In September 2023, we introduced
ultra-low latency livestreaming and since then we’ve introduced
several improvements for the overall experience. Today, we’re excited to introduce the latest enhancement for ultra-low latency live streaming:
Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) support for Google Meet.
When configured by admins, eCDN has the potential to reduce bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume. This applies to all live streams, including those originating from
outside of your own domain. This is achieved through peer-assisted media delivery — whereby live streamed content is automatically shared between nearby peers, reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers and minimizing bottleneck. There is no additional software, hardware, or end user action required to use eCDN — it works automatically in the background.
With eCDN turned on, live streamed content is shared between peers (as seen on the right), reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers (as seen on the left).
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why it’s important
Live streaming is a key tool for presenting information to large audiences such as town-hall meetings, weekly broadcasts or other kinds of events with large audiences. As such, video quality of live streamed content is critical. Using eCDN can significantly reduce the strain on internet gateways while delivering a high-quality viewing experience with consistently low latency. Without eCDN, each viewer is sent their own individual feed. With eCDN turned on for a private network, the backend will send media to a significantly lower number of clients in that network. Those clients will then use the eCDN technology to take over and redistribute media to ensure that all viewers in that network receive the media they need, with high quality and preserved ultra-low latency.
