Optimizing QoE in Large-Scale Video Networks

Jason Gaedtke, Director of Engineering, YouTube

Abstract: According to industry reports, IP video currently makes up more than half of the Internet’s bandwidth. The infrastructure and network relationships assembled to deliver this volume are complex — cloud processing and storage, distributed file systems, hierarchical caching layers, transit networks, direct peering, embedded ISP nodes and intelligent player control. This talk will explain how YouTube’s investment in video QoE is key to delivering 1 billion users over 6 billion hours of fast, reliable streams each month and how focusing on QoE will help guide the next phase of Internet growth.

CV: Jason currently serves as a Director of Engineering at YouTube, overseeing technology development for Google’s Video Infrastructure. This platform provides the underlying media pipeline powering YouTube, Google Play, Google Plus and Google Fiber and delivers over 4B video views per day. His group was also challenged with designing and building a large-scale Live Streaming capability, which delivered 225M hours of NBC 2012 Summer Olympics coverage and supported over 8M concurrent viewers during RedBull’s epic Stratos jump.

Jason’s previous professional engagement involved technology strategy leadership across Time Warner Cable’s Web and IP Video platforms. This team launched one of the first TV Everywhere live streaming apps for the iPad and was featured during a CES keynote on Samsung SmartTVs. Prior to joining TWC, Jason was CTO at Joost where he oversaw technology strategy and engineering for the IP video startup. He led internationally-distributed teams with focus in the areas of content management, delivery, discovery, analytics and targeted advertising. Before Joost, Jason served as Chief Architect and Fellow in Comcast’s Interactive Media group. In these roles he was responsible for research, innovation and outreach in a range of strategic areas, including: Online Video, P2P services, IP Communications and Online Gaming. Jason holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, emphasizing large-scale software architecture.