BT Group has announced a new technology, designed to be a more reliable, quality-focused and sustainable way of delivering live content over the internet.
Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery (MAUD) technology is aimed at improving viewer experiences and increasing the efficiency of the journey that content takes to reach them, said the company.
A number of major broadcasters, including the BBC, will be involved in evaluating and potentially trialling the technology to support a range of live content, added BT.
MAUD uses multicast technology to group single streams into one shared one, directing it to viewers who want to watch the action. According to BT, the technology has an advantage over ‘ordinary’ multicast streams, as its integration is made completely transparent to the player application, meaning content service providers won’t need to modify their customer apps.
Moving from unicast delivery to multicast increases the efficiency of content delivery, but also reduces environmental impact and overall costs for broadcasters, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and internet providers, sais BT, which claims MAUD technology uses up to 50 per cent less bandwidth during peak events.
Speaking about the technology, Howard Watson, chief security and networks officer at BT Group said: “MAUD is a major breakthrough in how we deliver content over the internet. Developed in our world-leading labs at Adastral Park in Suffolk, MAUD could be a key solution to how we manage ever-increasing traffic loads. By combining individual streams, MAUD delivers a more reliable, consistent picture, no matter whether customers are watching over Wi-Fi, fibre or mobile networks.”
