Varnish Software, a leader in caching, streaming and content delivery software solutions, will soon launch its solutions in space as part of a joint initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)’s 5G-EMERGE consortium. By combining 5G satellite communications with advanced web caching and content delivery at the edge, Varnish will soon deliver next-gen connectivity wherever it is needed across our planet.

“The explosion of high-quality, live video content and new immersive experiences presents significant challenges when scaling content delivery and ensuring a flawless viewing experience. Processing and caching content closer to end users is critical,” said Lars Larsson, CEO at Varnish Software. “And it’s clear to us that sometimes the closest point will be a satellite orbiting the earth.”

With its uniquely flexible and efficient CDN and edge caching technologies, Varnish and the 5G-EMERGE project will develop an ecosystem of distributed edges to cache and manipulate content as close to the end user as possible – within, or close to, the last mile.

“Our collaboration with the 5G-EMERGE consortium will not only drive the future of content delivery but also deliver significant benefits to our customers and their end users around the world. The last mile is no longer out of reach,” said Irene Ahlström-Lundin, CDO and 5G-EMERGE Project Lead at Varnish Software.

This unique approach will help content providers, telecom operators and CSPs flawlessly deliver lightning-fast, high-quality web and streaming experiences at lower costs, all while reducing latency by as much as 50% or more.

Furthermore, by connecting satellites directly to in-home networks via routers or 5G base stations, service providers can deliver data-rich content and next-gen experiences anywhere in the world, even in remote geographic areas or locations that cannot take advantage of fixed lines, such as cruise ships.

Throughout the 5G-EMERGE project, Varnish Software will work closely with the Swedish company, Artic Space Technologies, which will offer satellite communication services focusing on big data applications for small satellites and large constellations.

“We are extremely excited to work together with Varnish Software to integrate caching solutions into satcom networks,” said Benjamin Fischer, CEO of Arctic Space. “Utilizing Varnish’s caching at the satcom network edges has the potential to converge both the 5G and Satcom networks – resulting in a better utilization of the satellite radio frequency bandwidth, reduction of CDN and backhaul network access, and lower latencies for end users.”

Within the project, Arctic Space Technologies will provide innovative uplink and satellite communications solutions, which have the potential to completely redefine the mechanism of content delivery over satellite. For instance, virtualized, orchestrated and software-defined satellite ground segment applications, such as HTTP-based Multicast Uplink, will be merged with DVB-S2X allowing far edges, such as 5G base stations, to subscribe and cache all HTTP responses on the satcom network.

By combining Artic Space Technologies’ satcom solutions with caching from Varnish, the organizations can greatly minimize traffic over a satellite network and CDN. This will not only lower costs exponentially but also improve the quality of service for the end user by reducing the latency to the satellite.

The 5G-EMERGE consortium is composed of more than 20 companies from six ESA member countries and is part of the European Space Agency (ESA) program of Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES). The group’s focus is to converge satellite communication (SATCOM) services with broadband media delivery mechanisms, enabling smarter and more efficient media delivery through satellite and land-based 5G connectivity.