[itsprofitbaron]

Beyond looking at the implications for Net Neutrality (since we don't really know the implications of this deal going forward in relation to this); for people who are wondering why this has happened, this looks like this is part of Netflix's Open Connect Project[1] which is a single-purpose CDN network - and is essentially a paid-peering deal.

As part of the Open Connect Project, Netflix has deployed servers which are hundreds of terabytes in size in strategic locations all over the work and they contain ~60-90% of the data required for that particular country.

These devices either live in the ISP (which is what Netflix wanted to happen with Comcast) or live in an internet exchange where multiple ISPs can connect to the Open Connect devices.

There are 3 core benefits in doing this:

- Better Streaming due to fewer hops to the client

- Netflix avoids rate limiting (if they're inside the ISP Network)

- Peering is free (usually) and is essentially where two ISPs connect their infastructure and agree to maintain their own sites without bandwidth charges. It's common throughout the industry and content-providers are always looking to peer with ISPs to drive down their overall costs of operations.

[1] http://openconnect.netflix.com

[tzakrajs]

Netflix does not use AWS to move video bits, but yes it will save them money on CDN costs.