Openwave Demoed Optimization (40% lower bitrate) for Live Gaming Broadcasts

Openwave Mobility announced that it ".. successfully showcased optimization of live-gaming broadcast traffic via sites including YouTube Gaming and Twitch for a Tier 1 European operator. Openwave Mobility is the first to use quality-aware traffic management for live-gaming broadcasts. The company lowered bitrates by over 40% for YouTube Gaming and Twitch while maintaining an excellent QoE for subscribers.

Indranil Chatterjee [pictured], VP of Product Management, Marketing & Strategy, Openwave Mobility explaineds: “Live-gaming streams are far more data demanding than VoD. And they can consume considerable bandwidth. That’s bad news for operators and a bad experience for the gaming fans. Operators are struggling to deal with the phenomenal growth in video – and now most of that is encrypted too. That’s another headache. For cost conscious subscribers, higher bandwidth means higher data bills. That’s where our innovative technology comes in”.

See "Openwave Mobility First to Use Quality-Aware Optimization for Live Gaming Broadcasts" - here.

Game is not Over: Canadian Gamers vs. Rogers' DPI

  

The debate in Canada over Rogers' traffic management and DPI problems is not resolved yet. Although Rogers admitted to have  issues with its classification and policy enforcement actions in March (here) and was ordered by the regulator, CRTC, to fix it (here), the Canadian Gamers Organization (CGO) is not happy yet. 

Several quotes from the letter sent by CGO to the CRTC last week, related to the classification and rate-limiting policies, are shown below (see the full text here).

All-in-all, it shows the complexity of implementing a scalable policy enforcement structure, that will allow the ISP to implement its commercial goals, to millions of users with combination of policies controlling "real-time (VoIP, gaming)", "jitter sensitive (streaming video)", "normal" and "bandwidth hogs" applications. 

  

Until this is done correctly, it will be very difficult to market premium "QoE based tiered services".  Nevertheless, referring to yesterday's post on standalone vs. embedded DPI solutions (here) - it seems that standalone products are much closer to implement this strategy.

• .. Yet it is apparent from Rogers’ letter of September 2 that other applications and games are being misclassified by its ITMP and pushed into this rate limiting channel... Rogers states openly in its September 2 letter that World of Warcraft and unspecified “other games” are diverted to this rate-limited channel by its DPI. This would be consistent with reports the CGO has received recently from our members. It means anything running above 80/kbps with file sharing applications running is being actively impacted and misclassified by Rogers ITMP
   
• Even if games or other applications ran below the 80/kbps threshold individually; if they were running simultaneously that combines upload traffic to exceed 80/kbps with P2P applications running, they would also be impacted by Rogers ITMP from what Rogers has disclosed to the commission.  Rogers’ ITMP is activated “for traffic at 80 kbps and above”, and through Rogers disclosure is only active when P2P file sharing applications are open. As the commission well knows, Canadian consumers can have several gaming systems, wireless devices, and PCs hooked up simultaneously in any given home network set up.
   
• Further, CGO wishes to submit that not all games run below 80/kbps.  World of Warcraft is an older game, and since development and release of this game, newer games are increasingly becoming more sophisticated requiring much more bandwidth. World of Warcraft recently updated to provide a setting to users which would make the game server respond faster to user actions, but at the cost of the user's upstream bandwidth increasing.  World of Warcraft also has a built-in VOIP for in-game team chat on top of regular game data transmitted to developer’s servers and to other peers on the network, however the bulk of World of Warcraft users prefer to use alternate VOIP solutions (due to better sound quality/voices being much clearer), which can be additionally taxing on the upstream bandwidth.
    
• The developers of the game Homefront,  for example, state it requires users to have consistent upload traffic between 100 - 120/kbps in order for the game to run smoothly with a direct connection to their servers, stating that most lower end DSL connections in the US support upload of 768/kbps. 

 

QoS/CDN Announcements: Level 3 Optimizes Bandwidth for On-line Gaming

 

Level3 introduced the ".. Bandwidth Optimizer – a service that combines the power of a global High Speed IP (HSIP) transit network with Level 3's content delivery network (CDN) platform to maximize and optimize bandwidth efficiency .. Designed specifically with the online gaming industry in mind, Level 3's Bandwidth Optimizer offers access to both HSIP [High Speed IP] and CDN services, which can be used interchangeably [see chart below]. This not only affords customers the flexibility to access the right amount of bandwidth at the right time, but also significantly reduces risk of service delays during game launches and updates"

See - press release "Level 3 Introduces Bandwidth Solution that Offers One-Stop Shop for Gaming Companies" - here and solution document - here.

CRTC to Rogers: Fix your DPI System!

   

6 months ago, Rogers admitted that its "traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft .. We have determined that the problem occurs only when our customers are simultaneously using peer-to-peer file sharing applications and running the game"  - see "Rogers [Canada] Admits its P2P Traffic Management Impacts Interactive Gaming" - here.
 

      

Now, the CRTC has instructed Rogers to fix the problem. In a letter that was sent on Friday to Rogers,  (here, from DSPreports.com), John Traversy, Executive Director, Telecommunications says: "Commission staff notes that in its report entitled World of Warcraft Testing, dated 25 July 2011, Rogers indicated that it had implemented a “whitelisting” solution to resolve issues related to misclassification of this specific game. Based on information provided by Rogers’ 2 September 2011 letter, as noted above, Commission staff considers that Rogers’ ITMPs could potentially continue to misclassify time-sensitive traffic such as other online games and therefore this could be affecting those games. Commission staff considers that Rogers should address and resolve this misclassification problem As a result, Commission staff requests that Rogers file a plan for resolving the possibility of misclassification of other interactive game traffic, by 27 September 2011, that includes specific steps and timelines for each step". 

Rogers [Canada] Admits its P2P Traffic Management Impacts Interactive Gaming

   

In a letter to the Canadian Regulator, CRTC, Rogers says that "Our tests have determined that there is a problem with our traffic management equipment that can interfere with World of Warcraft .. We recently introduced a software modification to solve the problems our customers are experiencing with World of Warcraft. However, there have been recent changes to the game, which has created new problems. A second software modification to address these new issues will not be ready until June .. We have determined that the problem occurs only when our customers are simultaneously using peer-to-peer file sharing applications and running the game".

See the letter, posted to openmedia.ca, site - here.

According to Roger's Network Management Policy [here]:

"Rogers manages traffic associated with certain P2P file sharing protocols for customers of Rogers Hi-Speed Internet (delivered over cable) and Portable Internet from Rogers. We use packet inspection to determine the type (but not the content) of upstream traffic only. High-volume, low time-sensitive traffic (such as P2P file sharing) is limited to ensure all customers have a high level of service for time-sensitive tasks like sending email, requesting web pages, video and voice applications. For Rogers Hi Speed Internet (delivered over cable) and Portable Internet from Rogers customers, the maximum upload speed for P2P file sharing traffic is 80 kbps at all times. There are no limits on download speed for any application or protocol .. Rogers does not manage download P2P file sharing traffic; however, some P2P applications will limit download speeds based on various factors, including the amount of P2P upload traffic and protocol acknowledgments. These factors may be responsible for customers experiencing slow download P2P file sharing speeds.."

QoS Deployments (22): Demon [UK] Offers "Game Pro" Plan - w/Traffic Prioritization

 

Demon, a UK ISP, launched a new "Game Pro" service plan that "offers the usual benefits that Demon Broadband offers, along with lower latency and better ping rates."

See "Demon launches gaming broadband service" press release and blog post, here.

The new plan offers, for £22/month (12 months contract): Up to 20Mb downstream and 1Mb upstream, no usage restrictions off peak, 100GB peak (8am to 11pm), traffic prioritization and a free static IP address.

A comparable plan is Demon's Home2+, with 50GB volume and no prioritization, offered for £15.28 month (24 months contract) and subject to Demon's Fair Use Policy ("FUP" - here). FUP states that "Usage will be monitored on a continuous basis. Customers that exceed the permitted data download over a rolling 30 day period will be affected by the THUS FUP. This is currently defined as per the limits detailed below, although we reserve the right to amend these limits in accordance with the terms of your Agreement. ". 

According to KITS ("UK's largest adsl/broadband resource & information sites"), Demon is using Ellacoya (now part of Tektronix Communications) DPI products to implement FUP (here).

Will the Game Pro subscribers just bypass the DPI process, or will Demon use the Ellacoya devices to prioritize certain [gaming] traffic? Does it remove P2P restrictions [if any]?

Anyway, this is one of the few QoS based tiered services offering, targeting an ARPU increase of ~£6-7/month (50%!).