[kalak451]

I suspect that if netflix went to the ISPs to cache their data, the ISPs would be more than happy to charge them for it like to do with other content networks. In this case, netflix is assuming that the volume of netflix traffic at the ISP will drive the ISP to request on network caching. Netflix is happy to provide this, but is not willing to pay the ISP for the privilege.

Does netflix care about how much traffic they are directly serving vs how much is hitting caching servers? Are they playing chicken with the ISPs hoping the ISPs will blink first and put caching servers servers onsite for free?

[CraftThatBlock]

This is most likely a win-win senario for both parties.

Netflix can be more stable, and can save on bandwidth in their own DCs.

ISP can save a lot of egress bandwidth by having Netflix inside their infrastructure.

I would be surprised if any of the parties payed. It's a great strategy to have the ISPs on board with this

[rstupek]

Exactly. It's almost like a peering relationship between providers but in this instance netflix is not directly connected to the ISP so wouldn't be paying the ISP for bandwidth used by their customers accessing netflix. It definitely saves the ISP a lot of bandwidth cost

[ocdtrekkie]

This is spot on. This is basically how Netflix gets free colocation. Netflix's monopoly is what allows them to do this. ISPs would laugh if anyone else wanted free hosting of their edge equipment, but because Netflix is such a burden on ISPs, they're able to strongarm ISPs into providing free hosting of Open Connect appliances.