Qwilt: "Open Transparent Caching" vs. Content Providers' "Black Boxes"

Some quotes from a GigaOm post with Qwilt's CEO, Alon Maor [pictured]:

• Since launching Qwilt in 2011, I’ve seen online video grow to be one of the hardest challenges network operators face today. In my role as CEO, I’ve overseen Qwilt’s engagements with more than 150 network operator customers worldwide - some of whom are experiencing 90% growth of video year over year which translates to 60% growth of their overall internet traffic [see "[Sandvine] NA Cord-Cutters Stream 3 Hours of Video a Day" - here]. This presents not only a tremendous opportunity, but also its own set of challenges.
   
• .. content providers like Netflix and Google now regularly publish ISP rankings that expose both the best and worst performing ISPs by region .. Ultimately, these rankings ensure accountability lies with the network operator instead of the content provider when the consumer’s experience is unsatisfactory [not always .. - see "Netflix - Speed to Comcast Customers Continue to Surge" - here] and network performance is the cause.
   
• A number of US cable operators, including Mediacom Communications [here], have deployed transparent caching technology to leverage the value of caching video deep in their networks, close to consumers.

• Transparent caching deployed inside operator networks embraces an open architecture. This infrastructure is transparent, universal, neutral, trusted and secure. This open architecture stands in contrast to the closed cache systems operated by some content providers today which appear as black boxes to network operators [see "Netflix CDN Customers have More Fun" - here].
  
  These closed caches systems address only one content provider at a time and, therefore, reduce the ability of operators to optimize traffic on their networks. So, for example, content streamed from Content Provider A will not be cached by Content Provider G’s closed cache.
   
• Content providers are considering further steps to obscure their content. Indeed, last November, Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman said, “Encrypting everything could end government censorship for a decade.”

See "Will cable operators, CDNs and ISPs make or break the future of online streaming video?" - here.