluating video networking options, however, extend far beyond concerns over basic capacity. Survey results illustrate that networking solutions must not only be bigger, they have to work smarter while remaining cost effective. According Wainhouse Research survey results: 46% say that a leading barrier to implementing streaming technology is that is too expensive, putting financial considerations ahead of all other perceived deployment roadblocks 57% of all respondents say that they either would not deploy or perceive it to be very important to a technology purchase decision if a streaming solution could not monitor video delivery performance to troubleshoot network problems. 61% of all respondents say the issue of ensuring the ability to distribute video without harming the corporate network is a priority in their purchase decision. 66% of all respondents describe the issue of network security in a similar manner. And executive concern over these issues simply rises as organizations increase the frequency with which they employ online video. In short, the more organizations use streaming video, the more executives worry about the quality of network distribution. In many cases, organizations will address these networking concerns by mixing-and-matching networking technologies to handle the roadblocks that exist in different portions of their corporate setup. In this report, Wainhouse Research identifies popular approaches for addressing corporate networking issues and highlights the advantages and disadvantages associated with its implementation. Considerations Shaping Video Networking Investments As executives consider strategies for implementing video networking capabilities, a range of issues influence their choices. Priorities will vary from organization to organization, so purchase decision makers first must identify the implementation issues of greatest importance for their specific situation. Common considerations in this evaluation include the following: Expense: The bottom line cost of implementing video networking solutions plays an important role in the evaluation of these technology options. The anticipated total cost of ownership must be weighed against the perceived benefits of video s use. Reduced costs for networking make it easier for corporate streaming champions to demonstrate positive return on investment from their streaming deployments. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 2

5 Network Security: When it comes to implementing new streaming solutions, many corporate executives embrace the equivalent of a Hippocratic Oath for networking in the enterprise: First, do no harm. Any moves to expand the capacity of a corporate network must be made with security issues in mind. Changes made to accommodate video must not make the network vulnerable to unauthorized access by outsiders. Reliability: The value of video-enriched webcasting drops significantly if executives develop a perception that the technology cannot be relied upon to work each and every time. When it comes to business communications, users expect the fail-safe level of reliability they experience with traditional telephone service. Video solutions that work sometimes are not sufficient. Absent an expectation of near 100% reliability, executives will build their communications strategies around other technology platforms and services that they trust to work. Minimizing Video s Network Impact: As an extension of both the security and reliability considerations, video networking solutions also must ensure that they do not interfere with other business operations behind the corporate firewall. If video traffic clogs the network and impacts business-critical transactions or keeps employees from exchanging s, accessing data archives or processing sales orders, IT administrators do not live up to that Hippocratic Oath of Networking. Harm is done to an organization when video crashes the network. Ease of Implementation: Networking solutions, by their nature, are complex. Executives must expect that implementing video networking solutions will involve significant troubleshooting and ongoing management. That said, some approaches are more conducive than others to simplified deployment. Platforms that emphasize enablement of open application programming interfaces, for instance, may offer easy integration alternatives than may be possible with more closed, proprietary options. Scalability: To have a significant impact on an organization s operations, video must have a broad reach. While many video streaming solutions can look effective in a limited deployment, not all platforms can support high-quality distribution to thousands of employees simultaneously. Executives must develop an understanding of how video is likely to be used within their organization and deploy a video networking alternative suitable to addressing those applications. Performance Analytics: It is not enough for networking solutions to distribute video. Many information technology departments also place a premium on keeping a close watch on how the network is performing. Such measurements are critical for administrators as they work to troubleshoot the problems that do arise in distributing high-volume video traffic. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 3

6 Enabling Video Networking in the Enterprise When it comes to the specific technologies that can be employed to address the video networking considerations listed above, no single template emerges as an unchallenged best practice in enterprise environments. Even organizations new to streaming recognize that it takes more than leveraging a content distribution network, such as Akamai, to distribute corporate video. While such solutions provide the needed scale to deliver content to external audiences, they lack the network administration capabilities necessary to manage video traffic behind the corporate firewall. However, a handful of options do exist that organizations can implement in varying degrees to address their specific video networking needs and objectives. For IT departments, this reality is both a blessing and a curse. Certainly, the opportunity does exist to create an approach tailored to address some very specific issues. Yet, the ideal solution for one organization may prove to be ill-suited for other corporate situations. Each prospective deployment must be carefully evaluated to address networking nuances that undoubtedly will emerge on a case-by-case basis. Commonly used approaches to enabling corporate video networking fall into one of five buckets: Do-It-Yourself Media Servers Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions Wide Area Networking Alternatives Multicast Software Defined Networks. In this section, we define each of these categories and provide top-level evaluation on how these solutions uniquely address (or fail to address) considerations that are important in comparing video networking alternatives. Do-It-Yourself Media Servers In many organizations, adoption of streaming video technologies expands on an incremental basis. Streaming evangelists within an organization, spurred on by the popularity of YouTube video clips on the public web, seek to re-create the power of video-enriched communications behind the firewall. Under such a scenario, organizations may not have a single unified architecture for enabling online video on the corporate network. Instead, streaming-enabling technologies are deployed on a patchwork basis, addressing the needs of individual executives and stand-alone departments as they begin to embrace video more frequently. In this ad hoc environment, IT executives may try to address networking issues by playing the streaming video equivalent of the Whack-A-Mole carnival game. This involves the implementation of stand-alone streaming media servers that can address the traffic issues that pop up at specifically congested Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 4

7 segments of the corporate network. Stand-alone appliances - deployed by in-house IT staff - can be deployed to increase the volume of video traffic that can be handled in remote offices or other locations where video traffic swamps the capacity of existing network infrastructure. Evaluation of Video Networking Impact of Do-It-Yourself Media Server Option Do-It-Yourself Media Servers offer a temporary but cost-effective fix to an isolated video networking implementation. Deployment of stand-alone servers makes it possible to handle more video requests on a local basis. But as viewership grows, organizations may struggle with scaling the solution. Ultimately, without proper coordination with the network, these solutions can consume excessive bandwidth, causing problems for other applications. This approach should be viewed as a stop-gap measure that lacks long-term staying power. Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions Multiple developers of enterprise streaming platform solutions, such as Qumu, VBrick and others, offer end-to-end solutions capable of handling every step of the streaming video ecosystem from capturing content at the source to managing the way it is distributed to corporate viewers. As part of these overarching solutions, these vendors offer stand-alone servers that can be deployed on the corporate network and integrated with the vendor s video content management solution. These appliances reduce streaming video traffic s impact on the network by allowing viewers to access content from a nearby server rather than traversing the network to pull content from the origin server. Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions can serve both live and video-on-demand content. Video-ondemand streaming requires storage to be bundled with the caching appliances. Live streaming relies on a technique called stream-splitting to efficiently deliver one stream to each appliance and can leverage multicast features of the network in place. Evaluation of Video Networking Impact of Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions Proprietary Dedicated Cache Solutions are an attractive option for organizations prioritizing stability and reliability from their streaming video implementation. By deploying complementary solutions from a single vendor that are expressly designed to work together, organizations can minimize the multiple points of failure that can otherwise derail video distribution efforts. But tight-knit integration does comes with its downsides. The proprietary caches can be pricey a factor that is not a trivial concern as increasing traffic volumes prompt organizations to deploy a growing network of remote appliances. Additionally, a decision to deploy a proprietary networking solution should be viewed as a long-term commitment. As investment in one proprietary streaming platform grows, the costs for an organization to switch to a competing streaming solution can rise in step. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 5

8 Wide-Area Networking Alternatives In an effort to optimize the performance of wide-area networks, some large enterprises will invest in gear specifically designed to streamline the distribution of data on sprawling corporate systems. Sold by vendors such as Riverbed and Blue Coat Systems, these solutions support the distribution of a wide array of data types not just video. However, the architecture of these solutions is particularly well-suited to enabling the distribution of video content to large audiences in remote offices. The ability to replicate video content on remote devices offers the possibility of expanding distribution of video via wide-area network optimization without employing a substantial volume of additional bandwidth. Evaluation of Video Networking Impact of Wide-Area Networking Alternatives Solutions that can be used to optimize wide-area networking capabilities are a viable video networking option for a narrowly defined set the enterprise audience. While the comparatively high cost of Riverbed and Blue Coat solutions would preclude most organizations from implementation specifically for video distribution, organizations that already have deployed this type of wide-area optimization would be able to generate substantial economies of scale that leverage investments already made in enhancing corporate network capacity. Organizations exploring the options of putting wide-area networking to use for optimizing video distribution, however, should carefully review existing deployments. The effectiveness of wide-area solutions for streaming video also can depend on the video content management solution. Not all video platforms offer tested integration with wide-area solutions. The lack of integration can impact the fundamental performance of the network solution while also diminishing an administrator s ability to monitor network traffic a consequence that negatively impacts their efforts at troubleshooting networking issues as they arise. Multicasting Multicasting historically has been one of the most popular approaches that corporations have employed to distribute video behind the corporate firewall. Unlike the inefficient mode of unicasting in which a single video is transmitted to a single viewer, multicasting enables a single stream to be distributed to multiple users at the same time. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 6

9 During a streaming session on a network enabled with multicasting technology, multicast trees are created. These trees allow a single transmission to branch out to a broad range of individual users without having to repeatedly haul the same load of video data from the originating server. Rather, multicast repeats the video from networking equipment closer to the viewer requesting video content. As a result, the amount of video traversing corporate networks can be reduced dramatically in a multicast environment. Multicast capabilities are typically embedded in network routers specifically programmed to support multicast. The routers create distribution paths for data sent to multiple devices assigned to a multicast destination address. Evaluation of Video Networking Impact of Multicasting While widely used to support streaming in the enterprise segment today, multicasting faces a murky future. Historically, Microsoft servers that supported the company s Windows Media and Silverlight video formats have been the primary technology platform enabling the distribution of video via multicast networks. New versions of the Microsoft server, however, are phasing out Windows Media and Silverlight technologies, casting uncertainty over how multicast capabilities will be enabled as earlier versions of Microsoft s server approach end-oflife status. Organizations may still employ multicast-friendly Flash video servers from Adobe, but some buyers perceive the Flash servers to be a pricey alternative. Multicast also has been hobbled in garnering enterprise ubiquity by some of its own technical shortcomings. While useful in live video distribution, it provides no advantage in enabling viewership of on-demand content. Multicast also can be finicky to implement, and missteps in network configuration can prompt a network to revert to a unicast distribution approach that saturates the origin server with video requests and greatly reduces the number of viewers who can be served with available network resources. Beyond the series of technical gotchas that can plague multicast deployments, other uncertainties remain due to multicast s historic inability to gain traction in the consumer segment. The technology field offers multiple examples of products that bullied their way into the enterprise based on the strength of their adoption in the mass market. Consumer video streaming is becoming increasingly based on mobile device-based consumption and HTTP Adaptive Bitrate formats including Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS). Traditional multicast options do not support mobile devices, and cannot be used to distribute HTTP Adaptive Bitrate content -- even to Windows or Mac computers. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 7

10 Software-Defined Networking Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach that allows administrators to manage data distribution activity via hosted software solutions that serve as the air traffic control tower for handling the flow of data on a network. In this umbrella category of solutions, value is generated through the development of software solutions that enable the distribution and management of data on a network. It s an approach that decouples the intelligence of network management from the physical infrastructure actually used for networking. A variety of vendors are emerging as providers of SDN capabilities that address specific networking applications. While many established vendors are adding SDN elements to existing networking solutions, other developers are innovating through the development of pure, software-centric approaches. In the enterprise streaming field, for instance, software-defined networks are closely associated with the implementation of peer-to-peer solutions - developed by vendors such as Hive Streaming and Kollective - in which individual viewers computers are leveraged to both store and serve content and may be managed on a remote basis. Evaluation of Video Networking Impact of Software-Defined Networking In step with the growing popularity of hosted computing solutions overall, the concept of software-defined networking is drawing amounts of interest in the enterprise. It provides a framework that organizations can use to leverage existing network capacity while adding the features and functionality to address emerging requirements for video dissemination behind the firewall. Such a solution makes it possible, for instance, to weave remotely hosted peer-topeer capabilities into an existing corporate network infrastructure. Because hosted solutions can boost network capacity without necessarily adding new hardware (or the associated upfront capital expense of that hardware), they can be implemented in a more rapid and costeffective manner. The centralized nature of network management associated with hosted solutions also enhances administrators capabilities for monitoring network performance, allowing them to conduct simulated network tests ahead of large events and troubleshooting issues on a preventive basis. The primary limitations associated with the implementation of software-defined networking result from rules that organizations inflict upon themselves. For instance, the success of remotely managed peer-to-peer still hinges on the ability to install small applications on client devices. Some organizations that are reticent to install new software on a standardized employee desktop may deny themselves the ability to capitalize on the potential benefits of some aspects of software-defined networking. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 8

11 Sorting Through Your Video Networking Options No one-size-fits-all networking technique can be applied to address all of an organization s video networking objectives. Indeed, in all probability, network administrators will have to implement a combination of the networking approaches described above on a mix-and-match basis to optimize the performance of video behind the firewall. Each organization has a unique set of applications for video, its own legacy networking infrastructure, and its own set of priorities that need to be addressed in the purchase-decision process. Some of the questions that business stakeholders and technology managers should be asking as they consider the networking alternatives include: For business stakeholders Is large-scale video communications a mission critical application for your organization? Will your organization be utilizing live, video-on-demand streaming or both? What types of devices will your employees be using to watch video content? In a BYOD world, do you feel the need to support Windows, Mac, Linux, ios & Android environments? Does your organization have a large number of small or remote offices with limited bandwidth that you would like to reach with streaming video? How important is video quality? Are you willing to sacrifice video quality to reduce the impact of video on the network? What metrics will you use to grade your return on investment from streaming technology deployments? Will you need to prove payback immediately or can you invest in solutions that allow you to scale video usage as adoption expands? How important will it be for your organization to easily update to new video formats that enhance video quality performance in the future? Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 9

12 For technology managers What resources can your information technology department allocate to the design, implementation and management of a viable video networking solution? How willing is your IT department to deploy hosted software solutions? What if any network security issues must be addressed before your IT team will bless that implementation of hosted options in place of on-premises solutions? Does your network have ample capacity for all traffic, including video? If not, will you have the ability to protect business-critical traffic from large spikes of video traffic? Is your organization prepared for the limitations inherent to IP multicast, including lack of support for video on-demand streaming, declining support in the Windows server product line and limitations on streaming formats and supported platforms? Has your organization invested in wide-area networking solutions? If so, are the deployments of recent-enough vintage to work in concert with today s enterprise streaming platforms? How widespread are the deployments? Are the latest formats supported? To what extent has your organization deployed caching appliances supporting video streaming? Is your organization willing to allocate the budget needed to enable ample caching capacity system-wide? Are the latest formats supported? Is it important to your network team to simulate the effects of live and on-demand video on the network prior to the event? Does your organization have or require the ability to visualize and troubleshoot individual viewer streaming experiences? Wainhouse Research recommends that organizations embarking on an evaluation of their video networking infrastructure initiate their review with a thorough analysis of the considerations that will carry the most weight in making the purchase decision. From that foundation, administrators can grade each of the multiple networking options to determine which ones best address your organization s priorities. Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 10

13 About the Author / About Wainhouse Research Steve Vonder Haar is a Senior Analyst with Wainhouse Research, focusing on enterprise streaming & webcasting. Steve has covered the technology industry for more than 20 years. He previously served as Research Director of Interactive Media Strategies and as Director of Media and Entertainment Strategies for the Yankee Group. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri Columbia with degrees in Journalism and Economics, and holds a Master s degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas- Arlington. He can be reached at svonder@wainhouse.com About Wainhouse Research: Wainhouse Research is an independent analyst firm that focuses on critical issues in the unified communications and collaboration market. The company provides 6 different vendor subscriptions covering unified communications, group videoconferencing, personal & web-based collaboration, audio conferencing, streaming & webcasting, and distance education & e-learning solutions, as well as a single all-inclusive subscription for enterprise users. The company acts as a trusted advisor providing strategic advice and direction for both the UC&C industry and its enterprise users. For further details contact sales@wainhouse.com or see Copyright 2015 Wainhouse Research, LLC Page 11