Content Delivery Network CDN - Content Delivery Network market of Russia

2024: Russian Ministry of Digital Development equates CDN operators with hosting providers

On April 15, 2024, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation equated commercial providers CDN (Content Delivery Network) to companies providing web hosting services. For CDN market participants, this can result in significant additional costs.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, representatives of the industry spoke about the decision of the department. The regulator gave explanations in response to a request from VimpelCom (beeline brand): the operator wanted to find out whether CDN is hosting, to which a positive response was received from the Ministry of Digital Development. In accordance with the 149-FZ "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection," a hosting provider refers to a person who performs activities to provide computing power to place information in an information system constantly connected to the Internet.

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When providing a content delivery service (CDN), the service owner is provided with computing power to place information on an information system constantly connected to the Internet, in connection with which the [CDN providers] indicated in your letter are hosting providers, the Ministry of Digital Development notice says.

Equating CDN with web hosting means that commercial CDN providers are obliged to install technical means on their networks to provide the functions of operational-search measures (SORM). Dmitry Petrov, General Director of Comfortel, says that in accordance with the new requirements, the CDN provider needs to send an application to Roskomnadzor, and then, together with the local FSB body, agree on a plan for installing SORM equipment. According to the estimates of the general director of the hosting provider RUVDSNikita Tsaplin, for the largest market players with revenues of 200-500 million rubles, one-time investments in SORM can reach 10 million rubles or more. For small market participants, such requirements can make CDN's business unprofitable.^[1]

2023: The volume of the Russian CDN services market for the year reached 4 billion rubles. Leaders

In 2023, the volume of the Russian market for CDN services (content delivery networks) reached approximately 4 billion rubles. The use of this technology gives advantages to media content suppliers, Internet commerce services, gaming platforms, state portals and other resources with large volumes of traffic. The analysis of the CDN industry is given in the review of the Institute for Internet Development (ANO IRI) and Rostelecom, presented on June 19, 2024.

It is said that due to the current geopolitical situation on the CDN market in Russia in 2022 there were significant changes. In particular, the Luxembourg G-Core Labs announced the termination of activities in the Russian Federation, transferring its capacities to the Russian team operating under the EdgeÖåíòð brand. At the same time, VimpelCom bought a controlling stake in CDNVideo from the Chinese holding Hong Kong Wangsu Science & Technology Company Limited.

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As of mid-2024, Ngenix (nodes in 40 cities; network capacity 4 Tbit/s), EdgeÖåíòð (26 cities; 10 Tbit/s) and CDNVideo (20 cities; 1 Tbit/s). In 2022, it is estimated that these three providers controlled up to 75% of the domestic CDN industry.

The study notes that new players continue to appear on the CDN service market in Russia. So, in 2022, MTS got a service, and the CloudCDN company T1 Cloud in May 2023 announced the launch of a distributed network of high-speed delivery of static and dynamic content. At the same time, the T1 Cloud network is built on EdgeCenter technologies. In addition, CDN's own networks are being developed by the largest content providers. As an example, the network is created and used mainly for operation: online movie theater Okko its capacity is 3.5 Tbit/s.^[2]

2020: Russian CDN market reaches RUB 1.36 bln - iKS-Consulting

In 2020, the volume of Russian CDN reached 1.36 billion rubles against 1.07 billion rubles a year earlier. Analysts at iKS-Consulting announced this as part of their study "Cloud Lending 2018-2022: Economics, Strategies, Business Models."

Experts call CDN geographically distributed software and hardware platforms that speed up the delivery of digital content to consumers. The technology is designed to increase the performance of web resources and speed up the transfer of demanded Internet content.

As noted in the report, when using CDN, the reduction in load on the source server can be up to 95%, the network delay in signal transmission between the user and the source server can be up to 5 times. One of the main advantages of using CDN solutions is the ability to expand the content access infrastructure without additional investment.

Significant application of CDN solutions - optimization of the online translation process. Thus, the CDNvideo network, using more than 30 traffic exchange points in Russia and about 600 abroad, helped to provide broadcasts of international sports events: the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 World Cup; annual direct lines of the President of the Russian Federation, concerts of popular performers and major conferences. Analysts called CDNvideo the leader of the Russian CDN market and gave the company a share of 28%.

According to experts, the market continues to grow steadily at a rate of 27-30%. The main growth drivers are the popularization of video viewing on the Internet, the growth of video quality, the launch of television OTT services by major market players. In subsequent years, sales of CDN0 solutions are expected to increase by an average of 26.4% annually and amount to 3.5 billion rubles by 2024.^[3]

2010

As of August 2010, there were 2 types of companies in the Russian CDN services market: those providing commercial CDN services and having one or more customers.

Trends

1. The Russian market is becoming attractive for foreign players, but is not yet a priority for them. 2. The emergence of new market players will have a positive effect on the CDN market as a whole: increased competition will ensure lower prices and improved quality of services provided. 3. non-resident companies with an interest in the Russian CDN market have a need for a strong local partner. Independent work in the market is difficult, because they do not have a strong lobby and knowledge of the peculiarities of work in the Russian telecom industry, including in the regions.

Operators

Synterra with CDNetworks

Companies cooperate on a white-label scheme: services are provided under the brand of the selling company ("Sinterra"), but in fact are provided by another company (CDNetworks). Using the backbone network and nodes located in Synterra's own data centers, CDNetworks organizes the operation of its own hardware and software load distribution complex, connects and accompanies customers.

The CDN infrastructure includes 3 points of presence: Moscow, Kazan, Novosibirsk (accommodation in its own data centers). In the future - the expansion of CDN infrastructure due to the placement of new nodes in the data centers of Tomsk, Stavropol, Krasnodar, Murmansk. In the event of a successful implementation of the 40x40 program, which provides for the construction of data centers in 40 cities of Russia, the potential for the development of CDN infrastructure is quite high.

Customers:

• Video portal TVzavr.ru. Services provided - accommodation in data centers in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kazan since April 2010. Despite the fact that the CDN service appeared in the joint press release, in fact the client uses his own platform, renting places in data centers and communication channels from Synterra.
• Video hosting Rutube.ru. Services provided - CDN and channel lease (since November 2009). The main task is to increase the availability and visibility of Rutube in large cities of Russia.
• NTV +. The services provided are the organization of live TV broadcasts of sports events in high quality.
• TRK "New Century." Services provided - organization of live TV broadcasts of sports events in high quality

Ngenix

The first CDN service operator in Russia. The company provides services for distributed delivery and distribution of network content and optimization of performance of Internet applications. Services are provided on the basis of the specialized NCDN Content Delivery Network (NGENIX Content Delivery Network) with points of presence in the largest telecommunications centers of Russia. Traditional CDN (carrier neutral) operator.

Ngenix provides about 80% of online broadcasts of sports events in Runet. The CDN infrastructure includes points of presence at all Russian IP traffic exchange points: Moscow, Kazan, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Vladivostok. As well as a node in Kyiv and two new nodes preparing for launch in September 2010. The current total capacity of distribution ports is 1.6 GB, which allows you to distribute more than 350 terabytes of information per month. Customers:

• Video hosting Rutube.ru
• Sports Internet portal Sportbox.ru (VGTRK). Services provided - providing online broadcasts of sports events
• Sports Internet portal Championat.ru (SUP). Services provided - providing online broadcasts of sports events
• MSN.ru ( Microsoft ). Services provided - providing online broadcasts of matches of the Russian Football League
• Tvigle. Services Rendered - Content Delivery Network

Projects announced and in test mode

• CDNvideo
• RuCDN
• Limelight & DENIVIP Media
• Telia Company (formerly TeliaSonera)
• G-Core Rus (formerly SkyparkCDN)
• Pexip Infinity

See also

• Content Delivery Networks, CDN (Global Market)
• DoS attacks on content delivery networks, CDN Content Delivery Network

Notes