Pocket-Lint interviewed Netflix's Adrian Cockcroft and he said Netflix is helping improve the Internet infrastructure, even for non-subscribers.
"We are providing a substantial amount of money to content delivery networks and they are using the money to build out the infrastructure," said Adrian Cockroft, the company's cloud architect.
"We are effectively funding the further development of the internet in terms of the backbone and the distribution of content."
In the US, Netflix is the primary user of bandwidth into people's homes. Independent figures indicate that around 40 per cent of peak traffic on a Saturday night is generated by people watching content on Netflix.
So glad to know that Netflix is spending my money on this instead of new discs or streaming licenses.
Y'know, 'cause the internet will collapse utterly without Netflix's help, and I can always go get Google to mail me some DVDs.
Posted by: Perkins Cobb | March 07, 2012 at 09:45 AM
This is great news for all parties involved... especially users. Hopefully this investment will lead to internet speeds that rival South Korea and Hong Kong.
Posted by: Joe Stuart | March 07, 2012 at 10:08 AM
I'd be satisfied to get internet speeds like Boston. :(
Posted by: Judy_ | March 07, 2012 at 02:38 PM
I find this disingenuous. NetFlix doesn't deserve credit for this anymore than its customers do. We give money to NetFlix to deliver content and we don't care how they do it. NetFlix gives money to the CDNs to deliver content and doesn't care how they do it. If the CDNs could improve streaming without improving the internet (by federating content closer to each customer, for example) NetFlix would be okay with that.
I'm sorry but he's claiming credit where it isn't due. The CDNs deserve the credit here, not NetFlix or its customers.
Posted by: Gir | March 07, 2012 at 03:15 PM
@Gir, Netflix is a primary investor in the AWS Cloud network. This CDN would not exist if not for development and partnership done by Netflix engineers. While you might think that something as simple as efficient DNS would be enough to sate the HUGE monetary investment Netflix has made, You are wrong and have some reading to do.
Posted by: nflx | March 08, 2012 at 04:50 PM
Instead of wasting money on this, NF should join the group making h.265 codec. The codec will improve h.264 compression by 45%. h.265 will greatly lower bandwidth requirements of streaming media.
Posted by: FearNo1 | March 09, 2012 at 04:13 AM
@nflx (such an original name you turd). What the fock are you talking about? AWS? What does AWS stand for? American Weiners Society??? The article doesn't mention anything about AWS. Are you reffering to Amazon Web Services?? If you are then Netflix might be a "primary investor"(customer) of Amazon but they're not like Al Gore (inventor of the web) and their role is not as mighty as reported.
Amazon has ben providing storage space (for a fee) for many years Turd. My local ISP is storing NF movies?? Bullsheeeeeeett. NF doesn't have the moohla to pay my ISP.
The article is poorly written like most non-essential print stories. Next time Turd, provide a link or at least a source for your comments. Hacking Netflix is a Web site that normal people comment about NF issues. Not Turds who post abbreviations that have not been mentioned in the article and expect all people to be clairvoyant.
Wait a minute..........Are you a web designer??
Posted by: Wbad | March 09, 2012 at 05:49 AM
Too bad Netflix didn't invest in the Post Office so that they could still deliver on what should be their core business - namely DVD rental through the mail.
What's wrong with sticking with DVD rental to help fund their future business which is internet delivery?
Posted by: Klass Klown | March 09, 2012 at 03:42 PM
Amazon's cloud partnership is pushing huge advancement for delivering 40% of the countries bandwidth usage. As far as going for the h.265 codec, I can't agree more, but I am 99% certain there was an article on here earlier in the year showing netflix as doing just that. They are working on significant advances in compression as well as improving infrastructure. Wbad, umadbro? kidspist
Posted by: nflx | March 13, 2012 at 02:47 AM