Edge Cloud Architecture

True edge content delivery leveraging cloud management and connectivity, open APIs and massively distributed, powerful small form factor software edge nodes. Built for tomorrow's application and content delivery demands.

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Five Architectural Principles
That Drive Qwilt's Edge Cloud
Content Delivery Platform

1 Common Compute and Storage

The edge cloud establishes a massively distributed layer of common-off-the-shelf (COTS) compute and storage enabling content delivery from the closest possible location to your subscribers. We built the software that can unlock the potential of this layer from our experience with hundreds of deployments at the true edge of the network - software that is 100% cloud managed, that packs maximum performance in a small form factor and that is elastic and resilient.

100% Cloud Managed

Our customers deploy on-net Qwilt QN software nodes, and this software connects over the Internet to Qwilt’s cloud. We do the heavy lifting of managing, monitoring, and maintaining these edge cloud nodes, making sure they're giving you the most performance for your unique needs. We also take care of management scaling using the cloud's elastic scaling capabilities.

Unlike traditional networking solutions, there’s no overlay management software or hardware that you need to deploy on site.
It’s all in the cloud.

2 Massively Distributed

The edge cloud delivers unmatched distributed performance enabling apps and content to be streamed from a distance of a few miles to several feet from your subscribers, thus reducing latency to levels that make future applications possible.

It's all about the distance

The three most important things in content delivery are: Location, Location, Location. Locations that are closer to the users mean there are fewer hops and shorter distance for light to travel. The result is that there's a smaller chance packets will encounter congestion and a greater ability to deliver high throughput and faster response times. Unlike traditional CDN nodes that are centrally located in the mid-mile, the edge cloud is deployed at the closest possible locations to the users - often tens of miles to a few feet away. This allows applications and content leveraging the edge cloud to achieve the ultimate QoE possible. That's good for you and great for your users.

3 Open API to Publishers

Publishers and CDNs alike can make use of the edge cloud, unlocking new content delivery capabilities that only in-network distance can deliver. To capture this opportunity, an open and comprehensive set of interfaces is required. Qwilt is already offering an ecosystem-friendly set of APIs as part of our work helping drive standardization activities within the Streaming Video Alliance in order to benefit the entire ecosystem.

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Single Integration - Many ISPs

4 Match Resource to Application

Some applications, like video (especially 4K), require a lot of bandwidth and a lot of storage (so that the videos people watch can be cached). Others, like gaming and VR, require split second response time for in-game actions, but not a lot of storage. The edge cloud must have the flexibility to understand which application needs which resource - and be able to adapt accordingly.

Edge Cloud Solution Spotlight -
Open Caching

Open caching enables delivery of bandwidth intensive content from the network edge when requested – without requiring any change of the client side. The result is seamless delivery for applications like streaming video allowing publishers to deliver superior quality video to their subscribers.

Find Out How

5 Complements Centralized Cloud

The centralized cloud is still of massive importance. The edge cloud creates a new layer that can work alongside the centralized cloud and when used smartly, establishes a superior application and content delivery infrastructure - the magic is to know when to use which cloud for getting the best performance - think about it like a hybrid car engine that needs to know when to kick in the electric engine and when to use the gas one. At Qwilt we created an end-to-end solution that has the smarts to create one secure fabric across the edge and centralized cloud.