StriveCast eCDN Full POC Guide

StriveCast Sales Director

• The primary contact for commercial and all operational questions during the process.

• Responsibility is to act as main driver of the POC process, set mutual expectations for success, and map out the POC roadmap together with the customer, and provide any further non-technical documentation on the product or data privacy-related questions.

Corporate Communications Representative

• Provide internal business cases and department-specific requirements (Kick-Off)

• Contribute to success criteria during the Data Collection phase (Step 3)

• Help identify target audience and locations for evaluation (Step 3)

• Provide customer-specific content to be distributed during the evaluation (Step 3)

StriveCast Technical Account Manager

• The primary contact for technology and product-related questions.

• Responsibility is to ensure a smooth and fast product integration, advise during the compatibility check and data collection phase, answer any technical questions coming up along the road, and solving any technical issues during the proof of concept.

Enterprise Network Specialist

• Provide all required network information during the Product Integration phase (Step 2)

• Enabling local IP address collection (Step 2)

• Monitors health of the network during video events (Step 3)

• Provide customer-specific information about network topology (Step 2)

• Identify target audience based on location, network connectivity, and available bandwidth (Step 3)

• Validate bandwidth consumption and optimization (Step 2/3)

• Assist with troubleshooting during evaluation if required (Step 2/3)

Step 1 - Compatibility Check

To engage in a POC with StriveCast eCDN, we need to confirm that all involved technology components, such as the video platform, the video player, your network and caching software, and used browsers are compatible with StriveCast eCDN.

Step 2 - Product Integration

Before testing StriveCast eCDN at scale, we need to ensure that your corporate network is, in fact, ready to run StriveCast eCDN and deliver video data accurately within your locations and subnets.

Product Integration is a process on its own and needs to be completed before the proof of concept can be completed.

Step 3 - Data Collection

This step involves collecting actual data from your network, which will be used to evaluate StriveCast eCDN and decide whether or not to go forward with StriveCast as your vendor of choice.

Initial Meeting

Compatibility Check

• Overall presentation of the product

• Compatibility check

• Assignment of StriveCast team members (Sales Director and Technical Account Manager)

• Set dates for further meetings (mutual action plan)

Initially

Product Integration Kick-Off

Product Integration

• Technical presentation by StriveCast

• Selection of IP discovery method

• Platform account creation and handover of access credentials

After 1-3 days

Review of network mapping data

Product Integration

• Mutual review of created locations, subnet ranges, blocked IP ranges

• Bandwidth per location vs. users per location

• Confirmation by both parties

After 1-5 days

Data collection start

Data Collection

• Selection of data collection method (live event vs. silent test)

• Success criteria definition

After 1-3 days

Network report review

Data Collection

• Presentation and evaluation of collected data

• Comparison with success criteria

• Decision to continue with StriveCast as the vendor of choice

After 2-10 days

The customer has given written confirmation of the intent to purchase StriveCast eCDN from StriveCast or a StriveCast partner.

The customer has confirmed a date/event until the solution should be fully set up and ready to be deployed to the customer’s network.

The customer agrees that the POC should not exceed a total of 30 days, including the Data Collection phase (Step 3).

The customer agrees that the total number of users included in the data collection phase should not exceed:

• 500 if a real live event is used during the data collection phase

• 5,000 if a silent test is used during the data collection phase

Exceeding these numbers will require a paid POC. If you are interested in a larger POC setup, please contact your StriveCast representative for further details.

Provide Network Map

To guarantee a maximized peering efficiency, StriveCast needs to understand:

• how to differentiate between office locations, based on local IP information (subnet masks)

• which subnets should be excluded from peering (VPN users, Wi-Fi)

For this, StriveCast provides a spreadsheet template, which has to be filled out and returned to StriveCast.

Enable local IP collection

StriveCast needs to read a user’s local IP address to connect it to other users properly. By default, local IP detection is not possible within a modern browser. You can achieve this in 3 different ways:

1. Allow local IP detection via a browser group policy.

2. Host a local version of the StriveCast Peering Manager.

3. Install a local P2P agent on each device.

Activate StriveCast in your webcast platform

Depending on your chosen webcasting platform, you need to enable StriveCast within the platform. You can contact us directly or talk to your platform provider to help with the integration.

Silent Test (Recommended)

Uses the StriveCast Silent Test browser plugin, which can be deployed via a browser group policy. The StriveCast silent test does not require any local software/agent installation and is purely browser-based.

Pros

• Unlimited scale. You can test with all of your employees and simulate a global live event.

• Most insightful testing method as lots of data is generated during testing. Test results will look no different from a real large-scale webcast event and can even exceed current numbers.

• Longest testing period. A silent test can run for hours or even days and is remote-controllable. You can add or remove certain user groups, devices, locations, and countries during the test to see how your network handles the changing conditions.

Cons

• Your organization's implementation needs to be approved (global roll-out of a browser plugin) and requires time until the plugin is globally available.

Real Live Event

StriveCast offers to activate StriveCast eCDN for one real event during the POC as data source for product evaluation.

Pros

• Actual real-life data. Data is collected within the live environment instead of from a test setup.

• Reduced time to go live. This method requires full integration into your webcasting platform, reducing the time for full deployment after the POC.

Cons

• Your organization needs to approve the use of an actual live event for testing purposes.

Local Test

Small local test setup, based on 20-100 users who are participating in a sample webcast. Typically done via an email invitation to a couple of employees.

Pros

• Easy and quick setup. StriveCast can provide a sample microsite where a test webcast is hosted. Otherwise, Customer can provide this as well.

• Reduced planning time. If your organization agrees that a local test is sufficient for the POC, this can strongly reduce the overall POC timeframe.

Cons

• Limited data significance. Due to the limited number of users, data might not be as significant and insightful as another data collection method.

• Limited location and IP range testing. If your location setup consists of multiple locations with many allowed and blocked IP ranges, a local test might not be able to cover all of these, leaving certain locations untested.

Metrics

Utilization Rate

The total ratio of viewers who are part of the P2P network and can potentially share data.

Savings Rate

The total percentage of data fetched over the P2P network instead of the origin. Filtered by utilized users.

Effective Savings Rate

The total percentage of data fetched over the P2P network instead of the origin. Filtered by all users.

Peer Count

The average number of P2P neighbors per peer.

Dimensions

Location

Based on local IP information and the configured Locations containing allowed and blocked local IP ranges, the user's location is based on local IP information.

City

The user’s city, based on public Geo-IP information.

Country

The user’s country, based on public Geo-IP information.

Browser

The user’s browser, based on the tracked user agent.

Operating System

The user’s operating system, based on the tracked user agent.

Location type

One of the following (based on configured Locations):

• Allowed Range

• Blocked Range

• No Range

StriveCast Receives Data
Validates that the deployment was integrated successfully and events are pushed to StriveCast.

Number of events received during test window.

Result should be greater than 0.

Local IPs Resolvable
Validates that all P2P clients can read the local IP address of their devices.

Number of users with an empty ‘local_ip’ data field.

Result should be 0.

Peering Enabled For Allowed Ranges
Validates that users within an allowed IP range can share traffic with other allowed users in the same cluster-ID.

Utilization Rate by Location

Filter: Select only allowed IP ranges

Utilization Rate should be at least 95%.

No Peering For Blocked Ranges
Validates that users within a blocked IP range do not share video data via WebRTC.

Utilization Rate by Location
Savings Rate by Location

Filter: Select only blocked IP ranges

Both measurements should be 0%.

Peering Effective For Allowed Ranges
Validates that bandwidth reduction within allowed IP ranges meets StriveCast’s expectations.

Savings Rate by Location

Filter:

• Select only allowed IP ranges

• Select only locations with at least 10 users

• Savings Rate >= 90%:
  Good

• Savings Rate >= 80%:
  Acceptable

• Savings Rate < 80%:
  Needs review

Cluster Size Accurate
Validates that P2P clusters meet the expected cluster size.

Cluster size by Location

Filter:

• Select only allowed IP ranges

• Select only locations with at least 10 users

Result should be at least 80% of configured cluster size (default is 20).

All Locations Tested
Validates that sufficient data is collected from all configured locations.

Number of locations with less than 10 total users.

Result should be 0.

Locations Cover All Users
Validates that all tracked users are located within a configured IP range.

Number of users that are neither within an allowed nor in a blocked IP range.

Result should be 0.

Movingimage

Yes

Google Meet

Yes

Microsoft Teams Live Events

Yes

Microsoft Stream

Yes

Kaltura

Yes

ON24

Yes

PGi

No

MediaPlatform

Yes

3Q Video

Yes

CleverCast

Yes

Vancast

Yes

Xtendx

Yes

WTV

Yes

Google Chrome

Supported (Version 23+)

Mozilla Firefox

Supported (Version 22+)

Microsoft Edge

Supported (Chromium-based)

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Not supported

Safari

Supported (Version 11+)

Safari Mobile

Supported (Version 11+ only for smartphones)

Opera

Supported (Version 18+)

HLS

Fully supported

DASH

Fully supported

Smooth

Not supported

HTML5-based web players

Yes

Adobe Flash

Not supported

iOS native SDK

Yes

Android native SDK

Yes

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