REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Research* by a broad group of institutions and companies including Oculus, Nokia Bell Labs and Valve has unanimously concluded that low network latency is essential for the performance of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 360 Degree Video and compute intensive IoT applications like self-driving cars. These requirements are driving the need for evolution in cloud computing to deliver these applications at scale. In response, Qwilt today unveiled its vision for the Open Edge Cloud—a new model of content and application delivery to both consumers and enterprise workers that addresses requirements for both low latency and massive scale.

“The edge cloud and edge computing will play a vital role in application and content delivery across both fixed and mobile networks around the world,” said Monica Paolini, Principal Analyst at Senza Fili. “This distributed layer of shared compute infrastructure in last mile networks, at home and at work, is the final element in the new architecture for application delivery.”

Edge computing is a distributed information technology (IT) architecture in which client data is processed at the periphery of the network, as close to the originating source as possible. The edge cloud is a platform of applications leveraging standard compute and storage infrastructure that is massively distributed and deployed deep in the Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks, and in many cases, in the home, the enterprise or in a vehicle. It enables ISPs to address low latency application requirements for new applications and experiences.

The Case for the Service Provider Edge Cloud
Rigorous independent studies completed by Oculus, Nokia Bell Labs and Valve all confirm that extremely low latency is mandatory for the success of AR and VR. In one of the studies conducted by Nokia Bell Labs*, the maximum tolerable network delay for some applications is 10ms or less. These latency sensitive applications include VR Gaming, AR non-gaming and cloud-assisted self-driving cars. The study concludes that these applications can only achieve optimum performance in the service provider edge cloud. In comparison, screen-to-brain propagation has a latency of 80ms and the blink of a human eye takes 150ms.

The service provider edge cloud includes a suite of Open APIs that enable rapid content delivery resource allocation while leveraging the reach and scale in the service provider last-mile network.

Five essential attributes of the service provider edge cloud include:

1. Based on Common Compute and Storage: The edge cloud is a layer of common off the shelf (COTS) compute and storage resources enabling content delivery from the closest possible location to consumers. Edge cloud applications run on this common compute layer in software that is cloud managed, elastic and resilient.

2. Massively Distributed and Shared: The edge cloud is a massively distributed infrastructure that enables apps and content to be streamed from a distance of a few miles to a few feet from consumers, thus reducing latency and improving response times for future applications.

3. Accessible to Publishers via an Open API: Publishers and CDNs can make use of the edge cloud by 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.

4. Matches Resources to Application and Content Delivery Demands: Some applications like video (especially 4K) require significant bandwidth and storage. Others, like gaming and VR, require split second response time for in-game actions, but little storage. The edge cloud has the intelligence and agility to understand application needs and assign resources accordingly.

5. Extends, Augments and Complements Centralized Cloud: The centralized cloud plays a vital role. The edge cloud creates a new layer that can work alongside the centralized cloud and create a superior application and content delivery infrastructure.

“We are in a race to enable our Open Edge Cloud to keep up with growing consumer demand for streaming media. By partnering with service providers, we can satisfy publisher requirements for edge cloud resources that deliver the requisite scale and quality,” said Alon Maor, CEO of Qwilt and Board Member of the Streaming Video Alliance. “In our role as an edge cloud enabler, we remain focused on innovating, leading and partnering to achieve our vision of helping to create a worldwide Open Edge Cloud for content and application delivery.”

Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud Platform – Enabling Infrastructure for New Applications
As part of this vision, in a separate news release, Qwilt detailed the launch of its Open Edge Cloud platform, a next generation content and application delivery platform for service providers that enables high quality streaming experiences for consumers at massive scale.

Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud is fully cloud-managed and allows publishers to access the distributed delivery infrastructure through a single open API. Its software-based Open Edge Cloud delivery nodes provide best-in-class performance in terms of media delivery per rack unit of rack space consumed. Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud solution also incorporates architectural flexibility that allows placement of edge delivery nodes in the ISP network – at the home, the enterprise and in other locations as required by the application. It can manage service provider content as well as third party publisher and CDN Over the Top (OTT) content.

*References
What VR could, should and almost certainly will be in two years http://media.steampowered.com/apps/abrashblog/Abrash%20Dev%20Days%202014.pdf

Presence: Technical Requirements http://dsky9.com/rift/presence-technical-requirements/

The Future X Network: A Bell Labs Perspective https://www.bell-labs.com/our-research/future-x-book/

In a separate release:

Qwilt, a leading provider of content delivery solutions, announced today the launch of Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud platform, a next generation content and application delivery platform for Service Providers that enables a high-quality streaming experience for consumers at scale through a managed platform and open API for commercial CDNs and publishers. Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud platform creates a massively distributed content delivery solution that supports applications such as 4K live streaming, AR, VR, self-driving cars and IoT. In a separate news release issued today, the company detailed its vision for Edge Cloud computing in Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks.

With the advent of 4K Live Streaming, VR, AR and 360 Video, latency and scale have become critical for many new applications. As cloud computing continues to evolve, more applications will require the Edge Cloud, a platform of applications running on common compute and storage infrastructure deployed deep in Internet service provider networks and, in many cases, in the home, the enterprise or in a vehicle. The Edge Cloud extends and complements the centralized cloud infrastructure run by Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others. The balance between the centralized cloud and Edge Cloud is dynamic—at any moment, given consumer and enterprise demand for compute resources, publishers and cloud service providers will decide when content or application delivery should be pushed from the centralized cloud out to the Edge Cloud.

Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud Platform – Enabling Infrastructure for New Applications
Qwilt’s Open Edge Cloud Platform, a unique solution for edge computing, is comprised of three core elements. First, a centralized management and control plane orchestrates dynamic assignment of edge cloud resources for content delivery. Second, an Open API to commercial CDNs and publishers serves as a single point of integration for access to worldwide Open Edge Cloud infrastructure. The third and final component is Qwilt’s software-based edge delivery nodes that run on common compute and storage hardware, which are deployed deep in service provider networks, at the home or in the enterprise. The Qwilt Open Edge Cloud nodes are designed to deliver both service provider-owned and third party content. They are optimized for high capacity delivery per rack unit to achieve the best possible performance given the restricted space and power considerations at edge locations. Taken together, the Qwilt Open Edge Cloud uniquely facilitates next generation content and application delivery.

One Open Edge Cloud - Two Service Provider Solutions with Room To Grow
The Qwilt Open Edge Cloud platform delivers two service provider solutions today and will continually expand to address more use cases and applications. Today, two service provider solutions available for the Qwilt Open Edge Cloud offer open caching and an operator content delivery network. Specifically: