The video infrastructure market is in flux. Recent high-profile acquisitions and vendor consolidation have left many operators reassessing the platforms they depend on for cloud DVR, catch-up TV, and VOD delivery. When the company behind your origin packaging solution is absorbed into a larger entity, with overlapping product lines and uncertain roadmaps, the risk isn’t theoretical. It’s operational.
For operators who built their OTT services on legacy storage and processing platforms, the warning signs are hard to ignore. Product rationalisation following M&A activity means some platforms will be sunset. Feature development slows or stops entirely. In at least one case, the source code for a major platform has reportedly been lost during a support transfer, leaving the maintenance vendor unable to make any meaningful product evolution. They can patch around the edges, but the platform is frozen.
This is exactly the situation a major European Tier-1 operator recently navigated. Facing a legacy cloud DVR platform with known architectural limitations and no credible roadmap for improvement, the operator partnered with Ateme and deployed NEA Genesis: a cloud-native origin packager built from the ground up for non-linear content delivery.
The result: storage requirements dropped by more than half. What previously consumed over 100 petabytes now requires just 55.
Where the storage overhead actually comes from
The savings aren’t the result of a single optimisation. They stem from eliminating a fundamental architectural constraint in the legacy platform.
The previous system imposed a hard limit on the number of recording assets that could be managed per cluster in its database. To stay under that ceiling, the platform was forced to record in oversized windows: a 15-minute programme recording might require a three or four-hour capture window. If just 3 to 6 percent of a channel’s content is recorded by subscribers at scattered times throughout the day, the platform ends up storing close to 24 hours of content for what amounts to one hour of actual recording assets.
The overhead ratio is roughly 2:1. For every unit of content subscribers actually want, the platform stores two.
NEA Genesis eliminates this constraint entirely. Content is ingested as granular DASH segments and stored in open, non-proprietary formats with no per-cluster asset limits. Just-In-Time packaging means content is only assembled into the specific format a device requests at the moment of playback. No oversized recording windows. No wasted storage on formats or durations that nobody requested.
Beyond storage: the case for hybrid flexibility
The storage saving alone justified the migration. But the operator’s architecture has continued to evolve in ways that validate a second, equally important design decision: the hybrid deployment model.
The operator initially planned to keep just eight hours of content on-premises, with everything else in the public cloud. That number has since grown: first to 24 hours (to reduce cloud egress costs for catch-up content), then to three days (to cover weekends without relying on cloud availability), and now to a potential 30-day buffer. Each expansion was driven by real operational experience rather than upfront modelling.
The reasons are practical. Cloud cost projections for video workloads carry 20 to 30 percent variance from reality, not the 5 percent many vendors suggest. Monitoring adds 10 percent. Security layers add another 10 percent. Usage-dependent factors like storage tiering transitions, traffic peaks, and CPU activity introduce yet more unpredictability. Accurate cost metrics require six to twelve months of full operational data, and by then the cloud provider may have changed its pricing anyway.
NEA Genesis supports a three-tier architecture: live content served on-premises, a configurable buffer layer that can sit on-prem or in the cloud, and long-tail storage in object storage with lifecycle management. The split between tiers is adjustable without re-architecting the system. If egress costs rise, the operator extends the on-prem buffer. If cloud pricing becomes more favourable, they shift more content to object storage. The architecture adapts to commercial reality rather than locking the operator into a single deployment model chosen years earlier.
A platform with no path forward vs. one designed for what comes next
The legacy platform’s vendor has no on-premises replacement planned. Their only migration path is a fully cloud-based SaaS offering, which doesn’t suit operators who want to retain control over their deployment topology or who have learned from experience that pure-cloud isn’t always the most cost-effective option.
For operators evaluating their options, the question isn’t about today’s storage bill alone. It’s about whether their platform can adapt as cloud economics shift, as operational requirements evolve, and as the vendor behind it continues to invest in the product. When the answer to that last question is no, the migration timeline stops being optional.
Efficiency isn’t a cost metric. It’s a strategic advantage.
Explore related insights
About the Author
CDN Product Manager & OTT Streaming Solutions Manager at Ateme
Mark brings 18+ years of experience in OTT streaming & Content Delivery Networks. With a background spanning product management, solution architecture, and business development, he helps content owners, telcos & network operators navigate modern streaming infrastructure, from CDN strategy and live video delivery to cloud-native OTT platform design.
At Ateme, Mark leads product direction for the NEA CDN portfolio and drives OTT & streaming solution strategy for major telcos and network operators worldwide, having previously spent 5 years as a Global Solution Architect. Prior to Ateme, he held solution architecture and business development roles at Velocix, part of Nokia/Alcatel-Lucent’s IP Video division.