Advanced Content Delivery, Streaming, and Cloud Services

Chapter 11Multisource Stream Aggregation in the Cloud

Marat Zhanikeev

Kyushu Institute of Technology, Iizuka, Japan

11.1 Introduction

Content delivery networks (CDNs) have advanced much in recent years [1]. Technology evolved from the traditional one server–one client models [2] to several distinct peer-to-peer (P2P) models. Although P2P models are relatively recent, they already power several real large-scale streaming services such as Uusee [3], Afreeca [4], and NewCoolStreaming [5]. According to several chapters in this book, this list has grown substantially in recent years.

There are two fundamental approaches in streaming—single versus multistream. Traditional CDN is the case of a single-server streaming while P2P streaming methods are multistream [5]. This chapter presents yet another fundamental streaming method—multisource streaming in the cloud.

Let us discuss the main distinctions across all the methods discussed in this chapter. Figure 11.1 displays all the methods in a problem–solution diagram. The figure shows very primitive models of methods given that the objective is to show only the main features of each method. For more accurate and complete models, refer to Chapters 9 and 10 of this book, which mainly focus on the modeling issue.

Figure 11.1 Evolution of video streaming technology.

There are two main evolutionary forks where the method discussed in this ...