CONNEXUS Ecosystem Unveils Architecture that Highlights New Possibilities for Monetizing OTT Video Traffic
Collaboration between Avvasi, BroadHop, CommProve and Spirent Communications enables service providers to reclaim relevance in OTT value chain
Denver, Dublin, Germantown and Waterloo– October 11, 2011 – Leading solution providers aiming to enable monetization of Over-the-Top (OTT) video today announced the launch of CONNEXUS, a new and disruptive ecosystem and architecture aimed at enabling service providers, content providers and advertisers to become part of a connected value chain to deliver high-quality monetized video to subscribers in a multi-screen mobile and fixed broadband environment. CONNEXUS is the result of collaboration between, Spirent Communications, BroadHop, CommProve and Avvasi as founding members, who believe that mobile and fixed broadband service providers have a unique opportunity to enhance their service delivery architecture to dramatically increase relevance in the OTT value chain.
“Consumers are demanding a wide selection of broadcast-quality video on any device, at any time—and they’re willing to pay for it,” said Brian Partridge, vice president of network research at Yankee Group. “Service providers are currently facing an unprecedented win-win scenario: Improve customer satisfaction with OTT video by giving them the Quality of Experience they’re willing to pay for, therein monetizing this tremendous uptick in demand. CONNEXUS will bring the industry together to make this scenario a reality.”
The CONNEXUS architecture will focus on three primary goals:
1. Promoting the notion that service providers need to monetize OTT video and deliver a high quality of experience in order to fund the infrastructure capacity that will meet subscriber demand
2. Leveraging existing standards and associations to define how OTT video is delivered and monetized, and facilitate interoperability within the ecosystem
3. Accelerating the availability of integrated best of breed solutions across the OTT video ecosystem.
OTT video streaming from sites such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer accounts for over 50% of Internet traffic. Service providers are already struggling to meet the demand that viewers place on their networks. A recent Nielsen study of media consumption trends reveals that the number of mobile OTT video consumers is growing by 41%, and the number of viewing hours is growing by 20%. This represents a significant opportunity for monetization but, because of the currently fragmented value chain, there is a substantial gap between total viewer penetration (10%) and the relative amount spent on advertising in that market (0.5%).
Service providers who want to monetize OTT video have an opportunity to create enormous value and therefore lucrative new revenue streams, however market fragmentation and lack of collaboration in the OTT value chain is preventing a pragmatic path to this opportunity. CONNEXUS is a disruptive architecture that enables a unique way of collaboration between vendors, service providers, content providers and advertisers to accomplish the shared goal of maximizing subscriber quality of experience, and delivering new video services and therefore new revenue streams for the entire ecosystem.
“The growing gap between exponential bandwidth demand and shallow revenue growth is no secret, and OTT video is the primary driver,” said Mate Prgin, president and CEO of Avvasi. “The CONNEXUS architecture seeks to address this issue by bringing together vendors committed to an open architecture for video service delivery. Reliable, high-quality video traffic management is the first step to QoE-differentiated subscription revenue which sets the stage for content monetization and, ultimately, ad revenue.”
BroadHop Inc., the leader in next generation policy control platforms for telecom operators, is among the first partners to join CONNEXUS. BroadHop enables service providers to control network resources in real time, monetize new services and applications, and deliver personalized, identity-based services in wireless and wireline networks. “Service providers need policy solutions that give them a competitive advantage and meet the unique needs of their particular infrastructure and subscriber base,” said Bill Diotte, CEO and President, BroadHop, Inc. “The BroadHop team works with service providers to help them successfully manage their network resources, build relationships with subscribers through individualized customer service and a superior user experience, and find creative new monetizing opportunities. We look forward to uniting with Avvasi, CommProve and Spirent under the common goals of CONNEXUS.”
The third founder member, CommProve enables network operators to gain real-time visibility into their operations to control financial performance, quality of experience and network performance. Dr. Lars Pedersen, CommProve CEO, said: “It’s an exciting time in the industry with the convergence of video, mobile and the Internet, and we are delighted to be part of today’s announcement. We look forward to working with the other members to bring video delivery solutions to market, enabling service providers to offer new video services, maximize the subscriber experience as well as maximize the return on their network investment.”
The fourth founding CONNEXUS partner, Spirent Communications, is a global leader in network, device and service testing and performance validation. Spirent’s integrated test & diagnostics and performance monitoring solution, Spirent TestCenter Live, enables service providers to take full advantage of Ethernet by delivering OTT services with greater efficiency, lower cost and increased scalability. Spirent’s vice president of service assurance, John Cunningham, commented: “Spirent’s leadership position in the service assurance of mobile backhaul and Ethernet/IP based services means that our solutions are a perfect fit in helping to deliver high quality OTT Video services. With Spirent TestCenter Live, providers have a means to monitor the performance of the mobile backhaul and Ethernet/IP circuits which deliver this service, while also isolating layer 2/3 issues when OTT QoS suffers.”
For further information on CONNEXUS, please register for The Yankee Group webinar on Nov 2nd by visiting https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/668237002. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a CONNEXUS partner, please visit CONNEXUS at http://www.connexus-ecosystem.com.
Press contacts:
Avvasi
Jon Temerlies; Tel: +1 202.349.0859/ Email: Avvasi@racepointgroup.com
BroadHop, Inc.
Ilona Mohacsi, Tel: +1 631.764.3729/ Email: ilona@penvine.com
CommProve
Stephanie Forrest Tel: +44 (0) 7917695755/ Email: stephanie.forrest@commprove.com
Spirent Communications
Sailaja Tennati Tel: +1 770.432.3225/Email: sailaja.tennati@spirent.com
About CONNEXUS
The growing gap between exponential bandwidth demand and shallow revenue growth is no secret. CONNEXUS aims to enable service providers to dramatically increase their relevance in the OTT value chain and the strategically partner with content aggregators and advertisers. CONNEXUS brings together vendors committed to an open architecture for OTT and multi-screen video service delivery. For more information, please visit http://www.connexus-ecosystem.com.
About Avvasi
Avvasi is the award-winning company helping communication service providers understand and leverage the opportunities created by the surge of internet-based, Over-the-Top video. Avvasi’s patent-pending, revolutionary video analytics eclipse traditional network analytics, offering highly detailed measurement capabilities that report video-based QoE, a MOS-like score that accurately reflects the subscriber’s perceived experience with video content. Service providers around the globe are deploying Avvasi OTT video analytics to understand the network impact of new devices and subscriber usage patterns, plan and dimension network expansion and optimization solutions, while reducing subscriber churn and maximizing revenue. For more information, please visit http://www.avvasi.com.
Please visit www.avvasi.com for more information and follow Avvasi on Twitter – @MobileVideoNews
About BroadHop, Inc.
Deployed by more than 70 telecom service providers serving 300 million subscribers in over 30 countries, BroadHop’s advanced next-gen policy management platform, The Quantum Network Suite enables service providers to control network resources in real time, monetize new services and applications, and deliver personalized, identity-based services in wireless and wireline networks. BroadHop products enable service providers to deliver converged applications, content and services over multi-access networks, so they can quickly build new revenue streams, reduce operating expenses, and create competitive advantage in their markets. For more information on BroadHop and its products, visit www.broadhop.com or follow the company on http://twitter.com/broadhop.
About CommProve
CommProve enables mobile network operators (MNOs) to gain real-time visibility into their operations to control financial performance, quality of experience and network performance using a single integrated platform. The CommProve NetLedge platform provides real-time data acquisition and mediation while the CommProve Insight application suite collects and analyzes network usage information and integrates it with business rules and subscriber data to enable operators to maximize both customer satisfaction and profitability. Headquartered in Ireland, and privately held since it was founded in 1996, CommProve customers include H3G, Telecom Italia, TIM Brazil and Vodacom. For additional information please visit www.commprove.com.
About Spirent Communications
Spirent Communications, a global leader in network, device and services testing, enables the development and deployment of next-generation networking technologies. Our extensive portfolio of solutions test IP Television systems and services, high speed Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet networks, LTE/WiMAX networks, 3G/4G wireless technologies, mobile devices global navigation satellite systems, and network security equipment. With solutions used by more than 1,700 customers in 30 countries, some of the world’s largest equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprise and governments rely daily on Spirent to help ensure their success. For more information on Spirent please email Sailaja Tennati, Global Public Relations – Corporate Marketing: sailaja.tennati@spirent.com
