A Bytemobile contributed article appeared in this month’s print edition of Connect-World, the information and communication technology (ICT) decision makers' magazine. In this piece, Constantine Polychronopoulos, founder and chief technology officer at Bytemobile, discusses the explosive growth of data traffic on wireless networks and the need for policy-driven optimization in the 4G environment.

The full article can be found on pages 36-37 of the November edition, http://www.connect-world.com/PDFs/magazines/2010/NA_2010.pdf.

-Stacey Infantino

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Hank Kafka, AT&T senior vice president of Architecture and Planning, delivered the opening keynote presentation on Day 1 of the LTE North America 2010 conference in Dallas, Texas. Kafka opened the session with the following statement:

If there is one thing you should take away from this conference, it’s that consumers and businesses have an insatiable demand for data.

The AT&T executive’s presentation focused on the fact that one of the biggest challenges facing wireless network operators today is that the majority of consumers don’t understand capacity problems.

AT&T, which spends billions annually to improve its network infrastructure and address the capacity challenge, believes that increasing network speed is only part of the solution.

The company has seen a 5,000% increase in mobile data consumption over the past three years. Kafka attributed this to two key drivers: social networks and video.

With regard to social media, Kafka stated that the average mobile Facebook user spends seven hours a month on the site and that social networks are second only to email in terms of consumer usage.

In discussing mobile video, Kafka cited statistics from Bytemobile’s 3Q 2010 Mobile Minute Metrics report, highlighting the following point:

‘The most prevalent type of video on wireless networks worldwide continues to be user-generated content available on YouTube and Google Videos. On average, this accounts for 48% of the total network video traffic.’

Kafka closed the session by setting the stage for the future state of mobile data demand – “It’s only going to accelerate.”

-Stacey Infantino

Image courtesy of Rene Reile via the Creative Commons attribution license.

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Tracy Ford of RCR Wireless News recently interviewed Joel Brand, vice president of Product Management at Bytemobile, at 4G World in Chicago, IL. In this video clip from the show floor, Brand discusses the addition of new media caching capabilities to its mobile video optimization solution.

Designed to balance on-the-fly video optimization with offline optimization of cached video content, Bytemobile’s market-leading Video Optimization solution, enables operators to achieve the highest level of bandwidth management across their networks while serving the best possible mobile video experience to their customers.

See the entire interview below.

-Stacey Infantino

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On September 28, Mobile Minute and Informa Telecoms & Media collaborated with Vodafone D2 in Germany to present “The Impact of Video Traffic Growth on Mobile Networks”. The webinar attracted a mix of network operators, analysts and media, with over 400 registrants from around the world. To access a full replay, please visit us at Mobile Minute.

Contributors to the webinar included Dr. Volker Sebastian, head of Multimedia Application Engineering at Vodafone D2; Mike Hibberd, editorial director of Telecoms.com; and Jeff Sanderson, head of Pre-Sales for EMEA and Latin America at Bytemobile.

Mike Hibberd began the discussion by summarizing the key growth trends driving the wireless market today. Most strikingly, he noted a projected 76% CAGR in global mobile data traffic from 2008 to 2013. This is due to a combination of factors, including flat-rate tariffs used by operators to stimulate adoption, improvements in network infrastructure, and the spread of high-end, data-hungry devices.

Volker Sebastian expanded on the challenge created by these growth trends, noting the role that various technological solutions will play in helping operators manage traffic. Vodafone D2, like many carriers in developed markets, is looking for ways to meet consumer demand within its capital budget constraints – specifically, demand for data that is skewed by the enormous popularity of streaming video content. With optimization techniques implemented by Bytemobile, Vodafone D2 has been able to realize a total data savings of approximately 25% of HTTP traffic (85% of its video traffic is streamed via HTTP).

Jeff Sanderson rounded out the session with an overview of the various media optimization and policy enforcement solutions that Bytemobile offers operators to realign revenue generation with bandwidth consumption. Through optimization techniques such as Just in Time video downloading, Quality-Aware Transcoding, Dynamic Bandwidth Shaping, and Media Caching, operators are able to enhance the efficiency of their networks and increase their ROI in network infrastructure. Most importantly, consumers enjoy an improved user experience, which supports retention and growth of the operator’s subscriber base.

Additional Mobile Minute events are planned for the coming months. We will cover these events on our website and blog as part of our ongoing efforts to provide thought leadership and consultative education to the rapidly evolving mobile internet space.

- Peter Turner

Image courtesy of Hector Milla via the Creative Commons attribution license.

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