For almost 10 years now, Sandvine has been publishing our Global Internet Phenomena Reports. Our first, released in 2002 revealed that P2P traffic was the largest source of Internet traffic at the time. In more recent years, we have been charting the rapid rise of Real-Time Entertainment, including Netflix, and how mobile Internet usage around the world has been evolving.

After some detailed traffic analysis, today I am happy to announce the release of the Global Internet Phenomena Report: Fall 2011.  Inside you will find detailed insight on how subscribers around the globe are shaping the make-up of Internet traffic. 

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Apple continues to innovate and has just announced the introduction of a new app called “Cards”.  This allows photos to be instantaneously uploaded, printed and then shipped as a postcard to a physical address anywhere around the world. While the pricing seems reasonable for each card ($2.99 in the US and $4.99 internationally, in USD), one should also factor in the additional costs to send the picture through an Internet connection.

A typical use-case for this app may include sending birthday and seasonal cards to loved ones within a similar geographic location.  More likely though, this app will also be popular with vacationers in distant countries who want to share holiday highlights.  In these instances, subscribers need to be mindful that they may incur additional hefty data roaming charges and may experience bill shock upon return.  Read the rest of this entry »

Record numbers of attendees gathered last week in Paris for Broadband World Forum Europe.  As always, we at Sandvine were part of the exhibition floor and this year we were excited to showcase our recently announced Real-Time Entertainment Dashboard and Usage Management 4.0.

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.

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Since early this year, Time Warner Cable (TWC) and content programmers have been embroiled in a legal battle over an app that allowed TWC subscribers to watch TV live on their iPad. Content programmers feel the app distributes their content without an appropriate license, while TWC feels it is within their rights of their broadcast agreement.

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.

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