I need some recommendations of companies (big or small but preferably small) who can host the streaming of audio files over the net. This is for a business application, and they would have to have a fairly good sized pipe to the internet. FredCo operating from his basement with Roger's fastest connection likely wouldn't be able to handle it. Whoever you recommend would also have to have redundant capability so if the server(s) go down the content will continue streaming.

I am in the GTA but obviously anyone you recommend can be located anywhere.

If you can make a recommendation, please email me at thomkrank@me.com

Thanks

liquidweb.com and korax.net are two companies I have dealt with and are great. I've dealt with korax for 10 years, great, and fast are two words I'd use.

The CacheFly Content Delivery Network - Pricing (http://cachefly.com/pricing.html)
these guys sponsor the TWiT network. Have no personal experience with them, aside from getting content from them once in a while.

The CacheFly Content Delivery Network - Pricing (http://cachefly.com/pricing.html)
these guys sponsor the TWiT network. Have no personal experience with them, aside from getting content from them once in a while.

CacheFly doesn't actually host any websites - they only serve as a host for static files.

Heavy-traffic websites use them to host downloads, or images, to offload the stress from their own servers, and speed up load times for the end user.

You're going to have a hard time finding someone who will have built-in/automatic redundancy. Most times it's not needed .. I would suggest you just find someone with a reasonable tech support and turn around time so that if things do go down they come back up in a reasonable amount of time.

Also, just curious, what type of streaming audio are you talking about?

You're going to have a hard time finding someone who will have built-in/automatic redundancy. Most times it's not needed .. I would suggest you just find someone with a reasonable tech support and turn around time so that if things do go down they come back up in a reasonable amount of time.

Also, just curious, what type of streaming audio are you talking about?

I have already contacted some of the above noted providers, and have come to relealize what is really available re redundancy.

I am not at liberty to reveal any more details about the endeavour, as dictated by our agreement with the customer currently in place, so I can't answer your last question. Sorry. This is quite a large undertaking and if it comes to happen I'll be happy to reveal details at that time.

Thanks to all of the above for your input. It is appreciated. Maybe there will be more yet to come.. :-)

Thom

Have you tried looking at (mt) Media Temple - Web Hosting Built to Scale. (http://mediatemple.net/) ?

When you say streaming audio, in case its for Podcasts, you should check out Libsyn (http://libsyn.com/3/publishing/).

CacheFly doesn't actually host any websites - they only serve as a host for static files.

Heavy-traffic websites use them to host downloads, or images, to offload the stress from their own servers, and speed up load times for the end user.

Yep, because Thom asked specifically about hosting the audio files :)

Yep, because Thom asked specifically about hosting the audio files :)

Yup - was just pointing out they don't have much support in the way of PHP (not even sure if it's installed), SQL, etc.

They're also really expensive - you certainly get what you pay for, but it's overkill for many.

They also sponsor us, thankfully - our regular serves couldn't handle the load.

Good to know. We'd be looking at MASSIVE downloads of music by users. (24/7 to a huge number of customers) So will be looking for the best deal on price as well as service.

Good to know. We'd be looking at MASSIVE downloads of music by users. (24/7 to a huge number of customers) So will be looking for the best deal on price as well as service.

CacheFly is a great way to provide the fastest speeds to a huge number of users, but it is a premium service.

Their plans start at $99/month for 256GB of transfer, and go up from there.
The CacheFly Content Delivery Network - Pricing (http://cachefly.com/pricing.html)

We're on a custom plan - the platinum isn't enough.

Chances are you are not talking about that MASSIVE of downloads, if you were chances are you wouldn't be asking here because you'd know that you'd need a content delivery network (CDN) to handle it and you'd probably go with amazon's services.

If this venture becomes reality, whoever we decide to go with will be pulling in some huge dollars for bandwidth usage. I suspect there will be room for some significant negotiations for charges for the bandwidth we'll use.

Chances are you are not talking about that MASSIVE of downloads, if you were chances are you wouldn't be asking here because you'd know that you'd need a content delivery network (CDN) to handle it and you'd probably go with amazon's services.

I don't know what I am looking for, that is why I posted my question. (I don't even know what a CDN is)

Would you consider 3,000 terabytes a month massive????? I guess it's all relative, but compared to what I am used to, that is massive.

A content delivery network serves all the files to your people so that your website doesn't have to handle the load.

Take a look at these two links
Amazon Simple Storage Service FAQs (http://aws.amazon.com/s3/faqs/)
Amazon Web Services Simple Monthly Calculator (http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/calc5.html)

I don't know what I am looking for, that is why I posted my question. (I don't even know what a CDN is)

Would you consider 3,000 terabytes a month massive????? I guess it's all relative, but compared to what I am used to, that is massive.

3000TB/month? Yes, that's massive. Did you mean 3000GB?

I've been using lunarpages.com for years now, without a glitch. They support php and MySQL with unlimited GB. Their support has been quick and they also have a forum you can ask questions on or search. They are American, but so far I haven't found any Canadian businesses offering quite the same deal. My first domain has been free, but I think that's not the case, except for the first year now, for new customers.

3000TB/month? Yes, that's massive. Did you mean 3000GB?

TB/month

With that volume of data you'll need a CDN without a doubt, and a pretty good one at that. Don't count on being able to haggle over price though, at that point they have you over a barrel and they know it. Best prices I've seen recently -- and I just helped quote out a huge video streaming endeavour for the Allman Brothers Band -- was around $0.10/GB. Things are actually a lot cheaper this year than last year at this time, so that's good for you. That's a pretty serious chunk of data you're talking about. I'd go with a long-standing and credible CDN like Cachefly. Cachefly says on their pricing page that you can get down as low as $0.03/GB but not sure exactly how much bandwidth you have to be using to get those prices.

Personally I'd contact them directly to start the ball rolling for a base price, and then approach other CDN's with that quote in hand. It's a pretty competitive world for that type of thing right now, but also remember that not all CDN's are equal as far as being able to actually deliver that kind of data on demand.

You need to hire a consultant to handle all the technology you'll have to wrangle.

3000TB?

massive is an understatement.

TB/month

3000TB/month is bordering on insane for a new venture.

You'll need a CDN for sure - most hosting companies wouldn't be able to offer that.

To put it into context... you'd need a supplier capable of 1.15GB/s (not Gbps).

I hope you've got a lot of startup capital :)

All 3000 sites will not be up and running from day one... there will be a roll-out schedule. So full bandwidth costs will be incurred on a gradual basis over several months, thus phasing in expenses and the amount of startup required.

3000 sites @ 1TB each is a whole different story than 3000TB in a big lump. Also most CDN's give you a limited amount of space so 3000 different sets of audio files would be a whole different ballgame. Good luck with your venture!

3000 sites @ 1TB each is a whole different story than 3000TB in a big lump. Also most CDN's give you a limited amount of space so 3000 different sets of audio files would be a whole different ballgame. Good luck with your venture!

It wold be one stream that 3000 sites would access. So if you were listening to song A at site Z the same song would also be heard the other sites at the same time.

As you know, 3PB/month is a lot of transfer. How much storage will you be using?
For that kind of bandwidth I would either use the Amazon S3, or RackForce.
I'm a developer, and those two are probably your best options, in terms of price and reliability.
They'll also both easily scale to meet and exceed those demands.

Once your up and running and making sustainable profits, you can look at the cost effectiveness at building your own CDN.

Any other questions just let me know.

One other thing. I'm not sure why type of app your building, but have you read 37signals getting real?
You can read it for free online: Getting Real (http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php)
It's a great read. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it.

One of the things they mention is not to over anticipate and over build.
You can waste a lot of time and resources solving problems you'll never have.

Thanks Nick. Good points to consider. I'll take a run at Getting Real ...
Oh, and the storage is more sane, 35 Gig.

No problem Thom. Any questions just let me know.
I'm happy to give you a call and just shoot the breeze for a bit.
Always good to share ideas, thought, and resources.

The guys at 37signals are venerable geniuses. David (co-founder) is the creator of the Ruby on Rails frame work. These are guys who are successfully building profitable web apps it, not talking about, or running a loss on VC money. No one knows their sales figures, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear $100 million plus a year, of which 90% is probably profit. And they give away their knowledge for free. Their resources have be invaluable to me.