Built on Solid Foundations
Services based in AWS
At the heart of our products and services is Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the most reliable service providers in the world, especially after the acquisition of Elemental services.
AWS’ framework for reliability is supported by design principles that build in redundancy as standard. The global infrastructure is connected by sub-oceanic cables to avoid outsourcing any connectivity requirements to third parties.
Choose your Ideal CDN
The perfect partner for your service
Simplestream partners with multiple existing Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and are agnostic, making it easy to choose the perfect partner for your service. Existing partners include AWS CloudFront, Akamai, Limelight, CentryLink, and Fastly.
You can also choose an external CDN with no pre-existing integration, as Simplestream have extensive experience in this area.
Avoid High Latency
Edge caching for low latency
There’s nothing worse than buffering to the modern viewer, with the expectation now being low-to-no buffer ratios for content. Protecting your origin server with edge caching is how you can achieve this.
Rather than every content request hitting your origin server, edge caching works by storing the latest version of these assets in edge caches geographically closer to the user. This is also referred to as your CDN.
Shield your Origin
Optimise data flow and reliability
Giving viewers the smoothest experience possible means minimising the number of requests your CDN network makes to your origin server. Limiting the number of requests improves the cache hit ratio by providing an added layer of caching in front of your origin.
Reduce the load
Increasing the likelihood of a cache hit instead of your origin will limit the latency your viewers experience by minimising the load on the origin server. This is done by sharing requests to both edge caches and regional edge caches in your CDN before a request is made to the origin.
Improve performances
Shielding your origin will also improve the overall network performance, further reducing latency. This is the cumulative effect of reducing requests on your origin by consolidating multiple requests for the same content. For example, if you have multiple users in the same region requesting to watch the latest series or film, these requests would be grouped into a single request being made to the origin, rather than multiple.
Disaster Recovery
Minimise downtime and data loss
Whether you’re using entirely cloud-based software or on-premises software and hardware, minimising downtime is a must.
In order to recover your operations after an unexpected event such as software or hardware issues, data can be securely replicated to a staging area subnet. This data can then be replicated to the region you select within the staging area and remains cost-effective by utilising affordable storage and minimal computing resources.
Stay ready
Perform non-disruptive tests for recovery and failback to periodically check and monitor the replication of your services. This is so that in the event of a disaster, recovery is always possible. Check for the most up-to-date server state or a previous point in time to ensure you can recover to the most relevant pre-disaster state.