 | Issue: | Europe II 2011 |
| Article no.: | 12 | |
| Topic: | A holistic approach to video optimisation | |
| Author: | Will Blench | |
| Title: | VP & General Manager EMEA, | |
| Organisation: | Openwave | |
| PDF size: | 332KB |
About author
Will Blench is the Vice President and General Manager EMEA for Openwave; he has more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software, communications technology, sales and business development. He started his career at Hewlett-Packard, where he worked in EMEA roles in technical consulting, product management and channel management. After this, he took the position of VP EMEA for Cramer Systems and subsequently VP Sales EMEA for Amdocs following the acquisition of Cramer by Amdocs.
Article abstract
Video content already accounts for about half of network traffic and will account for 75 per cent within a few years. Operators are upgrading their networks to 4G to handle the expected traffic, but it will be almost impossible – and expensive – to keep up with the expected growth. There are other ways, though, to handle the traffic. Congestion-triggered optimisation and compression can automatically reduce network loads – and costs – during peaks and reduce the need for network build-out.
Full Article
Video content is network-intensive, requiring more wireless network bandwidth than any other applications – including email, P2P applications and web browsing. The proliferation of mobile devices, along with improvements in device capabilities and network bandwidth, has caused a tremendous increase in mobile data volume, with traffic set to hit one EB (Exabyte) per month within the next three years. In 2010, global mobile data traffic almost tripled for the third year in a row, while smartphone use doubled. The average amount of traffic per smartphone user rose to 79 MB per month, up from 35MB in 2009. Smartphones represent only 13 per cent of total global handsets in use today, but they represent over 78 per cent of total global handset traffic. Added to this, tablets, which consume even larger volumes of data than smartphones, are on the rise. In 2010, three million tablets were connected to the mobile network with each tablet generating five times more traffic than the average smartphone While devices are one problem, data type is another. Among the various forms of mobile data, video is quickly becoming the dominant data type in carrier networks. Over the past two years, YouTube video size and bandwidth have increased from 20MB and 30MB with a corresponding increasing bit-rate from 300 Kbps to 500 Kbps. In addition, many web advertisements are now delivered as videos instead of flash animation. Mobile video traffic was 49.8 per cent of total mobile traffic at the end of 2010, and will account for 52.8 per cent of data by the end of 2011. Within the next few years, it is expected to comprise 75 per cent of all mobile network traffic. This growth is a worrying trend; as video consumes more of the available bandwidth, mobile service providers are experiencing a tremendous strain on their operations and video is becoming the cholesterol of our mobile networks. Throwing money at the problem, such as costly network infrastructure expansion, is not necessarily the answer. Not only can few operators do this and still remain in business, ultimately they will be left with the same problem as before because bigger waves of data are coming – including HD video and machine-to-machine communication to name two. Instead, operators need a solution that can reduce data traffic volume by using optimisation techniques such as compression to deliver optimal visual quality while improving user experience through intelligent delivery mechanisms. Managing the network in this way will not only offer subscribers a glitch-free video experience, but will also open up revenue-generating opportunities for operators themselves. Addressing bandwidth One of the primary reasons that more and more mobile operators are rolling out their 4G networks is to accommodate the growing demand for video content. 4G networks will provide increased bandwidth and higher data transmission rates, and operators initially felt this would allow users to enjoy high definition video and video conferencing features of mobile devices. A key selling point of the 4G wireless system was that it would provide a comprehensive IP solution where multimedia applications and services can be delivered to the user on an ‘anytime, anywhere’ basis with a satisfactory high data rate, premium quality and high security. However, as machine-to-machine technology continues to come online, and richer media is appended to messaging, traffic levels could quickly exceed 4G capacity. The solution is complex. This new 4G world will be different from previous technology upgrade cycles because of the abundance of over-the-top (non-operator) services that will use 4G networks for only the cost of access. Building more infrastructure capacity cannot be a complete solution if operators are to manage this growth and expect to turn a profit. So how do operators build a sustainable business model in this new 4G world? Intelligent caching – a technique that prevents additional bandwidth consumption every time a popular video is requested – is one strategy that could work for many operators. Caching the most frequently viewed videos closer to the network edge results in faster download and playback, and prevents wasted bandwidth that occurs from retrieving the same video repeatedly from the server of origin. The key to intelligent caching is close monitoring of the network to constantly and dynamically update the list of videos that need to be cached. Still, caching alone is not enough to deliver mobile video to a mass audience; a more effective approach would be to take a combined software and hardware approach to manage a variety of traffic types in real time. Congestion-triggered optimisation Video optimisation is a clear and effective solution to the data traffic problem. Compressing images and content can aid delivery without compromising bandwidth. The cost savings are pretty impressive too. Here’s a common carrier profile – Carrier X has 12 million subscribers and is experiencing data growth of 100 per cent year-on-year, with video content equaling about 40 per cent of its traffic mix. According to market estimates, Carrier X will have total network spending of about US$153M, but by deploying an effective video optimisation solution, the company could save US$36 million. This equates to around 24 per cent in the first year alone, with further savings achieved over the following years as well. Optimising all of the content all of the time can be expensive and an administrative burden on network operators. The majority of operators do not want to touch data traffic unless there is a problem, and for many, their problems pertain to a specific region, a specific user type, or a specific type of long-form video traffic. The trick is to optimise only when necessary. Companies should look to deploy congestion-aware optimization strategically, at the busiest cell sites or activated at peak times. A tier one operator in North American uses congestion-triggered optimisation to address traffic challenges only in specific cities, such as New York, San Francisco and Atlanta. Alternatively, self-optimising techniques can be deployed which automatically trigger optimisation when network conditions reach certain congestion thresholds and video quality degrades. Optimisation is triggered only when there is a video quality issue caused by too much data traffic. In each of these instances, congestion-aware optimisation provides an intelligent capability to automatically trigger optimisation as soon as it detects congestion in the network on an individual user basis. Compression is applied only to congested flows, providing significant hardware footprint savings to the operator. The benefits for the operator are clear – smart optimisation will significantly lower an operator’s total cost of ownership by reducing transmission requirements up to 40 per cent when required by network conditions. It also offers a clear advantage to subscribers by improving the overall mobile video viewing experience during periods of peak congestion, leading to another key operator benefit – higher average revenue per user (ARPU).
