Russian VK is negotiating with telecom operators in Russia on the use of caching CDN servers in their networks, which will speed up the download of video materials to users. According to Forbes with reference to the opinion of experts, such measures can be taken preventively – in case YouTube video hosting is disabled in Russia. In this case, no domestic alternative platform at the moment would be able to cope with the influx of visitors.
Image Source: Austin Distel/unsplash.com
The creation of their own network of CDN servers was confirmed in VK. CDN (Content delivery network, or “content delivery network”) is an infrastructure that includes servers located throughout the country that store copies of the most popular content, including videos and games. The presence of such an infrastructure allows loading content not from remote servers, but from nearby CDN points, which will speed up the download of video by users and improve the quality of video delivery. According to Forbes sources, VK and telecom operators determine the optimal points for placement in communication networks and the conditions for interaction. So far, the company does not have its own CDN network. Such servers will be very useful in case of traffic growth on the VK platform. In addition, they reduce the cost of content delivery. In fact, VK creates a network of servers, an alternative to the Google Global Cache (GGC) network, which is permanently formed and maintained around the world.
It is known that last year the audience of VK services reached 73 million users, an increase of almost 20%. The traffic of the social network VKontakte has more than doubled, therefore, according to VK, the latter is increasing its bandwidth, among other things, expanding its CDN network. At the same time, the Ministry of Digital Development claims that it is not planned to finance such infrastructure from the budget.
According to a Forbes source from among representatives of telecom operators, such measures may be associated with a theoretically possible blocking of YouTube – this would help to cope with the inevitable increase in traffic on VK sites. The source is sure that only this platform will be able to compete with YouTube from domestic platforms. According to some reports, today YouTube accounts for about 35% of all Russian traffic. Bloggers themselves are also interested in the existence of a high-quality reserve platform – after YouTube monetization was turned off, they thought about building a subscriber base on other platforms.
It is known that back in the spring of last year, Google began to curtail the work of GGC servers in Russia, notifying them of the termination of contracts for their maintenance. According to experts, if Google decides to shut down its own CDN network in Russia completely, the quality of YouTube’s work could noticeably drop even without the shutdown by the Russian side – however, it is possible that other CDN networks operating in Russia will be able to serve YouTube traffic. Not so long ago, the issue of creating a national CDN network was raised in the State Duma – for this, the largest domestic services can consolidate their efforts. It is assumed that the model of interaction between businesses to create the appropriate infrastructure can be determined by the Ministry of Digital Development.
According to Forbes sources, last year foreign CDN services stopped connecting domestic customers. However, representatives of Russian CDN providers say that the purpose of creating a special national network is not entirely clear, since local providers “even now everything is fine with coverage and connectivity.”
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL + ENTER.
