I’ll refer to congestion occurring closest to the subscriber as the “weak link”.  Not surprisingly, the most effective (in terms of relieving the congestion) and most fair (to subscribers) way to manage this congestion is by implementing corrective policies that are localized at the site of the congestion itself. In fact, this precise approach is what the FCC defines as “narrowly tailored”.  Referring to Figure 1 below, if congestion occurs at the weak link (see A*) location and affects only users 1-5, then correcting that instance of congestion is ideal because Internet user traffic in other network locations such as locations B and C need not be touched.

Sandvine manages link congestion by examining, identifying, and prioritizing time-sensitive gaming, VoIP and streaming applications, over non time-sensitive applications such as emailing and browsing, or, alternatively, prioritising the users who are causing the least congestion vs. those who are causing the most in a short time interval.  You and I don’t notice if we get an email 2 or 3 seconds later, but we will be upset if our voice calls are garbled and we can’t understand each other. 

Managing congestion to the edge of the network, as close to the affected subscribers as possible, is a competitive differentiator for Sandvine because our competitors only help ISPs manage aggregate traffic patterns.  This aggregate approach is based on the flawed assumption that the macroscopic view (Figure 2) of Internet traffic activity is true for points A, B and C of the networks.  At Sandvine, we manage traffic to the edge of the network (Figure 3) and monitor points A, B and C individually.  This yields a more efficient network: higher utilisation, happier consumers, vs. the alternative approach of reducing capacity artificially (throttling).

This approach means that our congestion management techniques are precisely targeted and extremely effective – users in uncongested parts of the network are not impacted, and users in the congested regions are impacted as minimally and fairly as is technically possible.  The result is the preservation of quality of experience for the masses: maximum quality of experience for the maximum number of subscribers for the maximum amount of time

While it seems obvious that congestion management techniques should only apply where and when there is congestion, competitive approaches do not subscribe to this consideration.  “Capacity Control” techniques that are marketed as congestion management solutions simply drop packets.  For instance, a capacity control solution deployed near the top of the pyramid in Figure 3, might simply drop 20% of all packets of a certain type (e.g. limit bulk traffic to 20Mbps on a 100Mbps link).  On average, this approach delivers the benefit of reducing traffic on congested links by 20% at the cost of impacting every subscriber on the network by dropping 20% of the traffic on all the other links, whether or not they were congested in the first place.  This is approach is neither fair (since it impacts everyone) nor reasonable (since it impacts areas that aren’t congested). A link which had 150% of demand will not be uncongested in this model: it will now be @ 130%. Similarly, a link which was previously @ 80% of demand vs. capacity will now be @ 60%: a net loss of efficiency.

Compounding the confusion surrounding congestion management is the argument that another way to avoid congestion is through the use of usage management principles, like hard or soft monthly quotas (caps).  In this scenario, when a subscriber exceeds the monthly quota, the carrier might impose overage charges in the belief that the subscriber will then self-monitor and reduce data consumption.  The theory goes that if a carrier imposes monthly quotas on all subscribers, then the cumulative power of self-management will limit instances of congestion.  A related method is to lower the speed of users after some volume is achieved in a month. These principles are often disguised as ‘fair use policies’ (mimicking Sandvine’s Fairshare traffic management in name only).

Unfortunately, this approach is undone by the reality that instantaneous contributors to congestion are no more likely to be the network’s monthly heavier users (those who are exceeding their caps) than they are to be the other 99% of subscribers, so congestion remains.  Additionally, a monthly quota across the entire network is not narrowly-tailored to the links that are congested at the times they are congested. Why should a user be slowed down on a link which isn’t busy? The quota applies 24x7x365 on all links equally.

Usage management and traffic management each have their time and place. If your objective is to differentiate the value of service plans in order to maximise your revenue (a commercial objective), use usage management and volume limits. If your objective is a technical one, that of alleviating the effect of congestion on some links at some times in your network, use traffic management. Your users will thank you in both cases.

Examining data from Sandvine’s Netflix Rising report released in the Spring, the Xbox 360 accounts for almost 25% of Netflix’s total traffic on fixed access networks.  This figure demonstrates that subscribers are more than willing to use their Xbox 360 as an entertainment hub and the list of video providers made available to them on that device is set to grow substantially.

Beginning today, Microsoft will be rolling out a software update that will offer Xbox 360 owners (at least, those who pay $60 a year to be Xbox Live Gold members) access to a wide range of both on-demand and live video content on their TV .

IPTV is not a new feature on the Xbox, as Microsoft had some limited partnerships with select communications service providers and channels such as ESPN. With this software update however,  Microsoft is making an even bigger push by forming partnerships with some  Internet and media heavy-hitters such as Verizon, HBO, BBC, Rogers, and YouTube, just to name a few. 

Access to certain content will differ based on country and Internet provider due to licensing restrictions, but Microsoft is certainly trying to have the Xbox 360 be the one-stop shop for all of your home entertainment needs, and the only device you need connected to your TV.

With over 57 million Xbox 360s sold worldwide to date, how many of them are on your network? The number of owners and the number of soon-to-be-available live streaming options will present unique challenges to network operators.  Live video demands a high Quality of Experience (QoE), and traffic optimization options such as caching are limited for live video.  Operators will need to ensure their networks are engineered for quality because, while the Xbox may be among the first devices to offer a wide range of live streaming video, it is unlikely to be the last.

We will be keeping a close eye on how users adopt this new service, and will aim to bring some insightful data on subscriber usage the near future.

Sandvine’s network policy control solutions focus on protecting and improving the quality of experience on the Internet. Our award-winning network equipment and software helps DSL, FTTx, cable, fixed wireless and mobile operators better understand network traffic, manage network congestion, create new services and revenues, mitigate traffic that is malicious or undesirable to subscribers, deliver QoS-prioritized multimedia services and increase subscriber satisfaction.

Our Global Internet Phenomena Report is an example of the type of data that our network equipment enables ISPs to collect.  Many of our customers and many in the industry, find these insights valuable, as they allow for proactive capacity planning of Internet networks, enabling fair use connectivity and a high quality experience for the end subscriber. Download it and read for yourself. Feel free to contact us directly with any comments or concerns, we would be more than happy to discuss.

We’ve long been fans of transparency and are public industry advocates for government proposals that seek open and equitable Internet access.  It’s all there for you to read.  No need to bring a bucket.

Kicking off the week was the Capacity Management Symposium, during which speakers from Sandvine, Cisco, ARRIS, SeaChange, and Motorola presented their perspectives on how data’s Compound Annual Growth Rate growth rate of 50% is impacting the capacity planning of cable networks.  During my session, I introduced findings from our recently released Global Internet Phenomena Report which contrasted the usage patterns and regulations in North American and Asian augmentation markets with those of emerging markets, such as Africa.  Tools for measurement of Quality of Experience (QoE) are all the more vital in these times of explosive broadband video growth.

Continuing the theme of capacity management, Sandvine was recognized with Broadband Technology Report’s 4 Diamonds at the BTR Award dinner, for its Traffic Management Dashboard.  We were in good company with 22 other vendors, including high scorer CommScope with its new Wideband Edge QAM product.  The Traffic Management Dashboard (screenshot below) is a feature of Sandvine’s Network Analytics product that lets cable operators examine network performance, identify capacity requirements, manage congestion, and view the impacts of implemented policies on the network.  Visitors to the Sandvine booth were able to see a live demonstration of the power of this dashboard, as well as the latest Real-Time Entertainment dashboard that quantifies QoE scores per content provider, per CDN, device or other factors. 

Given that Sandvine solutions are deployed in seven of the top 10 US Cable companies (by subscriber count), we welcomed those US Cable customers at our booth, some of which were the first customers that helped get Sandvine off the ground ten years ago.  The show also had international presence, with cable MSO visitors from Asia, Europe, and Central America looking to learn about network policy techniques for traffic and service optimization.  It’s always a pleasure to listen first hand to the challenges that operators face and to be present them with an array of solutions that can best fit their needs.  It’s not all business at Cable-Tec though; there was plenty of occasion to socialize at the breakfast and lunch sessions and the Expo evening at the Aquarium.

On the thought leadership front, Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena program, reporting on Global Internet usage trends since 2002, is widely regarded as the pre-eminent source of information about fixed and mobile consumer Internet trends. For instance, we have revealed that more than half of all Real-Time Entertainment traffic in the United States is being driven by consumer devices like game consoles and smart TVs, and that the Playstation 3 alone accounts for more than a quarter of Netflix traffic (see the Netflix Rising spotlight).

Back in the early days, we were called heretics for announcing that P2P traffic was the dominant form of traffic on the Internet when everyone otherwise believed it to be email and Web surfing.  Sandvine is used to a bit of controversy and we take it all in stride.  Why?  Because we build on our real-world experiences to design products that bring the highest value to our customers, and we’ll continue to out-innovate our competition.

Now, we are seeing more and more similar Internet traffic trends reports each year.  We view it as a validation of our leadership efforts when our competitors follow us.  Case in point, 18 months after Sandvine launched Network Analytics, part of our suite of network business intelligence solutions, one of our competitors released an analytics product. Interestingly, by design or ignorance, the press release announcing the competitive product was filled with implicit terminology references to Sandvine’s own product: 

“(Product X) is the first solution to enable network operators to conduct sophisticated analyses on their network traffic for capacity planning, marketing analysis and service planning.”  I didn’t have to think long before recalling Sandvine’s own “Capacity Planning Calculator” (part of our Traffic Management Dashboard), “Service Planning Calculator” (part of our Usage Management Dashboard) and “Marketing Summary” (part of our Usage Management Dashboard) screens. In fact, our Network Analytics have already been purchased by more than ten customers world-wide.  

The resemblance of the competitive solution to Sandvine’s feature set is eerily coincidental:

The competitor’s press release stumbles again when it says: “Competitive solutions are targeted toward creation of generic dashboard charts or canned reports.” If true, that would give their product a competitive advantage.  I’m thankful that, once again, they’re mistaken.  There are several separate “Dynamic Analysis” dashboards within Sandvine’s Network Analytics product, and I’m satisfied in knowing that our customers are using the screens to dive into their data, on-demand, in completely non-generic and non-canned ways.  This was reinforced recently by a judge who awarded our Traffic Management Dashboard a prestigious 4 Diamonds in the Broadband Technology Report’s Diamond Technology Reviews: “Sandvine has provided a very powerful path for the operator to really see what is happening in the network, anticipate capacity issues & bottlenecks more accurately which allows more accurate timing of capital investment.”

As a communications service provider in an increasingly competitive market, ask yourself this question, “Would I rather have an innovative product now, or a copycat in 18 months’ time?” Or, in other words, “Would I rather entrust the success of my business to a leader, or to a follower?”

Service providers who deploy Sandvine’s Network Policy Control platforms benefit from access to cutting edge traffic optimization, service creation, operations management, and business intelligence solutions months, even years, before competitors who elect to take a different approach.  Resulting in immediate savings and revenue increases.  And those solutions, such as the industry’s “Best Implementation of Tiered Data Pricing”, are best-in-class.

Sandvine’s Real-Time Entertainment Dashboard is revolutionary because it provides business intelligence particularly relevant to streaming content (Netflix, YouTube and Spotify), including measurements regarding the quality of the video experience, the viewing duration, and the associated revenue generated by the adoption of over-the-top services. Our Usage Management 4.0 product helps both fixed and mobile service providers create, manage and implement new product offerings.

Both products are receiving plenty of attention because much of the conference is focusing on trends in IP video and innovations in service plans and billing models.  In addition, our Global Internet Phenomena Report: Spring 2011, revealed that Real-Time Entertainment applications consume 49.2% of peak aggregate traffic.

I participated in a panel discussion called “Managing IP Video” with Thierry Souche of France Telecom – Orange, Matthias Linder of Magyar Telekom, and our moderator Rob Gallagher of Informa.  The discussion focused on the particular challenges that integrated and converged operators face when dealing with IP video, what technologies and techniques are coming online to assist providers, how operators can manage IP video without endangering Net-Neutrality and how operators can work more closely with content providers for mutual benefit.

We’ve had many service providers come by our booth to see a live demonstration of the Real-Time Entertainment Dashboard, including several service providers from Argentina and Brazil who are doing their due diligence, now that Netflix has launched recently in South America and is now traversing networks all over the region.

They aren’t the only ones interested in the ever-growing Network Analytics dashboard line-up.  It was our pleasure to host a champagne reception at our booth to celebrate the product’s success and to toast the customers who have embraced it so strongly.  In fact, we recently announced that ten customers have implemented Sandvine’s Network Analytics product for sophisticated network insight and business intelligence. 

Lee Brooks demonstrates Sandvine’s Real Time Entertainment dashboard to booth visitors at Broadband World Forum:

The court case is still ongoing, but in an interesting move last month, TWC announced that they will offer subscribers a free Slingbox to their highest Internet tier known as Wideband.  For those that don’t know, Slingbox is a device that allows you to stream your cable or satellite set-top box remotely to any computer, tablet, or smartphone connected to the Internet.

The potential genius of this promotion is that not only is TWC winning favour with their subscribers by giving them a $300 gift, they are also reminding the content owners that their subscribers have other options available to them and can consume their content on the go, whether it is sanctioned by the content programmers or not.

To date, TWC has not made public the exact number of 50 Mbps Wideband subscribers it has, but that number is clearly growing rapidly.  In Q2 2011, TWC added 25,000 Wideband subscribers, which more than doubled the additions from the previous quarter.  Should this promotion prove popular, TWC could soon see a large number of Slingboxes joining their network.

Since the Wideband service has no monthly quota, subscribers will not have to worry how much they use the service on the upstream or downstream at home.  It is however, a different story for those Wideband subscribers who are looking forward to using the Slingbox over their preferred mobile networks. 

In our research for the last Global Internet Phenomena report, Sandvine found that on mobile networks, Slingbox users averaged speeds of 800kbps, significantly higher than Netflix, which was the second-fastest Real-Time Entertainment application with an average speed of 125kbps. With unlimited download mobile plans quickly becoming a thing of the past, TWC subscribers should keep a keen eye on their data usage in order to avoid being surprised by data overages that the Slingbox could bring.

Whatever happens in the legal situation between TWC and the content programmers, the one thing that is clear is the fact that subscribers don’t want TV restricted to the living room anymore.  As more cable and satellite companies begin to offer live streaming TV over IP options to their customers, average residential bandwidth consumption is only going to increase.  In the coming months and years it is going to be very interesting to see how networks cope with this additional traffic, how Communications Service Providers count that traffic against potential data caps, and how subscribers will balance their media consumption between live and on demand services such as Netflix and Hulu.

The killer application in this partnership is the ease of use.  With this implementation, neither the originating nor the receiving party need to have created a Skype account in order to make a video call, since a button will be installed on every user’s Facebook profile. With Facebook claiming that the average user has over 130 friends, and that half of users access Facebook each day, it is easy to see how this new feature could explode in popularity.

It is not clear whether it was a coincidence that the feature’s launch came just a few weeks after social networking competitor Google+ opened its doors, offering a group video chat option.  While many people have been quick to praise Google+’s differentiating features as a “Facebook killer”, their user base of 20 million, while growing rapidly, is still only a fraction of Facebook’s total users.

So where will this partnership lead to next? At the press conference, both companies hinted at an expanded feature set coming down the road.  There was talk of group video chat, and of potentially offering other services for which Skype currently charges a premium.  The greatest potential, however, will be if, and how, this partnership makes the transition to smartphones and tablets.

While Skype is a popular mobile application, Facebook is among the top five most downloaded applications on every major mobile platform.  Should the two further integrate and partner on mobile applications, then video calling (especially cross-platform) could see tremendous growth on mobile devices.

This partnership, and others like it, will raise some interesting questions for carriers from a charging standpoint.  With unlimited, zero-rated, social networking being a popular data option on many wireless plans, should the newly generated traffic be included as Facebook, or classified as Skype within the real-time communications category, or classified as something different altogether?   Customers who subscribe to social media packages for price certainty might expect that anything launched from Facebook is subject to the same zero-rating treatment.

Operationally, the reality is that a handful of video calls might very well dramatically shift the data usage profile of a typical Facebook user.  Unlimited bolt-on packs are designed to help align average revenue with average usage, and step-function changes to data usage can potentially play havoc with such service plans.  Network operators will have to carefully analyze broad subscriber usage trends to ensure data plans continue to be profitable, while still providing value for subscribers.

The numbers are in, and all told, the combined events brought in more than 56,000 industry visitors, conference speakers, delegates, exhibitors and media.  Total attendance increased slightly year over year, proving that, in a period of frequent tradeshow consolidation, this event has staying power.

I presented during the CommunicAsia Summit, Next Generation Mobile Broadband Track, along with other industry contributors, as part of a session that tackled the over-arching theme of balancing demand with quality of experience (QoE).  Speakers covered issues such as scaling infrastructure to meet the increasing demand for high-speed data; how to effectively manage networks, and the resulting customer experience; the impact of video on 4G networks; and network policy control techniques to provide visibility into usage and enable tiered service plans.

The latter point speaks to my session where I set the stage by describing the current service provider landscape in which the competing challenges of leveraging capital infrastructure investment and finite network capacity, while attracting customers with differentiated services, are faced.

As Internet traffic profiles rapidly evolve and mobile data (like fixed) drive towards real-time ‘enjoy now’ entertainment, and away from traditional “enjoy later” applications, subscriber QoE demands skyrocket and these interactive, high-value communications must be protected.

I discussed network policy control techniques, treating the network of convergent conditions as a statistical process, and advising that implementation of network policy control solutions take place in a step-by-step framework:

• Planning (identifying how subscriber experience and policies will be base-lined and measured)
• Implementing (network policy control)
• Checking (comparing measurements to baselines and tweaking policies)
• Acting to deploy network-wide.

The theme can be summarized as “you can’t control what you can’t measure”.

I hoped to leave the audience with the message that a purpose-built network strategy is achievable as network technologies transition and subscriber behaviours evolve, through the network-wide visibility and astute decision-making made possible with network policy control (application-, device, subscriber-aware).

Another prevalent focus, both off (summit) and on the exhibit floor was cloud computing.  Mobile VAS Strategy, Satellite Communications, and Convergence were more topics highlighted in the conference program.

In addition to forward-looking discussions from the panel session floor, some notable launches were announced from the exhibit floor. The biggest buzz surrounded the Blackberry booth, where the PlayBook tablet in Singapore was unveiled, and the soon-to-be-released Bold Touch 9900 smartphone was announced; Huawei’s launch of the MediaPad, and smartphone launches by Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

The future of CommunicAsia at the swanky, new venue of Marina Bay Sands is bright and we look forward to another strong showing in 2012.

“Tethering” is a way to bring the best of both worlds together – the ubiquity of 3G service with the comfort of larger screens on laptops. Tethering is the use of an Internet-enabled mobile device as a modem for another device. It enables users to go online from their laptop while on the road when there is no other means of Internet access.

Of course, like most things, tethering is best done in moderation.  I wouldn’t give up fixed access in the home or office, but for times when I am on the road and need occasional access, tethering helps improve productivity for those last minute networking emergencies. 

Unfortunately, tethering incurs unpredicted data traffic costs for ISPs, and data transfers over tethered mobile phones may violate the terms of use imposed by the mobile carrier or may be subject to high fees.  To combat this, some service providers are embracing tethering as another service offering and potential new revenue source. 

How can Sandvine help?

Sandvine’s network policy control solution allows service providers to detect mobile subscribers that are tethering their mobile devices. The detection is accomplished by the use of multiple conditions in a network, triggered by a subscriber. With enough triggers Sandvine’s solution can confidently and reliably conclude that the subscriber is tethering.

If Sandvine’s solution identifies significant occurrences of tethering activity in the network, the marketing business unit may consider designing a “Business Road Warrior” opt-in service plan.  For an additional charge, this service plan would be tailored to users who frequently tether their mobile device to a laptop and require increased bandwidth and quota.  In another example, users who are using tethering for gaming could be sent a notification “Interested in subscribing to our tethering service for an additional $4.99 / month?”  This opt-in service plan would ensure there is no bill shock at the end of month due to high usage. 

Overall, identification of tethering in the network through network policy control helps ISPs recoup some of their costs, and subscribers using tethered devices will benefit with secured pricing, convenience and transparency.