BT Group and Edgio unveil first MAUD-enabled content delivery network

After introducing the network load assistance solution in December 2023, BT Group has announced that it has taken its Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery (MAUD) technology from proof of concept to real-world application in its first live content delivery network (CDN) deployment with Edgio.

With the continued demand for live content and the rise of on-demand services, MAUD aims to improve the efficiency of the complex network journey that content takes to reach viewers and enhance their viewing experience. It is regarded as a key solution to how BT Group, or indeed any other internet service provider, can manage ever-increasing traffic loads.

The technology’s 2023 launch came on the back of BT Group revealing that its networks had come under severe strain after the simultaneous online broadcast of six Premier League football matches and downloads of popular games. Unlike traditional unicast delivery, MAUD technology uses multicast to group single streams into one shared stream. A further advantage over “ordinary” multicast streams, according to BT, is that its integration is made completely transparent to the player application, which means content service providers don’t need to modify their customer apps to take advantage of the technology.

The company added that removing the need to select and serve millions of individual streams to viewers increases the efficiency of content delivery, but also reduces the environmental impact and overall costs for broadcasters, internet providers and CDNs such as Edgio. For MAUD-enabled CDN operators such as Edgio, BT says the technology will provide dedicated delivery for streaming TV over the internet, allowing the delivery of live content at a higher quality, with content less likely to be impacted by other internet traffic, such as large file downloads.  

Enhanced content delivery efficiency from MAUD is also attributed with having the potential to yield cost savings for CDN operators as they can achieve “seamless” scalability without needing to expand hardware caches. MAUD technology is said to use up to 50% less bandwidth during peak events, reducing energy consumption through the use of fewer caches. By freeing up internet capacity, MAUD is also said to deliver a higher quality of experience for live and non-live content.

Major broadcasters, including the BBC, have been involved in evaluating the technology. For large-scale events such as the World Cup or the Euros – for which BT worked with a number of content partners – this could be especially valuable as it enables CDN operators instant and guaranteed scale to meet demand from millions of concurrent viewers.

The collaboration is said to not only showcase the benefits of MAUD to Edgio, but also pave the way for other CDNs to follow suit. BT Group has already been working with CDN firm Broadpeak to launch a service for live video streaming that it says will be critical to coping with growing network demand and safeguarding the future of the TV industry.

Edgio and BT plan to trial the delivery of content from the EE TV service on some set-top boxes in the live network in the coming months. Edgio regards itself as a key advocate for the concept of Open Caching and supports the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA) technical association in its mission to establish standards for scalable, efficient CDNs.

By building on the strengths of the proposed and accepted Open Caching standards, Edgio and BT Group believe they can quickly establish the mechanisms needed to share the required information for this partnership to succeed.

“Having worked with BT Group since the inception of MAUD, we’re delighted to be the first CDN to serve content through it,” said Edgio’s group vice-president for EMEA, Emma Whitmore. “By reducing congestion in the core of telco networks, clients will benefit from a more consistent, high-quality experience. Combined with the seamless integration of our content providers, clients can easily adopt this technology in markets where there is a mix of solutions across the network.”

BT Group’s chief security and networks officer, Howard Watson, said: “[Our] goal is to develop an efficient live streaming solution that addresses the needs of players within the content delivery path. Partnering with Edgio, we’re pioneering an effective content delivery system that seamlessly integrates with CDNs, making it accessible for external content providers.”