The Rilla Movement

The internet is a bit broken, but we can fix it together. Let us explain…

Did you know that in the mid 2000’s, peer to peer (P2P) traffic represented over 60% of all internet traffic. This is what the internet was designed for, two way decentralised communication. A beautiful and elegant principle that should have unlocked exponential value in the sharing and throughput of all data and also in the community and narrative it creates.

During that peak P2P period we mostly used this capability for file transfer which meant it was perfect for sharing document and media content. Much of this was music and movies but the trouble was that these services were almost all flaunting the rights of the content owners that had created, distributed or broadcast it. Let’s say it like it is, they were mostly illegal! This itself was a fascinating early sign of how technology and human behaviour aren’t always in step but one where poor enforcement was just about possible.

As business models legitimised the masses generally flocked to services which centralised and controlled the capability for files - documents, images and media to be distributed. It’s hard to look back and say this feels like an entirely good move, especially when we consider that these models clearly have significant commercial challenges (see Spotify and Twitch) and much of the cost in them is associated with the way content is distributed.?

In my view, this rather threw out the P2P baby with the content protection bathwater…

But, time has moved on, network protocols, web tooling and the proliferation of high-speed bi-directional broadband networks mean that we now live in a world where there is a significant amount of unused upstream bandwidth. The general market continues to give all their customers attention, processing and distribution dollars to a small number of companies that control the centralised services for the distribution of content.

We at Rilla Network say this is now a faulty and inequitable model with a massive opportunity living in it. As a former technical and product executive who has had the privilege of leading teams building streaming services this was brought into stark reality for me as I watched OTT services struggle with the basic unit cost economics of content, human and platform related costs.?

In this world, the former model of high definition multicast video distribution remained significantly cheaper than the linear cost scaling model created by streaming technology. In short, solving this problem has become a scratch that I/we dearly want to itch on behalf of all parties involved. Especially as it can lead us to a more connected, interactive and community based model for the entire media landscape.

With these multiple advancements in technology, not only can we share or move static files but we can create a world where everyone can be a streamer of high definition content. Indeed, we proved this during the pandemic as everyone became a streamer on Zoom and Google and other such services.

In fact, with some seriously deep technology smarts, it can be done safely, securely with low latency, at scale and with a quality of service that is equal or better than any other option.

The right place for us to start this quest is in live streaming of sports, esports and large scale events. These use cases and businesses are growing exponentially. In these areas alone, there sits an opportunity worth billions of dollars.

The live sports streaming market is set to grow to over 130bn dollars in the next few years and an enormous chunk of the cost is currently paid for distributing content closer to customers over CDN. This market has become a race to the bottom on cost with clear commoditisation and consolidation but no incentive for the incumbents to change the model.

Imagine a world where the owners of content or content rights can distribute content safely and securely at a much lower cost, allowing them to create additional value for the customer, recognise their loyalty and offer them exclusive offers to get closer to the experience, the tournament, the club, the team or the player, the game or the artist they love.

Imagine that they can be rewarded for contributing upstream bandwidth to that network, without detriment to their user experience and that this can enable them to be an integral part of the experience and part of a network community.

Imagine that this ecosystem not only offers more cost effective content distribution but offers the customer the ability to stake, own, interact with and invest in the things they are most passionate about.?

Now imagine that unique products, services and experiences can be provided to these customers by streamers, rights owners, handpicked collaborators and advertisers who know that their propositions are being enjoyed, shared and promoted by the best possible fans.

Blending interactivity in timely and seamless ways that has not been possible before can close the gap between the player, team, competition and the participator and enable immersive interactivity in an equitable ecosystem. In this world you can see through the looking glass, transact and interact in real-time, in this world you have a say in the action and a stake in the outcome.?

This is not a hypothetical world. This is the world that we are building at Rilla Network.

Having successfully raised pre-seed funding, huge shoutout to our CEO Hal Smith Stevens for leading the raise, we are building out our P2P streaming protocol which can be integrated seamlessly into any traditional content distribution network. Depending on your network topology we can wholeheartedly promise a significant saving on your streaming costs and with no additional network infrastructure required. The more people that use the Rilla Network, the more our customers will save.

Others are trying to do this and rightly so. It is our experience in critical real time systems and Machine Learning based signalling / orchestration algorithms that gives us the edge. Through extensive and continual training, our self healing protocol ensures that the network constantly operates at optimal cost, scale, security and low latency to ensure quality of service and an exceptional viewing experience. This remains true even in the case of extreme network volatility.

In phase two of this evolving movement we will integrate the technology that provides seamless tracking of all value generated by the participants in the network and one which distributes value and rewards back to the customer all while keeping costs for content distribution to an optimal level. Natively opening up the guide rails and ramps for interactivity and transactability will allow our customers to see the narrative and actions of fans happening closer to the action while minimising operational costs and maximising the value created by Metcalfe’s law.

This approach is, in our view, the solution that content streaming at scale has been looking for ever since the model was conceived.? At the moment, costs scale linearly for every additional user. This model means that today, most pure streaming businesses are operating at a loss.?

For most, this model leaves no room for profit, let alone value sharing or innovation. By creating the decentralised physical infrastructure network, we also allow the natively generated value to flow with exponential efficiency. The same mechanism also allows the community narrative to play out on platform rather than exclusively in the side conversations on Social Media. While that horse may have bolted it is also not necessarily lost forever.

We are currently talking to potential POC and trial partners to show that our P2P product works and to allow us to tune our commercial model to construct a win-win for every business we interact with.

In our final phase we want to make the protocol and platform an open source public good with decentralised governance meaning that no single entity has power over the platform and network. In this phase we will see a real shift of relative value flowing to those who invest most in the ecosystem. So whether you are a small player, a star or club going D2C, a content and rights owner, broadcaster or a network contributor you will get out of the platform something relative to the value you create in the ecosystem.?

We see this new paradigm being far more equitable and representative of how the internet is designed to work and we think it leads to levels of interaction, connection and community that these uniquely human activities, let's call it the future of entertainment, deserve.

Our team consists of some of the brightest minds in decentralised and distributed systems at scale and with people who have over 20 years experience delivering cutting edge media and streaming products globally. This combination of commercial and technical smarts is arriving at just the right time to capitalise on this amazing mission.

And so our vision is not trivial, it is? to “Unleash our Internet” - Welcome to the Rilla movement!