The Most Important Metric for Cleantech Content Delivery

Recently, Varnish Software and Intel announced a major step forward for streaming (and content) delivery, reaching almost 400 Gbps on off-the-shelf hardware. The Supermicro server was powered by 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, running a new NUMA-aware version of Varnish Enterprise. Our performance benchmarks were featured in a demo at Mobile World Congress, available here.

Reaching almost 400 Gbps on a standard server is likely a new record for standard software, which may have a disruptive impact on existing hardware and software technologies that sometimes can only deliver a tenth of this capacity.

Being the fastest and most performant is in the DNA of Varnish Software, and our core engineers are obsessed with breaking boundaries like this (expect them to reach even higher). Working with amazing partners like Intel to achieve benchmarks like this is very exciting for us, but there is also an important reason behind it.

Decarbonizing content distribution

In our testing, we also measure how much energy is used to deliver a certain amount of digital content, measured in Gbps/W. The idea, of course, is to maximize the amount of content you can deliver at once while minimizing energy usage.

We have improved this significantly in the last few years, delivering much more content for every watt of energy consumed by hardware processes. This is good news for our customers, with lower hardware and energy costs when delivering content to their audience.

The NUMA-aware version of Varnish Enterprise is a major milestone in cleantech content delivery, processing memory access locally for more efficient I/O performance. In short, we’re able to deliver much, much more, for much, much less.

Developing clean technology solutions for content delivery is only growing in urgency. The next generation of networks, powered by 5G, will execute a vast number of streaming and edge compute processes as they handle skyrocketing demand for high-quality digital experiences. If we’re not careful, the next digital revolution will push power consumption to unacceptable levels.

We’re not alone in our quest to make our solutions energy efficient, decarbonizing content delivery for consumers watching their favorite series or the Paris Olympics 2024 on a 4K multi-screen experience. For example, the world’s leading streaming platform, Netflix, has committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2022 as part of their Net Zero - Nature plan to combat climate change. With some estimates claiming that one six-hour streaming binge burns the equivalent of one liter of fuel, the initiative is welcome.

One of the world’s largest telcos, Deutsche Telekom, also has ambitious plans for becoming carbon neutral while delivering streaming and digital content to millions of consumers. Looking into the next generation of your streaming and content delivery solutions, how many Gbps/W do you need?