Imagine you operate a subscription TV channel. It spans 50 countries and has over 25 million subscribers. You designed your content distribution system to last forever. Suddenly your technology provider goes out of business, and you can’t replace the set-top boxes in those 25 million homes. You have to keep your legacy HTML Smooth Streaming (HSS) format and host your 1.5 PB library of content without interruption. There appears to be only one provider that meets all your streaming requirements. Then the race against the clock begins to migrate to this new provider to avoid a complete shutdown…
The Solution: Akamai Object Storage
Akamai Object Storage became the backbone of this urgent migration and helped maintain its existing workflow. Here’s how Akamai Object Storage played a central role:
1. Seamless Data Migration: Akamai’s Cloud specialists developed a custom content migration tool specifically for this project. We leveraged Terraform, a tool that allows you to provision and manage infrastructure with code in the cloud, and Linode Kubernetes Engine, our tool for deploying and managing containerized applications and workloads, to work with Object Storage. This tool utilized rclone to efficiently transfer 1.5 PB of content from the customer’s existing cloud storage to Akamai Object Storage, mitigating downtime concerns and supporting data integrity throughout the process.
2. Optimized Storage for Legacy Workflows: Akamai Object Storage provided an effective environment for hosting the customer’s HSS content. This setup allowed the legacy workflow to continue working without interruption. The storage solution was tailored to support the specific needs of the HSS format, offering scalability and reliability as our customer transitioned to their new streaming provider.
3. Integrated Delivery and Caching: By integrating Akamai Object Storage with Akamai’s Adaptive Media Delivery service, our customer was able to cache and deliver HSS content directly to the 25 million set-top boxes that depended on their service. This integration reduced egress costs and optimized the overall performance of the streaming service, providing a seamless experience for end-users.
4. Comprehensive Traffic Management: Akamai Global Traffic Manager was deployed to manage load balancing across different regions, causing content stored in Akamai Object Storage to be efficiently and reliably delivered to a global audience.
Benefits
The successful migration to Akamai Object Storage brought several key benefits to our customer, allowing a smooth transition and setting the stage for future growth.
1. Rapid and Reliable Migration: Despite the specificity of the set up, the migration to Akamai Object Storage was completed within two months by dedicated solutions engineers. Urgency was necessary to ensure a swift transition without service disruption. Our customer leveraged our expertise in handling large-scale content migrations, especially leaning on our custom tool’s real-time monitoring and control.
2. Cost Efficiency: By consolidating storage and delivery on Akamai’s platform, our customer significantly reduced egress costs, resulting in lower overall cloud spending. Akamai Object Storage’s competitive pricing and integrated services provided an economical solution for managing large volumes of media content.
3. Future-Looking Storage Solution: Akamai Object Storage not only supported our customer’s current needs but also provided a scalable solution for future growth. This was a priority for our customer, since Akamai Object Storage satisfied their need to expand their content library and explore new formats.
Final Thoughts
Akamai Object Storage was the key to our customer’s successful migration and continued support for their legacy HSS media workflow. By choosing Akamai, they were able to efficiently store, manage, and deliver their vast content library with the added benefits of cost savings and future scalability.
For more information about how Akamai Object Storage can support your business needs, visit our Object Storage Product Page.
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