Bridge Technologies Enhances microVB With OTT Analytics
OSLO, Norway — Oct. 24, 2011 — Bridge Technologies has begun shipping an enhanced version of the ground-breaking microVB miniaturized digital media probe for subscriber premises. With its ability to report second-by-second data on all traffic passing through the set-top box, combined with new functionality for analyzing OTT service quality, the microVB 2.0 provides the industry’s most complete capability for monitoring the viewer experience in the multiservice, multiscreen market.
Widely deployed by major service providers, Bridge Technologies’ microVB is the industry’s only viable solution for monitoring at the set-top box, delivering massive maintenance cost savings for digital media operators by giving unprecedented access to accurate and continuous information about the service quality experienced by the subscriber.
microVB 2.0 provides data-gathering capabilities that allow operators to monitor every factor influencing QoS and the viewer experience, including interactions between triple-play services, contention for bandwidth with Internet streaming media, and OTT service degradation.
“The build and roll-out of OTT services presents an enormous opportunity to digital media operators, whether they come from a broadcast or telco background, but services will prosper or fail depending on the quality of the user experience,” said Bridge Technologies Chairman Simen Frostad. “Everyone understands this, but ensuring a high quality of service is not so easy. That’s why the addition of OTT monitoring and analysis capabilities to the microVB is so important: it gives operators the tools to build, test, and operate a full range of services including OTT, and the confidence that they are fully in touch, second by second, with what the viewer is experiencing.”
The microVB 2.0’s OTT capabilities make use of specialized parameters developed by Bridge Technologies for monitoring ABR streams. The device offers an extensive protocol breakdown of all packets flowing between the residential gateway and the set-top box. Performance details such as peak, average, and total bandwidth are given for all the packets categorized into 25 separate protocol summaries. The data is graphically represented to assist quick appraisal.
microVB 2.0 networks are readily scalable, with each central microVB server supporting thousands of microVB probes in individual subscriber premises. To simplify deployment across a wide range of network configurations, the microVB self-connects to the server using either multicast or unicast protocols and streamlines the administration of large networks by automatically naming each stream.
Up to four simultaneous streams can be supported by each microVB, with each stream measuring continuous data including bandwidth, MLR (media loss rate), IAT (inter-packet arrival time), and RTP (real-time protocol) drops. The microVB sends the collated data to Bridge Technologies’ MDC controller/server for detailed analysis and graphical presentation. All data are made available in XML format by the MDC to allow customized analysis by third-party systems.
More information about this and any other Bridge Technologies product is available at www.bridgetech.tv or by phone at +47 22 38 51 00.
About Bridge Technologies
Bridge Technologies (www.bridgetech.tv) designs, develops, and manufactures advanced analysis, measurement, and monitoring solutions for the digital broadcast and telecommunications industries. The award-winning VideoBRIDGE series provides an advanced industrial platform for converging digital media services employing stream-based IP packets. Compatible with all major stream-based industrial standards such as MPEG2, H.264/AVC, and ETSI TR 101 290, the VideoBRIDGE system is the most comprehensive monitoring and analysis environment available, with probes for DVB-T/T2, DVB-C, VSB, DVB-S/S2, analog RF, ASI, all IP streams including OTT services, and unique portable field probes for RF and IP monitoring.
A privately held company with headquarters in Oslo, Norway, Bridge Technologies has worldwide sales and marketing operations through business partners in the European, U.S., and Asian markets. Bridge Technologies was founded and is led by a team of experts from the broadcast, telecommunications, and media industries.
