Haivision Disrupts Video Delivery with Peer-to-Peer Technology Acquisition

Today we’re thrilled to share the exciting news on the blog about Haivision’s acquisition of Teltoo, a technology leader for peer-to-peer (P2P) and WebRTC real-time video delivery. To understand more about this acquisition, the technology involved, and what it means to Haivision and our customers, we asked Haivision CTO and EVP Product Development, Mahmoud J. Al-Daccak, to give us his insights on this announcement.

Q: First things first, can you tell us more about Teltoo and its technology?

MA: Based in Madrid, Spain, Teltoo’s focus is scalable and sustainable internet delivery and it has developed next-gen P2P technology that leverages WebRTC and advanced real-time network analytics to optimize video delivery for operators, media companies, and enterprises. The advanced P2P algorithms, enabled by WebRTC for ubiquitous low latency browser support, significantly reduce the reliance on CDN distribution to individual players, eliminating buffering and delivering higher quality to each viewer while increasing reliability and reducing overall cost. The real-time player and network analytics assure the highest quality user experience in response to any network topology.

Q: Why this acquisition and why now?

MA: What makes Teltoo such an interesting organization is its P2P delivery technology which was primarily designed for OTT broadcasters and telco operators. Since it was founded in 2016, Teltoo has quickly established an impeccable reputation in the industry when it comes to providing its customers with a robust, broadcast-grade delivery solution. Teltoo’s next-gen P2P technology is a compelling proposition for Haivision and we were impressed not only by the quality of its solution but the breadth and depth of its video and network analytics which are extremely important for P2P delivery. Clear datasets available in real-time about how a network is behaving or how video is being consumed are an essential part of a solution and Teltoo’s analytics provide operators with deep and actionable insights.

Q: What problems does Teltoo’s technology solve?

MA: Teltoo’s P2P technology enables customers to maintain control over costs, deliver a high quality user experience, and address unpredictable spikes in demand. It solves challenges faced by CDNs in delivering the right content at the right time during peak periods or in hard to reach regions. By leveraging this technology, users can offload traffic at peak times to guarantee a high quality viewing experience. With peering, viewers receive live video or VOD from their content delivery system, then securely share video segments between other peers directly, decentralizing delivery and reducing the amount of bandwidth delivered from distribution systems. Teltoo’s technology also provides a cost-effective solution for those wishing to balance CDN costs which increase linearly as viewership grows. By harnessing P2P technology, these costs can easily be kept in check. In addition, when CDNs have poor coverage in specific geographic areas, and, as broadcasters expand their coverage of second and third-tier sports, for example, P2P technology can help to fill any CDN coverage gaps, allowing more viewers to access more content.

Q: How will this acquisition impact Haivision solutions?

MA: Haivision’s strategy has always been focused on being an edge-to-edge provider. To date, Haivision has excelled in both contribution and distribution, and, in October last year, we acquired Lightflow to strengthen the delivery leg of our offering. By acquiring Teltoo, we’re continuing to take concrete steps towards reinforcing our end-to-end capabilities. With Lightflow we acquired intelligent transcoding and multi-CDN optimization and now we’ve acquired P2P technology with the aim of specifically addressing efficient delivery to viewers. The acquisition of delivery technology enables Haivision to realize its vision of providing its customers with a complete end-to-end solution.

The acquisition is an excellent fit for Haivision, and the P2P delivery mechanism will be tightly integrated into our existing enterprise solutions allowing scalability where multicast is not a viable option and unicast presents scaling challenges. This technology will also complement our cloud-based Haivision Hub to deliver streams to end viewers. By leveraging both P2P and analytics technology with our multi-CDN and AI optimization, we will advance our shared vision to set a new global standard for video streaming.

Q: What will the benefits be for Haivision customers?

MA: There are currently a lot of fragmented solutions available in the market and with a shared commitment to putting our customers first, this acquisition affords us the opportunity to expand our product portfolio, accelerate our use of innovative technology, and better serve our customers with complete end-to-end video solutions, from contribution through to delivery. The combined technologies acquired from Teltoo and Lightflow will allow Haivision to provide substantial value to its customers through optimized, scalable, and sustainable video delivery. We’re excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.

Read the press release about the acquisition here.