Telecommunications conglomerate Comcast said it will deploy Qwilt’s Open Edge platform to create “the most distributed content delivery network (CDN) in the US."

“By deploying distributed access architecture and virtualization, we are putting the brains of our network closer to customers and paving the way for opportunities like this deployment with Qwilt,” said Elad Nafshi, chief network officer at Comcast.

Comcast added that as entertainment moves to live streaming and demand for delivery quality continues to increase, a CDN is foundational to user experience and for providers to distribute their content across the network.

Qwilt’s Open Edge platform provides content caching, delivering functions in Edge compute and caching clusters within Comcast’s network.

Alon Maor, CEO at Qwilt, said: “We’re incredibly excited to collaborate with Comcast, a pioneer of technology innovation in the industry. By leveraging open caching, Comcast utilizes its strengths as a major network operator, actively shaping efficient content delivery and broadening avenues for new opportunities within this value chain.”

“This initiative enhances our expansive global Edge network, a pivotal stride toward our aim of delivering top-notch digital experiences to every corner of the world, meeting the high expectations of consumers”

Founded in 2010, Qwilt said it has delivered its Open Edge platform to almost 200 service providers. The addition of Comcast to its portfolio will mean its Open Edge platform will enable local delivery to the majority of US broadband customers.

Content delivery networks (CDNs) emerged in the late 1990s, with players like Akamai and Cloudflare speeding up web page performance by caching content close to users.

More recently, Edge computing emerged as a way to achieve essentially the same thing, and CDN players have extended their offerings to do more than caching, and handling services closer to users.

Lumen and StackPath have recently quit the CDN business, selling their enterprise customers to Akamai, while Edgio recently filed for bankruptcy. Akamai, meanwhile, has been expanding its data center and Edge business. Earlier this year, cloud provider Vultr launched its own CDN service.