Blog
Streaming’s Next Phase Requires a New Infrastructure Model
Author
Siegfried (Sig) Luft, a serial entrepreneur, has been at the forefront of technical innovation for over twenty five years. Prior to co-founding Netskrt Systems, Sig founded Siaras, a pioneer in cloud computing. Sig was also founder and CTO at Zeugma Systems, which was subsequently purchased by Tellabs. Sig was a co-founder of Siara Systems, which was purchased by Redback Networks in 2000; and part of the founding team of Fiberlane/Cerent Corp., which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1999.
Streaming has become the default way audiences consume video. From global live sports to binge-worthy series drops, viewers now expect every stream to start instantly, play flawlessly, and maintain high quality from beginning to end.
But behind the scenes, the infrastructure supporting those expectations is under increasing strain.
In a new article for Streaming Media Magazine, Netskrt CEO Siegfried Luft explores a growing disconnect between how streaming behaves today and the way most content delivery networks (CDNs) were originally designed to operate.
Traditional CDN architectures were built for a different era, one defined by predictable traffic patterns and primarily on-demand viewing. That model worked well when demand could be forecast and scaled incrementally. But today’s streaming environment looks very different.
Live events now draw massive concurrent audiences, often numbering in the tens of millions. At the same time, higher-resolution formats like 4K and HDR are increasing bandwidth requirements, while viewer expectations for instant playback and uninterrupted experiences have never been higher.
The result is a fundamental mismatch between legacy infrastructure and modern demand.
As the article outlines, meeting these new requirements calls for a more distributed and dynamic approach to delivery. Instead of relying on hundreds of large, centralized points of presence, the next generation of infrastructure must extend deeper into the network by leveraging thousands of lightweight, software-defined nodes positioned closer to end users.
This shift toward hyper-distribution enables content to be delivered locally, reducing latency and minimizing the impact of network congestion. It also introduces greater elasticity, allowing capacity to scale up during peak events and scale down during quieter periods—an essential capability in a world where streaming demand behaves more like sudden surges than steady growth.
Of course, distribution alone is not enough. Managing a network of this scale requires intelligent orchestration. As highlighted in the piece, centralized control planes powered by real-time data and automation are critical to ensuring that capacity is allocated efficiently and performance remains consistent, even during periods of extreme demand.
Streaming platforms can no longer rely on yesterday’s infrastructure to meet tomorrow’s expectations. That’s exactly the challenge Netskrt was built to solve. By rethinking content delivery from the ground up, Netskrt has developed a hyper-distributed, software-defined architecture that extends deep into last-mile networks, bringing capacity closer to end users and enabling more efficient, localized delivery at scale.
As the industry continues to grow—and as live, high-stakes events become an even larger part of the streaming mix—Netskrt’s approach is designed to meet the moment. Its platform combines massive distribution at the edge with centralized, intelligent orchestration, allowing capacity to scale dynamically with demand while maintaining a consistent quality of experience. The result is an infrastructure model purpose-built for the realities of modern streaming: elastic, efficient, and engineered to perform when it matters most.
Read the full article in Streaming Media Magazine here.