Sunday, January 27, 2013

SkyFire's New Caching and other Features


Skyfire announced the launch of its ".. enhanced video and data optimization platform for operators - Rocket Optimizer 3.0. In this release .. Skyfire’s Rocket Optimizer, which already provides operators with a 60% boost in bandwidth capacity across smartphones, tablets and PCs, is announcing the addition of these new features in Rocket Optimizer 3.0: Measurement of bandwidth conditions in real time for every subscriber session .. CloudBurst Architecture that allows for instant expansion of optimization capacity to the carrier or public clouds, Enhanced optimization algorithms for the MP4 and H.264 video standards and CloudCache – a cloud-based caching solution that brings significant reductions in operator server, peering and IP transit costs"

To my question, Jay Hinman (pictured), Sr. Director, Marketing, Skyfire explained that "Our CloudCache solution we've announced is deliberately focused on video and large images only, in order to not only combat the largest bandwidth hog on networks (and largest disrupter of end-user experience), but also to reduce the number of deployed servers needed and to reduce CPU. We don't compete with general transparent caching solutions and instead seek to complement and improve upon them" (see chart below).





See "Skyfire delivers next-generation mobile video optimization with Rocket Optimizer 3.0" - here.

5 comments:

  1. Hi,
    is this still valid in a world without Fair usage policy and unlimited plans? If customers transfer a lot of data then its good for mobile operator.

    If user hit data limit / data cap, then he may buy extrta limit (e.g. 1GB) for X USD.

    Those solution are great but only in "unlimited fixed" world, not mobile.

    Am I wrong?

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  2. Hi Anonymous, it may be good for the mobile operator if their network is relatively unconstrained, but that's typically not the case in a world of OTT video and soaring video usage. At some point, the quality (experience) issue rears its head, and you've got users dealing with stalling and buffering. That sort of frustration tends to be blamed on the operator - not on the provider of the video (YouTube, ESPN etc.).

    Harris Interactive ran a survey last year and found that 86% of U.S. smartphone users preferred a faster video start and smooth streaming on Standard Definition, over higher definition video quality with a slow start and buffering. Makes intuitive sense, and that's what Skyfire's Rocket Optimizer achieves with both cloud-based caching and the ability to optimize in real time based on a user's individual state at the time they're starting a stream. That helps not only their satisfaction with their operator, it frees the operator network from congestion and reduces "sticker shock" for customers who hit their data caps on, say, the 10th day of the month when they still have 20 days to go.

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  3. Hi Jay,
    its me again:) Thanks for the answer.
    I understand your point in promoting quality. However I would still point out that for example for prepaid customers its better to pay for more data not less. Of course Im looking from mobile operator perspective business case.

    Quality shouldnt be the problem in LTE world. BTW there are lots of charts about data tsunami. Its a hype. If all about data pricing. If you have to much traffic then just increase the price for MB/GB.
    It was a problem in a unlimited tariff plans, not in data caps world.

    kind regards,
    Pete

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