Forward thinking providers are already concerned that the coming wave of unicast traffic generated by popular on-demand video services will affect the delivery network from end to end. Clarifying the potential impact of these services on the network is vital as the ramifications could be significant.
Growth of unicast
In a traditional cable or IPTV network architecture—broadcast or multicast—traffic is proportional to the number of channels. Beyond a certain range and for a limited channel line-up, adding new subscribers has no traffic impact. Unicast is different. Traffic is directly proportional to the number of devices: more devices beget more traffic.
As illustrated in Figure 1, multicast traffic will flatten as the subscriber base grows, because the likelihood that users are watching all available TV channels increases. Meanwhile, unicast will continue to rise in step with subscriber growth.
Furthermore, knowing that the proliferation of connected devices is progressing rapidly, service providers don’t have the luxury of time. They need to get started on their transformation strategy now. Indeed, a Bell Labs study shows that metro video traffic will increase 720% by 2017.
Figure 1. Multicast and unicast traffic trends related to the number of subscribers
Key considerations
The paradigm shift from multicast to unicast impacts every aspect of the network—from access to the backbone. Figure 2 maps some of the key considerations to the network elements. Let’s look at how pay TV operators that want to offer personalized cloud TV services can re-imagine their network architecture from end to end.
Figure 2. Considerations for network design to support bandwidth demands of unicast traffic
Assess the situation
Before launching network-based time-shifted TV services, pay TV operators should model their cloud DVR solution. This includes identifying the type of services they will offer. Whether it is catch-up TV, restart TV, or personal recording, operators must understand the impact of these unique services on network transformation.
Here are several service characteristics to consider:
Meet the capacity challenge
Volume — 100s of catch-up TV programs and 100s of hours of personal recording for a large subscriber base – makes for a significant storage capacity challenge. Multiple storage nodes have to be interconnected within a 10 GigE LAN topology to accommodate petabytes of programming.
As a result, designing an appropriate solution for scaling data center networks must consider:
Software-defined networking (SDN) will be a fundamental component in this design. SDN is already being used to automate connectivity within virtualized data center infrastructures and can establish connectivity between cloud DVR nodes upon their creation.
Prioritize the traffic
Once the cloud DVR is built, the next step is to feed the unicast streams into the network through an edge router—BNG/BRAS for an IPTV network, or a video router/CMTS in a cable hub architecture. Traditional edge routers were built to support highly oversubscribed, best-effort Internet connectivity. Today, however, they are becoming a bottleneck for increasing unicast video sessions. Consequently, they need to be upgraded or replaced. As traffic is growing, they are also being further distributed in the network.
At the edge, pay TV operators apply quality of service to pay TV traffic delivered to the set-top box (STB) as opposed to over-the-top (OTT) traffic receiving best-effort treatment. TV service to connected devices is often treated like an OTT service.
It’s time to revisit this practice. From the end-user’s point of view, connected devices are increasingly becoming the primary screen. That means best-effort service is no longer enough. This concern is pushing pay TV operators to reconsider how they mark and prioritize the traffic.
Scale the network
Backbone
Traffic growth on the backbone network can be managed using a content delivery network (CDN). The CDN caches the most popular content at the edge of the backbone. When the same asset is requested by multiple end users, it is served from the CDN cache. This approach significantly reduces bandwidth consumption within the backbone network.
In the event of strong user content demand, this approach also protects the origin server from high peak requests. This ensures that other critical functions, such as ingest, recording, encryption, packaging, and streaming remain unaffected.
A CDN dramatically cuts the cost of the origin server while reducing investment in legacy infrastructure. Investing in additional caches to serve popular content from the edge is more economical than adding capacity to the centralized origin servers.
Today many operators are growing their CDNs, using them as a unified infrastructure to serve traditional devices, such as STBs, as well as newer connected ones[2]. Typically, the CDN delivers content using HTTP over TCP, while the STB receives it using RTP over UDP, as shown in Figure 3. To receive content from the CDN, the STB connects to an RTSP pump that requests content from the CDN over HTTP. It does this using the industry-standard ATIS C2 interface[3].
Figure 3. Click to see the complete IP video infographic and learn more about the standards, protocols and acronyms.
Metro
According to the findings of a Bell Labs study, distributing the caches further into the metro network can reduce the total traffic by 41%. To optimize their service, pay TV operators must ask:
For the operator, there’s a trade-off here. Bandwidth savings need to be weighed against the extra cost of the caches. Alternatively, significant QoS improvements brought about by this distributed architecture might be sufficient to justify the investment.
Access
Pay TV operators need to evaluate the options to increase throughput per user in the access network. For fixed networks, one approach is to push fiber closer to end users. For example, some IPTV operators are deploying FTTx solutions or flexible micro-nodes with vectoring. Then they install fiber all the way to the home.
For their part, cable operators have several options to increase bandwidth. They can:
On mobile access networks where bandwidth is scarce, service providers are using a combination of techniques to improve user quality of experience (QoE) while reducing transport costs. Some techniques, such as transcoding, transrating, and compression can potentially decrease video resolution by transforming the content or streaming at lower rates. Other content distribution techniques that retain video resolution—buffering, caching, and broadcasting—can also be used to enhance QoE.
Knowledge is power
Introducing a cloud-based DVR service takes serious forethought and planning, and naturally leads to a transformation program. Considering the options requires a deep understanding of the complete video service delivery chain, as well as world-class expertise in IP backbone, metro, and access networks. The contribution of this knowledge and experience should be highly valued in developing a comprehensive cloud DVR service strategy and in selecting the right partners with the appropriate range of consulting and professional services.
Related Material
Footnotes
To contact the author or request additional information, please send an email to techzine.editor@alcatel-lucent.com.
Mobile video is very popular. In fact, it is predicted to become very much more so in the future with the expectation that it will account for up to 69 percent of total mobile traffic by 2018. Demand is driven by subscribers who want to take content like news programs and favourite TV series with them wherever they go.
As discussed on the Wilson Street blog by Habib Nouira, Product Marketing Manager, Alcatel-Lucent, LTE broadcast is enabling operators and internet service providers (ISPs) to meet this need. They are also exploring how the technology can expand their coverage areas, reduce customer churn, cut costs, and grow revenue.
As Nouira explains, often LTE broadcast is talked about just in terms of helping operators save money on bandwidth when delivering multimedia content, especially video. But this technology enhances the user experience and benefits operators in other ways, too.
For example, it positively impacts operator business models by making it possible to deliver linear content broadcast, meaning continuous, scheduled television streamed over wireless networks. Rather than the bandwidth expense involved with unicast for in-house TV service, mobile operators are turning to LTE broadcast.
A related benefit of 4G LTE broadcast for mobile video is that operators can deliver to places previously impractical—such as using repeaters, distributed antenna systems (DAS), or small cells in dense urban areas to cover basements or subway trains.
This setup means that even in areas out of reach of antenna towers, users can still get online, make voice calls, and receive LTE broadcast.
Deployment of LTE broadcast systems for mobile broadband further benefits operators and users by making it possible to set up temporary TV networks for events. Such networks are used for event-specific content (interviews, presentations, keynote videos, etc.), delivered over a connection with dedicated spectrum and guaranteed bandwidth from a wireless provider.
This same type of local network can and is also used by first responders or emergency services during natural disasters and other events majorly affected the public. Replacing current generation mobile radio networks with LTE broadcast would given first responders multimedia capabilities and allow them to be more effective.
Finally, let’s not forget about advertisers; LTE broadcast is an attractive marketing tool for them, too. When combined with location-based data, this technology makes it possible to target and deliver multimedia ads much more effectively.
]]>Before the iPhone, the world of TV was relatively simple. Linear TV programs were delivered to the TV set over the air or to its set-top box (STB), which was directly tied to the cable coax, the home gateway or the satellite dish.
Now everything has changed.
Video-enabled, IP-connected devices with ever-greater screen resolution are flooding the market. Tablets, smartphones and smart TVs are running on many flavors of operating systems. All use different protocols, formats and standards. With these devices, end users have many options to watch video. These include being attached to the service provider’s managed network, or being directly connected to the Internet and consuming ‘over-the-top’ content. Moreover, end users want to watch their favorite content on demand; they no longer want to be restricted to linear programming. This adds yet another level of complexity to this whirlwind of change.
Covering all IP video options results in countless protocols, proliferating standards and loads of acronyms. Even industry watchers can find the rapidly evolving world of IP video confusing. That’s why I created this IP video streaming infographic.
Seeing the upside
In a simple yet comprehensive way, this infographic outlines the multiple steps in video processing and streaming needed to reach all end user devices. At each step, the graphic identifies the key standards, formats and protocols, as well as their role and where they fit into a network transformation strategy. And, once we can grasp the big picture, we’re in a better position to see the way forward.
IP has paved the way for new, over-the-top entrants who compete with pay TV providers for both content and customers. This presents an enormous challenge to traditional service providers, especially those with legacy networks. However, looking more closely, moving video delivery into the IP domain also presents enormous opportunities. In fact, the move to IP video enables technological advances that benefit the wider TV ecosystem.
So what are the benefits of IP video?
Migrating to IP video
Assuming these benefits of IP video, operator networks must be effectively scaled. This is a must before they can deliver what viewers want on whatever screen they prefer, and before IP technologies can pave the way forward. The path to transformation covers three main areas:
Look for the best of the best
Whatever path your transformation takes, the key to success is to view your IP video transformation as part of your overall upgrade strategy—not as a one-off project. To do this, you’ll need an integrator with as big a vision as yours.
I’d look for an integrator who brings together the best products for each solution component in your market. This means working together with a trusted partner who can customize an IP video transformation plan based on the latest innovations and best-of-breed products. That way, you won’t be encumbered by legacy code and allegiance to ageing products.
To keep your project on track, you’ll want a partner with comprehensive set of integrator capabilities that ensure shorter time-to-market and faster ROI. You’ll benefit from:
Where is IP video headed?
Today TV and video is delivered over a blend of legacy and IP networks. In the next few years, we’ll see all video delivered over all-IP networks. That view is generally accepted, but if I had to go further, I’d predict that:
Taken together, these changes will enable service providers to deliver a great user experience in a more cost-effective way. And, subscribers will get a truly personalized viewing experience that they’ll love.
Links
Download our ebook: Future vision for IP Video
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There are two kinds of technology consumers: Those who revel in the technology, and those who just want the benefits of the technology without having to think about tech itself.
While I definitely am someone who enjoys the technological innovation as much as the results of that innovation, most consumers are not. They just want technology that works, i.e., where the proof of the viability of next generation capabilities can be summed up as “seeing is believing.”
One example of this is the increasing popularity of multiscreen entertainment as delivered over a leading-edge multiscreen video platform such as the Alcatel-Lucent one that has become with service providers around the world. Consumers don’t want to have to fiddle with their computer or TV to get their content from one device to the next. They just want it to work; consumers want to be able to walk around the house with their shows or take their entertainment out into the world via their smartphone, not unlike we’ve been able to do with hardbound books for generations.
Thankfully, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DNLA) is making that relatively easy for consumers nowadays. DNLA helps specify the standard for enabling the sharing of music, video clips and photos across devices.
Earlier this year DNLA released guidelines for its Commercial Video Profile-2 (CVP-2). CVP-2 lets pay TV operators share premium content across devices inside a subscriber’s home, opening up much greater sharing of content across devices.
The release of these guidelines is a crucial step in the evolution of cloud TV and away from a device-centric model toward a cloud model where content follows the consumer.
As a recent TechZine article by Roland Mestric, Director, Multimedia Solutions Marketing, Global Corporate Marketing, Alcatel-Lucent, titled DLNA CVP-2: Addressing the Multiscreen Challenge, noted, CVP-2 will start in the form of home-based gateways to process the content according to the devices used. The gateway will also act as the DLNA server, streaming content to these devices inside the home.
However, “the next logical step will be to move the processing and streaming functions of the DLNA server into the network,” the article noted. “Pay TV operators can then prepare the content in a central location, from which they can serve each device and have a better control over the delivery mechanism.”
DNLA and its new CVP-2 guidelines will in very short order open up the way that consumers consume media, effectively liberating content from a single device or group of devices. As Mestric explains in a podcast on the subject, while this will cut down on the geek factor of moving content between devices, for the majority of consumers this will be a big win.
]]>I’ve received a lot of questions from mobile operators, who are asking about mobile data growth and how it’s related to the youth market — meaning consumers from the age of 18 to 25 or sometimes 18 to 22. The mobile operators’ own research shows that the youth segment is valuable — and influences adult segments. The Business Case for Youth section of the Mobile Youth Report also says: “The youth market is worth $1 trillion dollars. Youth drive high-end smartphone markets. Youth have the highest lifetime value of all customers.” As a result, mobile operators around the world are taking notice of young consumers, and some are investing in a new youth brand to attract that segment.
For example, in Ireland, “48” is the new wave of youth mobile services targeting the 48-month duration between the ages of 18 and 22. See how 48 cleverly branded its video campaigns. It’s not about subscriptions, but about low-cost membership in the 48 community. Its members can get calling, texting, and mobile Internet services with a manageable cost — and find online support through FAQs, community support, and a 48 customer care agent offering online help with a 24-hour response time. On top of all that, 48 is encouraging members to grow their community by giving “Kickback” to members and their friends who join.
On the other hand, the Mobile Youth Report also points out under Youth Branding: “You don’t have to be a Youth Brand. Most popular brands with youth are Youthful not Youth brands (e.g. Starbucks, Apple, Facebook). Youthful means open to ideas and dialogue. The Next Big Thing always starts in the youth market and spreads to the mass market/adults later e.g. SMS, mobile messaging, Facebook, Instagram.”
Clearly, the recent “un-carrier” events launched at T-Mobile USA are working to attract youth through the CEO’s twitter account and the company’s Facebook and Instagram campaigns on “Break-up Letter” and “Rebel Maker.” These communications are getting a lot of notice by the youth segment.
Whether creating a youth brand or a youthful brand, mobile operators need to consider how to craft offers that promote the “mobile data first” experience. Young people don’t usually have a lot of money, but they are highly motivated to use data on the go, especially in countries where public Wi-Fi is readily available. The goal for 3G/4G LTE mobile operators is to drive the “mobile data first” experience into young consumers’ behaviors, so they will stop being afraid to use mobile data and feel in control of what they use and when they use it.
What other successful examples of youth brands vs. youthful brands do you know about? Do you agree that the youth segment influences adult segments in mobile data growth? Why or why not?
If you like this article, please feel free to share it with your followers. Next week, I will offer my insights on the 10 ways to drive mobile data growth through the youth market.
]]>Bring-your-own-device, mobile video, virtualization and a greater need for quality of service have prompted the need to rethink the network. In fact, the exponential increase in traffic has added a sense of urgency on the part of enterprises to upgrade their networks.
What’s needed is a converged network, according to a recent paper by Alcatel-Lucent (ALU). Enterprise Converged Network Solution, which carries the subtitle, Deliver a Consistent and Quality User Experience, Streamline Operations and Reduce Costs. With a long and deep history of providing state-of-the-art enterprise networks, ALY is advocating a converted, application-aware network that accounts for the latest evolutions in computing, yet is a resilient enough to meet both today’s needs and those of tomorrow.
“Now is the time for enterprises to re-think their strategy to support higher WLAN utilization, increased LAN access speed and better core performance,” noted the paper. “They must adopt a network with a simplified architecture that optimizes resource utilization, provides a consistent quality of experience (QoE) for wired and wireless users, and simplifies overall management.”
The converged network suggested by Alcatel-Lucent must address the following needs.
First, it must be a high-performance network with wire-rate 10GbE/40GbE core, which can often simplify and flatten architectures from three layers to two by eliminating the need for a distribution layer.
Second, it needs network virtualization for reduced equipment, network simplification and streamlined operations, and a resiliency that does not impact real-time application performance in case of failure due to the increasing use of cloud solutions and real-time communication.
Third, it must automated provisioning of access switches and endpoints. But it also needs to have superior wireless LAN performance for quality multimedia delivery and flexible deployment options.
It also needs lower power consumption.
Because of BYOD, a converged network of the future also must have embedded security for protecting users and groups, and a user profiling system for a quality user experience on a highly mobile environment.
In addition, and also on the “must have” list, is having multimedia fluency for enhanced quality delivery of voice and video to accommodate the growing bandwidth and quality of service requirements arising from increased adoption of unified communications (UC) by employees not only at their desktops but when they are mobile or working remotely. With multimedia fluency, it is possible to:
“Even between voice and video sessions, the user could have different QoS based on his specific needs,” noted the paper.
Network needs are changing, and it is important to have a network in place that can handle the evolution. The network of the future must be simplified, virtualized, with wire-rate switching capability and high port density. It must not only bring immediate benefits, but also prepare businesses for increased BYOD and cloud use while delivering a quick return on investment.
That’s no small order, and clearly as Alcatel-Lucent explains a converged solution is the best way to optimize network performance at low cost with simplified administration that is applications-fluent, while also being agile enough to adapt to whatever the future may hold.
]]>What mobility has done is change the conversation. For the past 30 years, enterprise data communication was about the personal computer. But that’s shifting as smartphones and tablets have given the world the ability to more easily perform work from any device with a cellular and/or Wi-Fi connection. The cloud has then given business the ability to perform business with these devices, effectively taking enterprise computing resources and making them available to any employee with authorized access at any time.
The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend within the enterprise is the manifestation of this. And, IP-based communications of all types has also changed quite a bit driven by mobility and the cloud. Collaborative conversation is much easier, and video conferencing is easier than ever.
Helping to meet the needs of the new direction of business companies such as Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) have developed services that help enable this transformation of business.
Alcatel-Lucent’s OpenTouch solution, for instance, delivers a suite of business communications and collaboration applications sold as a service. It is designed to help communities of enterprise employees solve specific communications pain points in their day-to-day working lives.
“Delivered through the cloud, these single-purpose applications can be deployed as an overlay to any type of communication and network solution,” noted a recent Alcatel-Lucent application note, Alcatel-Lucent Opentouch Personal Cloud.
The OpenTouch personal cloud gives businesses a single turnkey solution that enables them to offer their employees many of the key applications that make business function in the mobile and cloud-based software age.
For instance, OpenTouch Conference is an easy conference call solution that avoids the traps that many conferencing solutions face, such as pins that can be forgotten or forgotten dial-up numbers.
The OpenTouch Video Store also is a part of the OpenTouch personal cloud that helps enterprise customers create what essentially amounts to private YouTube video communities. This can be useful for knowledge sharing within an organization, enabling employees to record and upload videos in a private setting that can then be leveraged by other employees.
As Alcatel-Lucent has cheekily coined, the world is now in the middle of a new PC era; it has gone from the personal computing era to the personal cloud era.
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Our last few blog posts on mobile intelligence focused on how changes to devices and their operating systems can affect both the user experience and the network in positive and negative ways as detected using the 9900 Wireless Network Guardian. Today we will explore the impact of changes introduced by a new version of a popular application.
Last year, Facebook released new versions of their mobile app for Android and iOS. Prior to the new release, Facebook signaling and airtime already accounted for 10% and 15% of the overall load on 2G/3G networks, respectively. As users around the world updated and started to use this new version, we quickly noticed a dramatic increase of almost 60% in the signaling load and 25% in the airtime consumed by the Facebook application. During the same period, the number of Facebook users increased by only 4%. Clearly, it is not the swelling of Facebook’s community that intensified the load, but rather the introduction of new Facebook features for mobile users and underlying platform changes.
The effect on service provider networks was significant, driving up overall (total) signaling traffic and airtime consumption by 5-10%. An application design change by Facebook can be innocuous for fixed line and WiFi users, but can significantly boost the cost of delivery for mobile service operators. This 5-10% increase in signaling and/or airtime translates directly into a 5-10% increase in radio capacity requirement (i.e. CAPEX investment) to continue delivering the same service.
So this is obviously of concern to a mobile operator, but why should Facebook care? The simple answer – you! Higher signaling and airtime usage can directly affect battery life. While today, the increase is likely too small to impose noticeable threat to battery life, we did see a huge jump in signaling with this release. If signaling continues to increase at this rate in future releases, a large portion of users may start to notice that they need to charge up more frequently.
Another trend we detected was an increase in popularity of Facebook video traffic — a whopping 350% increase in volume since the November 15th launch — the most growth of all Facebook traffic. Unlike signaling where the updated software was responsible for the increase, this change is driven by more users enjoying new features such as sharing their news feeds. It is interesting that Facebook-chat traffic decreased during that same period (17% fewer users), indicating that users formerly using chat to communicate might be starting to use Messenger and embedded videos (+6% and +154% more users, respectively). While insignificant from a signaling perspective, the growing appetite for high bandwidth applications like video means service providers must account for bandwidth growth as the use of video continues to rise.
The bottom line – as we continue to feed our mobile applications habit, app developers will need to better consider the implications of their design decisions on the wireless network resources. Optimizing signaling has big benefits for both the service providers and consumers – including better user experience at a more reasonable price and a big one for all of us — longer battery life.
As traditional TV collides with the internet, unprecedented changes are taking place in the video industry. The biggest trend is what Alcatel-Lucent calls ‘main-streaming:’ video streaming as the new normal mass market model for how consumers get their video.
In short, consumers want video content anywhere, anytime, on any device. In an early 2011 report, Neilson said U.S. consumers spent 34.5 percent more time watching video on the internet, and 20 percent more time watching mobile video, than they did in early 2010. No doubt that number has grown since—and will continue to grow.
Online video is popular with consumers because it satisfies an appetite for flexible consumption. Plus, the success of online services like Hulu+ and Netflix indicate customers are willing to pay for that flexibility.
Content delivery industry players like Netflix and Hulu offer video using ad-funded or direct-subscription business models. These content providers pay traditional content delivery networks (CDNs) like Amazon and Limelight to publish video content online, because doing so theoretically helps ensure quality of service (QoS).
Trouble is, CDNs are making promises they can’t keep. The structure of their platforms—where caches are located at the edge of ISP networks—simply can’t provide guaranteed adequate QoS for end users. This presents a significant opportunity for network service providers.
“Network service providers are the only one who can ensure QoS, because they own the physical connection to the end user,” Alcatel-Lucent explained in a white paper about main-streaming. “QoS can be a differentiator for them compared to other players in the media value chain, and they have a unique opportunity to leverage this position.”
QoS is not the only concern, though. The impact and focus surrounding main-streaming varies depending on which side it’s viewed from.
End-users want improved quality of experience (QoE). Content owners want secure delivery and guaranteed QoS. Service providers want (or rather, need) support for a wide range of streaming and downloading technologies, and optimized traffic to meet demand while reducing transport costs.
“On-net CDN, or service provider CDN, is a key component to answer the needs of all players in the value chain, by allowing a better QoE for consumers while reducing the cost of transporting video,” Alcatel-Lucent explained in its white paper.
On-net CDNs own the networks over which video content is transmitted. At the last mile, service providers take over with content closer to the end-user through caching deep in the network.
By partnering with on-net CDNs, service providers can increase revenue, reduce transport costs and improve user experience through multiple business models using multi-screen video platforms.
Retail Model – the network providers becomes a content retailer, dealing directly with content providers to secure distribution rights—enabling high profit potential. Because of operational requirements, Tier 1 providers are most likely to adopt this model.
Wholesale Model – premium content delivery services are established for direct use by application and content providers. ACPs publish content directly into the operator networks, and network providers are compensated as a CDN provider. This model—appealing to Tier 1 broadband access providers—has smaller profit margins but also requires less overhead.
Transparent Caching – enables over-the-top (OTT) content delivery, with service providers deploying caching island to intercept OTT traffic, thereby reducing infrastructure costs and improving QoE. Content is delivered to subscribers without a direct relationship with content providers.
Major players in the video content industry, such as Verizon, are adapting to the new reality of main-streaming by adopting IP-video solutions like Alcatel-Lucent’s Velocix. For Verizon, which initiated a CDN deployment in 2008, Velocix helped speed up time-to-market, boost operational efficiency, enable multiscreen integration, and efficiently control costs for content delivery.
The success of on-net CDN as part of the main-streaming value chain depends on several key building blocks of service, publishing and storage and delivery: the control tier (management interface, network performance, usage reporting), the storage tier (provides content), and the delivery tier (delivery digital assets to end-user devices).
Deploying a CDN is a specialized effort
“A common misconception is that an existing network team can be used to design, deploy and operate digital media delivery infrastructure, but the skill set required are very different to those found to run a network,” Alcatel-Lucent notes in its white paper. “This is not just about deploying some boxes/cache into the network, but operating a CDN network requires some tools and expertise.”
Design, ingestion, resiliency, security, management, monitoring and reporting, and portal are key elements of any CDN deployment. The Velocix IP-video solution addresses these by being purpose built with efficient caching options, smart content replication, on-board instrumentation, low touch operation, troubleshooting tools, go-to-market support, monetization options, and speedy time-to-market features.
]]>For far too long, the pay-TV industry has been hanging on to legacy infrastructures and traditional business models. Few people are raising the one question that really matters: will today’s practices allow us to face the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow?
Guess what? They won’t. To secure growth in this established market, a more disruptive and unbiased thinking is required. Alcatel-Lucent embraces this new, open mindset - while marrying it to a staged and economically viable migration scenario.
As a starting point, three key thoughts/questions for your consideration:
What is the hardest thing to get right when building a new IP video service?Is it all about “scaling” – as most vendors claim? Well, scaling is indeed an important element: in the near future, every connected device is to get a personalized, unicast video feed. The big question, however, is whether networks can scale sufficiently by hanging on to traditional broadcasting practices. That is why Alcatel-Lucent suggests a staged migration to a more scalable architecture – with minimal business disruption and reduced investment waste. No more hanging on to legacy infrastructures, while acknowledging that financial prudence dictates they can’t simply be turned off either.
Or, at least, not yet…
What are some of the most exciting, recent trends in the IP video space?
There’s more to it than just delivering a common end-user video experience across multiple screens. We think the most significant trend is the rapid adoption of smart devices with a lot of processing power. Again, the big question is how to leverage their capabilities and intelligence to build more scalable and economical pay-TV networks. Can they incorporate some of the capabilities that currently sit somewhere else in the network, for instance?
What are the major challenges thrown up by second-screen experiences?
There is no more such thing as a technology challenge; it is really about business enablers and economics. It is about content protection and delivering/managing a consistent, high-quality experience – through on-net CDNs, for instance.
At the end of the day it is about changing the conversation with the end user to assure a stronger, more compelling and durable relationship. Alcatel-Lucent can do this: we architect the network for high-quality video and have the expertise to build and integrate it. Moreover, service providers need to have the tools in place, like the Alcatel-Lucent portfolio of Alcatel-Lucent Motive Customer Experience Solutions, to manage, analyze and optimize the customer experience in a flexible, extensible and responsive manner. It is time for some disruptive thinking!
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In my blog last week, I focused on some of the changes and challenges in digital media delivery that vendors likeVelocix (an Alcatel-Lucent company) are developing to help service providers maximize the quality of end user experiences while minimizing network traffic. In that piece I cited the first article in a two part series by Richard Gibbs, Vice President Worldwide Technical and Business Consulting at Velocix’s article in the Alcatel-Lucent e-zine TechZine, “A New Approach to Publishing and Caching Video.” It focused on the architecture and design considerations for a Content Delivery Network (CDN). This post picks up the story with the second Gibbs post, “Optimize Delivery to Meet Demand for “Video Everywhere,” which looks in detail at the delivery, management and control functions needed for efficient CDN operation.
First a little background refresh. A CDN (in the example one architected for a cable TV MSO) is a system of distributed caches containing copies of data, placed within a network to maximize bandwidth for data access. They rely on a series of processes and functions categorized as publishing/storage, caching, delivery, and management and control to assure the delivery of the best quality experiences to end-user devices with the new solutions also ensuring that this is done with minimal strain on network resources. These processes include:
Delivery
In his second article, Gibbs noted that delivery is the last step in a chain that includes logging/auditing, encryption, request routing, cache selection, geo-configuration and authentication. Simply put, delivery means a consumer request is received, authenticated, and then routed to a relevant device for fulfillment.
All delivery interactions with a CDN follow a three step process:
Authentication
A critical element for obvious reasons. Protection of intellectual property and getting compensated for its use can only happen when content requests have been properly processed and validated, i.e., authenticated. Gibbs explained that authentication methods used by CDNs include secure tokens, hash-based message authentication code (HMAC), and Shockwave Flash (SWF) verification. He did not note that all have their strengths and weakness since determined hackers have proven adept at circumventing even the most comprehensive authentication methodologies, but each can be highly effective and the choice of which of them, and possibly in combination, is something to be discussed with your solution provider with consideration for such things as ease-of-use and administration entering the mix.
Other crucial CDN delivery functions are summarized below:
Geo-configuration – mechanism for applying policy to content delivery; defines where content can be stored and where and to whom it can be delivered.
Cache selection – process that determines which cache will deliver the content, taking into account cost, performance, location, and protocol among other factors.
Request routing – combining of all available information about end user, requested resource and state of the network, so the most appropriate surrogate can be selected for content delivery.
Logging/auditing – measurement of delivery events, for reporting and billing purposes.
Management/control – responsible for the configuration and provisioning of CDN services.
Management and configuration – tools for dynamically configuring services and a balancing them across devices based on load and capacity demand.
Monitoring – components that provider relevant hardware and service alerts when problems occur.
Content owner management and reporting – real-time viewing statistics and delivery information crucial for managing content and delivery portals.
In the blog post, Gibbs recommends that providers use a range of delivery device specifications to achieve consistent delivery and high QoE, since specific content services many require different capacities or capabilities. For example, video on demand (VoD) services require large capacity edge disk caches, whereas live streaming services require higher throughputs and memory rather than larger disk caches.
“The surge in consumer demand for high quality multimedia entertainment on television, personal computers and mobile devices has had a profound impact on the network infrastructures and business models in place,” summarized Gibbs in the blog post.
That is actually a bit of an understatement. Reality is, based on sales of iPads and other tablets, and the explosive growth of the smartphone population and their users’ insatiable appetites for both streamed and interactive video (from real-time teleconferencing to watch movies to interactive gaming), a tsunami of video traffic is heading operators way and user expectations of quality experiences on every video-enable device they own and operate are high. The old ways of delivering video to specific places with a limited number of screen types is over.
New ways of meeting the requirements of the era of demand for digital video being everywhere are necessitating carriers to rethink, and do so quickly, how best to deliver content and do so securely, at high quality, with optimized network performance and at a profit. To learn more about solutions to the challenges of delivering quality video content everywhere check out the links above and also the Velocix white paper, Video Distribution in the Digital Lifestyle Era…”
]]>As the consumer appetite for online video content grows, communication service providers (CSPs) find themselves increasingly marginalized in the market. Video content is usually delivered by third-party providers (e.g. companies such as BBC, Hulu, Netflix, CANAL+), which have their own relationships with end users and therefore earn any resulting incremental revenue.
Given marketplace realities, CSPs need to broaden their core businesses beyond merely providing connectivity. They must also offer enhanced digital media delivery. Doing this successfully requires innovative new methods of publishing/storage and caching using next generation content delivery networks (CDNs). These networks enable CSPs to transform themselves into entertainment providers and also allow them to leverage their networks without creating traffic bottlenecks near servers.
Velocix is an Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) company that offers a comprehensive appliance-based CDN solution for CSPs. Richard Gibbs, Vice President of Worldwide Technical and Business Consulting at Velocix highlighted in a recent ALU TechZine article, A New Approach to Publishing and Caching Video, that:
“A CDN is a system of caches containing copies of data…This data is distributed at various points in a network, which maximizes the bandwidth required to access the data from clients throughout the network. A client accesses a copy of the data nearest to the client, as opposed to all clients accessing the same central server.”
He noted that content delivered using a CDN can be downloadable objects like software and documents, as well as applications and real-time media streams.
Velocix advises that when designing a CDN architecture—which differs from internet web-caching services—CSPs must take six key principles into consideration: availability, operation, performance, resilience, security, and efficiency.
These principles should be applied to the main appliance components of a CDN: delivery nodes, storage nodes, origin nodes, and control nodes. Together, these components perform nine processes and functions, summarized below.
Publishing/Storage - process of acquiring or publishing/ingesting content, using pre-ingest, acquire on demand, and live ingesting models.
Authorization and Registration - process that allows content owners to authorize delivery using the CDN.
Ingest – pre-publishing using standard technologies that allow integration with content management systems (e.g. FTP, RSYNC, third-party upload accelerators, batch control scripts, and programmatic HTTP)
Store – replication of ingested content within the CDN.
Availability – notification provided to the content owner, enabling content to be made available within any delivery portal.
Caching – means of replicating and storing content effectively on edge and storage devices without needing to reacquire content from multiple sources.
Acquisition – mechanism for an edge cache to acquire content from a CDN storage node or origin server for delivery.
Replication – means of physically acquiring or replicating content across distributed caching devices.
Caching – It also is a means of reducing network traffic by delivering content from caches as close to the requesting consumer as possible.
The graphic below shows what the Velocix solution looks like from a high level.
As can be seen, it is capable of delivering a high-quality, multi-screen solution. When properly set up and utilized through optimal publishing and caching processes, CDNs maximize accessibility and minimize network traffic. They are integral parts of ALU’s vision of a High Leverage Network than enables CSPs to not just be critical parts of evolving next generation services ecosystems, but also positioned to offer new innovative multiple media services of their own.
]]>Long-term evolution (LTE) is driving many changes in the IT landscape, not the least of which is operational security in mass transit. Railway operators and law enforcement agencies are using a range of CCTV technologies in a variety of situations to improve public safety. Alcatel-Lucent’s TrackTalk e-zine is a great source for information and insights on what LTE can do for enabling a host of capabilities including significantly upgrading in a cost-effective manner video surveillance, IP camera monitoring and what the future of CCTV and surveillance will look like.
In a recent article that takes an expert view perspective, aptly titled, The Changing Face of Operational Security, Jeremy Haskey, Transportation System Integration Division, Alcatel-Lucent notes that, “The hype surrounding the development of LTE is justified…With greater capacity, it has the potential to revolutionize video surveillance by carrying live high-definition video to individual handheld devices carried by security personnel, staff in control centers or directly to the emergency services. The HD images will improve zoom quality making grainy images associated with current CCTV applications a thing of the past.”
Optimization of railway operational security includes design as a major consideration for the effective application of large CCTV networks as well as selecting the right technology from the range of CCTV equipment available to optimize the return on investment. Indeed, once such a system is in place, inevitably all of this information has to go somewhere to be managed and responded to in an effective manner. Multiple voice communications systems, including passenger communications points and security stations also need to be coordinated.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Integrated Communication Management System (ICMS), for example, acts as the facilitator of this information, also providing operators with the tools to respond to a specific incident. It is part of the company’s overall view on providing railway operators with a comprehensive video protection solution such as the one it is providing with France’s RATP to the Paris Metro system.
“With no single standard available for all emergency services’ and transport operators’ communication equipment, these systems are often not compatible with each other,” says Haskey. The ICMS can decode the information from the various communication and security surveillance systems that are in place, providing integrated communication paths between the different organizations.
To summarize, while LTE technology is still in its initial stages of development, as it evolves, it is imminent that LTE will become the platform that the next generation of security can be built on and developed by the technological community. For more information you may wish to check out the latest issue of TrackTalk which not only has valuable insights but links to many useful resources.Situational awareness is the perception of what is happening in one’s vicinity and understanding how information, events and actions will impact outcomes immediately and in the future. For public safety officials, situational awareness is achieved both through direct observations and through information conveyed by technology, often voice communications.
Voice communications is so ubiquitous in public safety, in fact, that one might think it’s the only means by which situational information is conveyed.
In a LifeTalk article, “Video is the Game Changer for Public Safety,” Philippe Agard, Vice President of Business Development at Alcatel-Lucent’s public safety division states that, “With the emphasis on voice radio, it’s easy to forget that voice is only one medium we use to communicate with one another, and not even the primary channel in face-to-face communications.” He adds that, “Most experts will tell you that a relatively small portion of our message comes through in words, the remainder transmitted by tone, inflection, volume and body language.”
Voice communications is so ubiquitous for public safety because, until recently, it was the fastest and most reliable way to convey information to and from the field. Widespread deployment of 4G LTE wireless broadband networks is changing the game. These networks make it possible for public safety organizations to enrich their communications through tools like Alcatel-Lucent’s Striker vehicle communications system, featuring push-to-talk radio integrated with high definition video surveillance for a variety of devices including iPads and notebook computers.
“Data from health-monitoring devices in the Striker vehicle could be transferred through the cloud to a doctor’s office or hospital,” Agard explains. “Using a secure LTE broadband base station in the vehicle, it also serves personnel when traveling in an area without cellular connectivity.”
The video surveillance component of Striker and other next-generation communications systems is perhaps the most transformative for public safety as can be seen in all of the resources available in the recent issue of LifeTalk. No longer are officials limited to communicating via a car radio. And, in fact, to keep pace with the way citizens are using wireless technology, officials must add more capabilities to their own arsenal to keep pace.
“Extended protests and demonstrations such as the current Occupy Wall Street movements in many U.S. cities are not the disorganized crowds of years past,” Agard says. “These groups employ scouts equipped with smartphones and social networks like Twitter and Google Maps to keep tabs on law enforcement units and each other.”
Freeing public safety officials from the limitations of vehicle radios, and adding the richness of video, means it’s possible to stay ahead of crowds, enhancing safety for everyone involved.
Using video surveillance as part of public safety communications, as in the Striker system, employs LTE wireless broadband to make sure everyone is seeing the same picture. This changes the game from ‘what-you-see-is-what-you-get’ to ‘what-I-see-is-what-you-see.’
Systems like Striker, designed specifically for public safety, are made more powerful by integrating consumer devices into the network.
“Smartphones and tablet computers can display the same maps, photographs or blueprints simultaneously to all the users on the network,” says Agard. He amplified this stating that, “When a Police chief says, ‘I need somebody here,’ he can point to a place and drop a pin on a Google Map, everyone will see the same thing without a doubt.”
Access to video, in other words, changes the entire fabric of incident management. It changes how people in the field respond to nearby events, and how remote commanders make decisions about deploying officers. Virtual briefings can be held anytime.
Alcatel-Lucent is working with public safety officials in the U.S. and elsewhere to deploy communications systems that include video. An expanded demonstration project in São Paulo, Brazil, is already having great success.
“With a 20-30 MB/sec LTE connection to a first responder, there is a tremendous opportunity to rapidly communicate a considerable amount of visual information like pictures and surveillance footage to improve their safety and situational awareness,” Agard summarized, describing how São Paulo’s Polícia Militar is using the technology.
The São Paulo system uses an application called First Responder Video to stream video in and out of police cars, over an LTE wireless broadband network. This provides a dynamic, real time user interface on first responders’ laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Portable assets like the Striker vehicle can be used to create a temporary wireless broadband network in cases where permanent LTE installations aren’t yet available.
Increasingly, LTE wireless broadband networks are taking public safety to the next level, and will become even more widespread before long. “LTE is the new generation technology to increase responsiveness everywhere and enhance safety for everyone,” Agard concludes. Enriched communications and broader coverage via a cost-effective solution is the reason, and public safety officials around the world are taking notice.
]]>“Your surveillance network should dictate your power and equipment requirements, not the other way around. Often operators tell me they want 50 cameras. I ask them what they think every one of those cameras should be doing. It’s very easy to over-engineer systems and overwhelm your ICT network with unnecessary data.”
In addressing network operators in a recent article in Alcatel-Lucent’s Tracktalk, Making the case for Enhanced Rail Security Systems, the above expert advice was provided by Dave Gorshkov, CEO of Digital Grape Business Services.
“Security is essential to the modern railway, protecting passengers, staff the operator’s assets from diverse range of risks including terrorism, crime, trespass, and vandalism,” he continued, noting that few security systems are installed without the support of a robust business case.
Gorshkov’s comments underscore the need to consider the functional requirements for optimizing a video surveillance system from the beginning of such a project. In addition, the capability of supporting ICT infrastructure needs to be scaled to the data volume.
Since 2006, the U.S. government has awarded more than $1.6 billion in Transportation Security Grants (TSAs). Most of this funding is directed to large metropolitan areas where the safety risks are judged to be greatest, with high-impact projects that guard against terrorism given priority.
Before initiating such a large-scale project, operators first need to create a systems requirements specification (SRS) that outlines the safety, operational, and security features of the proposed installation, which will help to ensure that camera compression and memory systems are designed to meet the operators’ specific operational needs.
Camera design and system architecture need to be considered carefully as part of the overall design process as do data storage and transmission capacity, Gorshkov added. Among the key questions that should be asked during the planning phase are:
The ability to upgrade in future is an important consideration if the system is expected to have a long service life, Gorshkov added. Future considerations are critical in the early planning stages. Ten years ago networks operated with 5-10mbps transmission based on a handful of cameras. Today there are installations with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of IP-based cameras that require hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes of capacity. In another 10 years, network needs will change yet again.
Alcatel-Lucent’s Critical WAN Infrastructure solution offers a route to this new infrastructure, avoiding disruption while laying the ground for migration to an all-IP network and allowing public transportation systems the ability to provide comprehensive security solutions in a cost-effective manner.