The Web, Scalable Video, Neutrality, and Online Olympics Coverage in the US

While trying out the online Olypmics coverage at www.nbcolympics.com I was 
intrigued to find that much of the video content could be accessed only if 
you first verified that you were US-based and served by one of a limited 
set of ISPs.  As it turns out, I am served at home by an ISP that was not 
on the list, and thus I was not legally able to access much of the 
Olympics Web content, even though others in my area served by a different 
ISP were able to access it.

ZDNet [1] has an article that sheds a bit more light on what I assume is a 
related issue.  Apparently, although the content is accessed through 
traditional Web browsing, the video streams themselves are not distributed 
to ISPs using the Internet as we usually think of it.  Rather it's being 
distributed through a private backbone run by Limelight Networks [2]. From 
the article: 

"When you download videos from NBCOlympics.com, your computer isn’t 
actually going to the Internet to get content. In fact, the content is 
usually no more than 2 router hops away from your ISP. Limelight has 
partnered with over 800 broadband Internet providers worldwide (such as 
Verizon, Comcast, Road Runner and Optimum Online/Cablevision) so that the 
content is either co-located in the same facility as your ISP’s main 
communications infrastructure, or it leases a dedicated Optical Carrier 
line so that it actually appears as part of your ISP’s internal network. 
In most cases, you’re never even leaving your Tier 1 provider to get the 
video."

So, there's a second video Internet, and you can only get to it if your 
ISP buys in.  While we can get into all sorts of political discussions 
regarding the appropriateness of these sorts of things, there are also 
architectural implications for the Web itself I think, so the TAG should 
be interested.  First of all, the main architectural principle, or at 
least the ideal goal of the Web, is that all content be identified by URI 
and be accessible independent of the location of or technology used by the 
client (I.e. presuming pertinent standards are followed).  That universal 
access is not available for the Olympics streams.  Secondly, if video is 
to become ubiquitous on the Web, and if it really is the case that the 
public internet can't handle the load (and I have no idea whether that's 
really true), then there are important questions regarding the 
architecture and openness of the Web.

My purpose here is not to endorse or to criticise the choices made by the 
NBC Olympics folks, nor am I endorsing or criticising the products or 
services offered by companies like Limelight.  I do think it's worth 
keeping an eye on Web architecture issues that arise when very high 
bandwidth video is to be accessed by large numbers of Web users.  BTW: 
kudos to Slashdot [3] for pointing to all of this.

Noah

[1] http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=9221

[2] http://www.limelightnetworks.com/

[3] http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/08/17/1855229.shtml


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Noah Mendelsohn 
IBM Corporation
One Rogers Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
1-617-693-4036
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