Enhancing Network Operators’ Business Decisions with OTT and CDN Analytics

Ultimately, users care more about the services they access over a network rather than the network itself. Therefore, the network’s primary purpose is to deliver the applications that users value most. In this video demo, Steve Meuse, a Solutions Architect at Kentik, explains how network operators can utilize Kentik’s Over-the-Top (OTT) and Content Delivery Network (CDN) analysis tools to gain insights into application activity across the internet and their private networks. By employing Kentik’s comprehensive toolset, network professionals can make informed technology and business decisions about their network, ensuring more reliable and higher-performing applications.

Important takeaways from this video include:

• Kentik’s OTT and CDN analytics offer a more in-depth understanding of application activity on a network, moving beyond mere data observation to grasp the reasons behind network or application performance.
• Kentik employs various data sources, such as network flow data (NetFlow), BGP data, SNMP data, and DNS telemetry, to provide visibility into OTT services and CDN analytics. This method eliminates the need for complex and expensive Deep Packet Inspection (DPI).
• Utilizing Kentik’s analytics, it’s possible to associate OTT services with the physical network infrastructure, reducing support costs and enhancing the comprehension of service delivery methods.
• Kentik’s analytics assist network operators in identifying traffic types, providers, volume, and ingestion methods while offering performance indicators like bitrates per subscriber. These analytics have real-world implications, such as helping service providers identify and allocate additional capacity for popular OTT services like Disney+ or gathering insights into traffic from various content delivery networks.