CDN 2010

CDN 2010

CDN 2010: Revenue, R & D, Cap Ex and Operational Analytics provides comprehensive market performance metrics for each CDN, including MRR, total accounts, revenue, servers, cap ex, R & D initiatives, share of and penetration into video content verticals (pro video views by site and category), video advertising, Internet radio and UGV. CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) are realizing another year of double-digit revenue growth in 2009, writing new contracts at a 23.3% pace above 2008, powering top line revenue forecasts up 16.4% to $1.37 billion across the segment. The U.S. market currently generates an estimated 55.8% of the global CDN total, though international traffic is now increasing at a faster rate than its domestic counterpart. In a year of steep bandwidth price declines at transit and retail provisioning levels, CDNs are managing margins by relentlessly driving down costs, focusing on network operations efficiencies even while pivoting toward the future: cap ex investment is forecast to rise 9.2% to $149 million in 2009. R & D is targeting new and expanding business areas including whole site delivery, dynamic content, “live” video, HD, mobile/iPhone, non-PC devices, adaptive bit rate streaming, and support for Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming solution. Average MRR is forecast to fall for the first time in 2009, by 5.5% to $10,491. Bandwidth costs (transit, co-location, power) make up the largest component (65%) of each retail contract, 59% of COGS. Of the 22.5 billion professional video views served during 2009, Akamai delivered 31.9%, Limelight Networks 12% and Level 3 11.2%. Additional CDNs analyzed include CD Networks, Velocix, Liquid Compass, Abacast, Mirror Image, Edgecast Networks, Highwinds, BitGravity, Cotendo, Internap among others.