ARK’s ultimate goal is more reliable and higher quality playback of the video content requested by the consumer. Because ARK playback originates in the edge device, there is a short and reliable path to the viewer’s screen. This is in direct contrast that to the standard client/server relationship between the consumer’s device and distant cloud server(s) that requires streamed content to traverse the Internet. As a result, ARK’s direct playback is more reliable and much faster responding than playing content that is streamed from a cloud server over a multi-hop path that is prone to dropped packets and delays.
ARK is creating a massive “distributed cloud” (fog) architecture extending cloud services into cached storage edge devices. This approach eliminates the 40% of data center OpEx caused by their reliance on massive amounts of electricity to run and cool redundant servers. It is a powerful alternative to the wasteful and expensive cloud architecture and internet service providers.