6 ms·

Netflix's Ken Florance: The Man Who Keeps the Video Streaming

25 points by yarapavan 12y ago

chad-lundgren 12y ago
The author of the article is following the lazy and tired "Point at that hippie and laugh" formula, complete with a "Right on, man" ending. Maybe that's expected for a mainstream publication like Businessweek? Other than that, the article is interesting.
- pyre 12y ago
  Didn't you get the New Media Strategy Memo? You kick up controversy and write as aggressively / polarized as possible and you gain page-views (i.e. money) as people on both sides come to read the article before running off to social media sites to argue endlessly about it.
  - proksoup 12y ago
    Is an improvement from people having these disparate opinions and not discussing them at all I hope.
- forgottenpass 12y ago
  It's the norm when writing about someone in a group that is socially acceptable to openly deride. The only bit unique to Businessweek is that their editorial voice serves a market that accepts this flavor of derision. The difference between your standards and theirs is the only reason this stood out at all.
lukasm 12y ago
HTTP? What does it mean? all HTTP requests except for the following domain?
- eightofdiamonds 12y ago
  I wondering the same thing myself. I did a bit of searching and found this: http://allthingsd.com/20130514/netflix-still-eats-a-third-of-the-web-every-night-amazon-hbo-and-hulu-trail-behind/ http://allthingsd.com/20130514/netflix-still-eats-a-third-of... According to that article it does mean all HTTP traffic other than the specific sources listed in the chart.
hackerguy0217 12y ago
I think the FCC should get involved and ask the simple question of why can't ISP's use Netflix open connect .. as it seems that would fix a ton of problems the ISP are having with netflix incoming traffic.
- twoodfin 12y ago
  It doesn't really solve the fundamental issue: Because of the volume of traffic Netflix generates, ISPs are highly sensitive to the size of Netflix's audience and the bitrates Netflix chooses to stream. Both of those have the potential to grow faster than their capability (or desire) to expand the capacity of their networks.
  - pyre 12y ago
    ... on the other hand, the ISPs wouldn't be complaining about their own video-streaming offerings expanding exponentially. The conflict-of-interest in this whole back-and-forth between Netflix and large ISPs is so palpable that you can almost taste it (very bitter :P).
    - guiomie 12y ago
      The difference is that lots of ISPs have invested in IPTV networks, and those are designed not to eat your bandwidth and clog the network.
      - pyre 12y ago
        Netflix has offered to setup devices within the ISP network that will cache the videos so that the ISP's users will stream from the cache rather than directly from Netflix. The ISPs have refused (presumably because it competes with their own offerings). Everyone pretty much agrees that traffic over the ISP's internal networks aren't really an issue; the big issue is the traffic over the network connection points. There are solutions to alleviate this, but the ISPs aren't really interested in these solutions. They feel that their monopoly position gives them the power to dictate terms to everyone else, effectively holding their (paying) customers hostage for ransom.
alayne 12y ago
Here's the non mobile link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-24/netflixs-content-delivery-chief-endures-isp-streaming-fees http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-24/netflixs-con...
stevengg 12y ago
talk netflix gave at NYCBSDCon NYCBSDCon 2014: Serving one-third of the Internet via FreeBSD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5U4wr86L4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5U4wr86L4

25 points by yarapavan 12y ago

The author of the article is following the lazy and tired "Point at that hippie and laugh" formula, complete with a "Right on, man" ending. Maybe that's expected for a mainstream publication like Businessweek? Other than that, the article is interesting.

pyre 12y ago
Didn't you get the New Media Strategy Memo? You kick up controversy and write as aggressively / polarized as possible and you gain page-views (i.e. money) as people on both sides come to read the article before running off to social media sites to argue endlessly about it.
- proksoup 12y ago
  Is an improvement from people having these disparate opinions and not discussing them at all I hope.
forgottenpass 12y ago
It's the norm when writing about someone in a group that is socially acceptable to openly deride. The only bit unique to Businessweek is that their editorial voice serves a market that accepts this flavor of derision. The difference between your standards and theirs is the only reason this stood out at all.

lukasm 12y ago

HTTP? What does it mean? all HTTP requests except for the following domain?

eightofdiamonds 12y ago
I wondering the same thing myself. I did a bit of searching and found this: http://allthingsd.com/20130514/netflix-still-eats-a-third-of-the-web-every-night-amazon-hbo-and-hulu-trail-behind/ http://allthingsd.com/20130514/netflix-still-eats-a-third-of... According to that article it does mean all HTTP traffic other than the specific sources listed in the chart.

hackerguy0217 12y ago

I think the FCC should get involved and ask the simple question of why can't ISP's use Netflix open connect .. as it seems that would fix a ton of problems the ISP are having with netflix incoming traffic.

twoodfin 12y ago
It doesn't really solve the fundamental issue: Because of the volume of traffic Netflix generates, ISPs are highly sensitive to the size of Netflix's audience and the bitrates Netflix chooses to stream. Both of those have the potential to grow faster than their capability (or desire) to expand the capacity of their networks.
- pyre 12y ago
  ... on the other hand, the ISPs wouldn't be complaining about their own video-streaming offerings expanding exponentially. The conflict-of-interest in this whole back-and-forth between Netflix and large ISPs is so palpable that you can almost taste it (very bitter :P).
  - guiomie 12y ago
    The difference is that lots of ISPs have invested in IPTV networks, and those are designed not to eat your bandwidth and clog the network.
    - pyre 12y ago
      Netflix has offered to setup devices within the ISP network that will cache the videos so that the ISP's users will stream from the cache rather than directly from Netflix. The ISPs have refused (presumably because it competes with their own offerings). Everyone pretty much agrees that traffic over the ISP's internal networks aren't really an issue; the big issue is the traffic over the network connection points. There are solutions to alleviate this, but the ISPs aren't really interested in these solutions. They feel that their monopoly position gives them the power to dictate terms to everyone else, effectively holding their (paying) customers hostage for ransom.

alayne 12y ago

Here's the non mobile link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-24/netflixs-content-delivery-chief-endures-isp-streaming-fees http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-24/netflixs-con...

stevengg 12y ago

talk netflix gave at NYCBSDCon NYCBSDCon 2014: Serving one-third of the Internet via FreeBSD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5U4wr86L4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL5U4wr86L4