Peer-to-peer (P2P) live streaming for office networks
Stream an all-hands to every office without saturating the internet link. Viewers on the same network share the live stream between them, cutting external bandwidth by up to 90 percent, and a quality of experience report shows how each office fared.
Trusted by the world's most demanding enterprises
How P2P live streaming works inside a corporate network
Peer-to-peer live streaming is an enterprise content delivery network (eCDN) that runs on the computers already in the building. On a normal live stream every viewer downloads their own copy from the CDN, so a town hall watched by a thousand people in one office pulls a thousand streams through that office's internet connection at the same time. With peer-to-peer delivery a few viewers fetch each video segment from the CDN and the rest of the office fetches it from them over the local network, which is faster and has bandwidth to spare.
StreamShark's peer-to-peer live streaming is delivered with Hive Streaming, StreamShark's eCDN partner since 2018. It runs in the browser over WebRTC, so there is nothing to install on viewers' machines, and switching it on is a single setting on the event. It covers the live stream, DVR catch-up and the archive, works with AES-128 encrypted streams, and viewers who cannot peer, such as people working from home, fall back to StreamShark's Multi-CDN delivery without noticing.
Viewers on the same network share the stream between them
Each video segment comes into the office once from the CDN and then passes from viewer to viewer across the local network, which is faster than the internet link and has bandwidth to spare. Peers find each other automatically, and anyone who cannot reach a peer fetches from the CDN as usual, so nobody waits on the desk next door.
Cut external bandwidth by up to 90 percent
The saving is the share of traffic delivered between viewers instead of over the internet connection. Customers who switch it on see 80 to 90 percent of a broadcast delivered peer to peer on their office networks, which is the difference between a town hall that buffers for everyone in the building and one that plays perfectly.
Quality of experience reports for every office and viewer
After each event a quality of experience report shows the share of traffic delivered peer to peer, buffering and bitrate, from the whole company down to a single office or viewer. With single sign-on each viewer is identified, so a complaint from one desk can be traced to its metrics, and the headline figures can be posted to Slack as the event ends. It sits alongside StreamShark's other video analytics and insights.
Easy to set up
Switch on peer-to-peer delivery when you set up the event and that is the whole job. Viewers watch the same player as always, and the report lands in your account afterwards.
If your town halls buffer whenever the whole office watches, book a demo and we'll show you how peer-to-peer assisted streaming can help.
Book a DemoSee peer-to-peer live streaming on your own network
Book a walkthrough of the bandwidth saving, the quality of experience report and how the add-on is switched on.
Peer-to-peer live streaming questions we get asked
Peer-to-peer live streaming is a way of delivering a live stream where viewers on the same network share video segments with each other instead of each downloading their own copy from the CDN. In an enterprise it is sold as an eCDN, an enterprise content delivery network, and it cuts the external bandwidth a company-wide broadcast needs by up to 90 percent.
An eCDN, or enterprise content delivery network, delivers video inside a company's own network instead of pulling a separate copy over the internet connection for every viewer. StreamShark's eCDN is peer-to-peer, so viewers on the same office network share the stream between them and the internet link carries only a fraction of the traffic.
Up to 90 percent of the external bandwidth. The figure is the share of traffic delivered between viewers rather than over the internet connection, and StreamShark customers typically see 80 to 90 percent on office networks. Viewers working from home or alone on a network fall back to the CDN, so the saving is highest where people watch together.
No. StreamShark's peer-to-peer delivery runs in the browser over WebRTC, so there is no plugin, client or caching appliance. Viewers open the player as usual and the sharing happens in the background.
Access does not change. Viewers still authenticate through single sign-on or viewer management before the player loads, and peer-to-peer delivery works with AES-128 encrypted streams, so what peers pass between them can be the same encrypted segments the CDN serves. Peer-to-peer changes where the bytes come from, not who can watch.
Yes. Peer-to-peer delivery applies to the live stream, to DVR catch-up while the event is running, to the instant archive afterwards and to on-demand videos.
It is an add-on rather than part of a plan, and it is licensed either annually by the number of employees or for a single event, so a company can try it on one broadcast first.
