As the world watches the last games in the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, we’ve had a long enough period to make some observations about the popularity of the event.  Of course, news sites have seen record-setting numbers of hits, and Twitter is buzzing with World Cup topics.  This information is interesting, but incomplete; what about the impact in terms of Internet bandwidth?

Here in Canada, the games are broadcast live on CBC and are simultaneously available for streaming from the CBC’s website.  Rogers is also making the games available with their Rogers On Demand TV and website services, which also provide live streaming to mobile devices.

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With the launch of the iPad earlier this year and the imminent launch of the iPhone 4, we continue to see that consumers just can’t get enough of the capabilities these smart phones and “Internet-ready” devices provide. Rich content over mobile networks is not only here to stay but its growing at astounding rates.  Research released last week from Morgan Stanley projected an inflection point of 2012 when the number of global units of smart phones shipped will surpass desktop PCs and Notebooks. (http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/pdfs/MS_Internet_Trends_060710.pdf) 2012…..not that far off.
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Last week we exhibited at The Cable Show in Los Angeles, CA. This event provides a forum for all the Cable MSOs to gather to discuss content/programming, TV networks and much of the infrastructure to deliver next generation video.

Alongside the very Hollywood-esque show is CableNet. This always well-attended “product demo-focused” pavilion of the show, organized by CableLabs, provides insight into timely key themes such as interactive TV, video on demand, and broadband over cable. It gives operators the chance to see a broad range of product demonstrations within a very focused area.

Sandvine took the opportunity to demonstrate its latest product in our Network Business Intelligence Portfolio.  Network Data Analytics is focused on providing an executive level dashboard view of how subscribers are using their broadband service. It aims to answer questions like “How do my DOCSIS 3 subscribers use their service compared to the DOCSIS 2 subscribers?” or “Where will I get the best return on my CAPEX budget?”. It was great to see the many cable operators who  dropped by to explore. They were quite intrigued by the flexibility of the product and how it could potentially help them to enhance their businesses and their customers quality of experience. After all, providing better broadband is the end goal.

In addition to a wide range of operators, we were pleased to host FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, when he dropped by to see some of the trends that Sandvine is currently reporting on.

Were you at the show? Please share your better broadband observations and experiences.