Akamai First to Offer VPUs in the Cloud
Akamai, the cybersecurity and cloud computing company that
powers and protects business online launched Akamai Cloud Accelerated Compute
Instances, a new compute category built on specialized computer chips designed
to perform specific tasks more efficiently than general-purpose processors. The
new instances are powered by NETINT video processing units (VPUs), NETINT’s
proprietary hardware for media transcoding. Akamai is the first and only cloud
provider to offer VPUs in the cloud.
NETINT VPUs
are designed for workloads where minimizing the cost of delivering high-quality
video streams is essential or where reducing energy consumption is a priority.
Akamai’s accelerated instances are powered by Quadra
T1U VPUs, a single-chip solution that supports encoding
resolutions up to 8Kp60 in industry-standard formats including AV1, HEVC, and
H.264 with 8/10 bit support, including HDR. As the highest-density hardware
encoder available, the Quadra T1U can encode 32 live streams at 1080p30
broadcast quality, with the capacity scaling linearly for resolutions above or
below HD.
The rise in
live and on-demand video streaming, user-generated content, and video-driven
social media has driven companies to look for optimized hardware and cloud
solutions to improve application performance. However, transcoding-optimized
cloud computing resources are rare. Previously, the only way to deploy NETINT’s
VPU hardware has been to purchase it outright and run it on-premises or in a
colocation facility. Akamai Accelerated Compute Instances are designed for
media companies that are delivering video on demand and live streaming
services, providing the scalability needed without inflating IT budgets.
“By
bringing traditionally hardware-confined power to the cloud, we’re removing
barriers that have held businesses back. Companies can now cut costs, scale
seamlessly, and deliver better streaming experiences — solving a major industry
challenge that’s been overlooked for too long,” said Jon Alexander, Vice
President of Product Management at Akamai. “ Being the first cloud provider to
offer VPUs gives Akamai a new competitive edge to expand our long-existing
relationships with our media partners.”
NETINT VPUs
allow companies to reallocate their application’s CPUs by offloading
compute-intensive video processing tasks to the VPU. A VPU architecture offers
up to 20
times greater throughput than CPU-only solutions. This frees
the CPU to do other things like dynamic packaging, de-interlacing, real-time
speech-to-text captioning, software decoding for standards not supported in the
VPU, and run popular applications like FFmpeg and GStreamer.
“VPUs are
the ultimate cheat code for video streaming profitability,” said Randal Horne,
Chief Revenue Officer, NETINT. “The expenses to deliver massive volumes of
video content using traditional software encoders are crippling. NETINT is
proud to be the VPU engine inside Akamai Accelerated Compute Instances,
bringing up to 20 times the throughput at a tenth of the cost compared with
traditional industry platforms. With Akamai Cloud, NETINT helps media companies
reduce equipment investment and cut OPEX to meet their growth and profitability
targets.”
Akamai is
making a play to be the cloud for media and to capture areas of the market
overlooked by hyperscalers. Akamai media services, trusted by all top 10 video
streaming services, include solutions for contribution, transport, transcoding,
packaging, digital rights management, ad insertion, and content security. With
the first-time cloud availability of VPUs, transcoding-optimized NVIDIA GPUs,
and industry-low egress costs, Akamai enables seamless performance at scale.
Its cloud platform is open
by design, giving customers control over every aspect of their
workflow and access to a vibrant and growing third-party partner network. Media
companies can choose from multiple software and partner options across each
workflow step to transport, prepare, process, deliver, secure, and monetize
digital content. The scale of Akamai’s massively distributed cloud gives it the
unique ability to minimize egress fees and offer generous allowances, providing
unmatched price-performance.
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