Cost Reduction, Efficiency Improvement: H3C Assists in the Digital Upgrade of Japanese Streaming Platform U-NEXT

With cultural and recreational activities being scaled up in people’s daily lives, the number of video platform users has risen considerably, and digital websites that purchase, produce, and operate audio and video content are also on the rise. In Japan, numerous websites are becoming well-known as digital content services platforms like U-NEXT.

Recently, as a world-renowned digital solution provider, H3C, has successfully gained U-NEXT’s trust and recognition with its centralized advantages of full-stack products and the overall capabilities of comprehensive digital infrastructure such as compute, storage, network, 5G, security, and terminals. By using H3C UniServer R4300 G3, H3C UniServer R4700 G5, and H3C S6805 Series Data Center Ethernet Switches, H3C has helped U-NEXT to complete the network upgrade, creating a benchmark for the digital platform network building in Japan.

Troubleshooting: the Remarkable Building of Network and Data Center

Founded in 2007, U-NEXT is the first platform in Japan to engage in video distribution services. The platform mainly provides users with audio-visual digital content such as movies, TV shows, cartoons, comics, and music. It now has more than 2.5 million subscriptions and is the third-most popular domestic streaming service and digital content platform in Japan, behind Netflix and Amazon.

With the continuous increase of subscribers, the existing servers of the U-NEXT platform are plagued by network lag. Specifically, the number of servers in the current network system has reached a peak, and some servers are showing aging lines and poor operation. The necessity for realizing the network upgrade and digital platform upgrade is becoming more and more urgent.

For U-NEXT, the core requirement of the project is to introduce digital products such as servers with higher specifications and lower costs to balance computing power needs and "reduce the burden" of business data. U-NEXT primarily works in the technical field. For this reason, the platform follows the standard of “technology first” when it comes to looking for a partnership team. Focusing on comprehensive dimensions such as technical strength, design philosophy, practicability and forward-looking nature of products and solutions, and influence in the industry, U-NEXT has evaluated product suppliers, with a world-class engineering team established in Tokyo to promote the completion of the project.

As a well-known digital solution provider, H3C successfully won the bid for this project with its superb technical capabilities. According to the in-depth analysis of the network operation status of the U-NEXT platform and the requirements for the data center building, H3C has designed a network upgrade plan which integrates storage, computing, operation and maintenance, security, and flexible access. Hardware forwarding and high-density server access have been realized through H3C S6805 Series Data Center Ethernet Switches, and the current computing system has been upgraded with H3C UniServer R4700 G5 dual-socket rack server, effectively meeting the digital needs of the platform with increased storage space, improved network performance and reduced storage costs.

Two-Way Upgrade: H3C Dual-Socket Rack Server and Data Center Switch

Specifically, the main problem with the network operation of the U-NEXT platform is that there is a large amount of data and a large load capacity at the same time, which makes the data unable to carry core business scenarios such as video editing and transcoding, while the H3C UniServer R4700 G5 dual-socket rack servers are especially good at handling such redundant accumulation of structured, unstructured and semi-structured data. The server is equipped with an Intel Xeon Ice-lake scalable processor, with eight-channel 3200MHz DDR4 memory technology, GPU accelerator card, and NVMe SSD support, which can increase computing performance by 52%, support up to 96% power conversion efficiency and 45°C operating temperature. This system is like an "unmanned maglev train", which has the functions of autonomous operation, cost reduction, efficiency improvement, and avoiding human-caused safety hazards. Equipped with a 4U model and multi-hard-disk design, H3C UniServer R4300 G3 greatly improves the local storage expansion capability and effectively guarantees a substantial increase in data center work efficiency and space utilization rate.

Therefore, when the server is deployed on the U-NEXT network, a large number of old network system servers are replaced in time, further avoiding the problems of aging lines and poor operation. At the same time, based on its high performance, high throughput, and high concurrency, H3C enables the platform to carry hundreds of thousands of users to access the network at once, reducing the possibility of "network traffic jams" and ensuring users' access to the Internet, which will play a key role in enhancing the user trust engagement of the platform.

Moreover, the data center of U-NEXT is also plagued by low levels of innovation, redundant data, failure in intelligent operation and maintenance, and inconsistent data processing. In contrast to dual-socket rack servers which are of industrial design, excellent performance, and agile deployment, H3C S6805 Series Data Center Switches have powerful hardware forwarding capabilities and rich data center services and are mainly used for web front-end forwarding and high-density server access.

It can be said that the H3C S6805 Series Data Center Switch is a high-density 10G access switch innovatively developed for cloud data centers and cloud computing networks. The switch adopts M-LAG cross-device link aggregation technology, which realizes cross-device link aggregation by virtualizing two physical devices, and at the same time ensures the mutual independence of the control plane, creating a data center network architecture with high availability, high reliability, and flexible networking. Meanwhile, the switch has functions such as high-density 10GE access, programmable capability, visualization capability, SDN capability, IRF2, multiple reliability protection, etc., which is conducive to data center troubleshooting, security protection, data collection, intelligent operation and maintenance, and helps bring the data center building of U-NEXT to a new level.

Service Delivery: Development the International Market and Provide High-Quality Services

During the cooperation, the technical team support from H3C Japan Representative Office played an important role in delivering high-quality services. The team adheres carefully to H3C's international market development strategy of "cultivating ecology" and "a deep dive on scenarios". While providing a wide range of digital products and solutions, the team also makes specialized and customized designs to render their solutions industry-forward-looking. At the same time, the team provides real-time and high-quality technical support based on customer needs. Up to now, H3C has established 12 overseas representative offices, with end-to-end capabilities in market expansion, project delivery, and service support. It has more than 1,200 certified overseas partners and has established 36 overseas spare parts centers, with services covering 174 countries and regions.

Mr. Huang Birong, the senior engineer of U-NEXT, praised the platform's digitalization due to the robustness and caring service delivery displayed by H3C when delivering its servers and switches. He stated, "During the cooperation with H3C, U-NEXT has built platform networks and data center networks according to its professional guidance, and has now fully realized network coverage in different scenarios such as storage, web front-end, production, and office. We believe that with the blessing of H3C's years of experience in the industry, the road to digital transformation in various industries in Japan will achieve excellent results and become even more reliable."

Under the guidance of the "Cloud & AI Native" strategy, H3C will focus on the needs of digitalization in the industry, continue to cultivate the Japanese market, and combine its cutting-edge digital products and overseas layout advantages to escort the development of the global economy into the digital age.