Latest from Next TV in Capacity

Can the Internet Go the Distance?

daniel.frankel@futurenet.com (Daniel Frankel) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 12:00:00 +0000

While global attention has rightfully focused on whether city hospitals and central banks can hold up to the massive, sudden pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, another system has also come under concern: broadband infrastructure.

OpenVault, a company that consults cable operators and other internet service providers, said U.S. homes are now using 460 gigabytes of data per month, a 27% increase over what had been the previous record usage month, January. During business hours, as households use their residential broadband subscriptions for remote office work and virtual schooling, average usage has risen to 6.3 GB, up 41.4% over January, OpenVault said.

Evenings are the peak hours, with consumers no longer out at bars, restaurants, sporting events and social gatherings, but streaming high- definition and 4K video instead. Open- Vault said average usage between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. in March has risen 17.2%, to 5.87 GB.

Nokia’s Deepfield, another surveyor of real-time network performance, said it has observed 20% to 40% increased network use during these “peak” hours.

Netflix traffic has risen 54% to 75%, according to Nokia Deepfield, and online gaming usage has grown 400%.

Nielsen, which has observed TV usage increases during recent disasters including the 2016 Northeast blizzard and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, expects streaming usage to spike as much as 61%.

Facebook’s ‘Big Surges’

Meanwhile, in a conference call with reporters, Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his social network is seeing “big surges” in usage amid the coronavirus pandemic. He said Facebook has nearly doubled its server capacity to power messaging app WhatsApp as users place more voice and video calls on the platform.

Regulators in both the U.S. and Europe are concerned that all this increased social distancing usage will break the internet.

In a tweet posted Wednesday, Thierry Breton, the French businessman serving as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, said he had a phone conversation with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. He’s urging Netflix and other OTT companies to stream their video in standard definition instead of the much higher intensity high-def or 4K/Ultra HD. In a statement, Breton said streaming platforms, telecom operators and internet users “all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation.”

Netflix initially responded by touting its Open Connect program, which allows ISPs to locally manage the SVOD service’s traffic on their networks. But Netflix later agreed to lower the bitrate in which it streams its video for 30 days in Europe. “We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,” Netflix said.

U.S. regulators are concerned, too.

“This is going to be an enormous stress test for our communications networks,” Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff and author of the agency’s 2010 plan to improve internet access nationwide, told CNN.

The FCC has already given T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless increased access to the 600 Megahertz spectrum for the next 60 days, providing extra wireless capacity for data connections.

More Room for Wireless

“We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that our networks are there when our customers need them,” Verizon senior VP for technology strategy and planning Adam Koeppe said in a statement. “While our networks continue to perform well during this crisis, this spectrum will allow us to add capacity to ensure great service for our customers, businesses and all on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.”

Those charged with lobbying for the telecom industry have tried to strike a reassuring tone. In a letter to leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee and the House Energy & Commerce Committee, US Telecom president and CEO Jonathan Spalter wrote, “Broadband providers are laser focused on making sure the innovative networks they built and manage are ready to accommodate a prolonged reliance on telework, distance learning and other forms of high bandwidth remote communications."

In another statement, Lise Fuhr, director general of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, said, “At this stage, new traffic patterns are being effectively handled by engineers as per standard network operations.”

Setting an Over-the-Top Battle Plan

Mike Farrell — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Aside from the obvious competitive threat, over-the-top video presents a bit of a capacity quandary for cable broadband networks. But as more and more services come online and Internet video becomes even more popular, cable operators will not only be searching for ways to better manage their bandwidth, but to find new revenue streams to mine from their networks. One way is by making the network more efficient by essentially moving more and more functionality to the cloud. Senior finance editor Mike Farrell spoke with networking equipment maker Juniper’s chief architect for cable MSO Networks Andrew Smith about what the future holds. Here are some key points.

MCN: There are at least four OTT services expected to come out this year. And if they are successful, there’ll be 20 more behind them. Could this present a capacity issue for cable broadband networks?

Andrew Smith: We think it’s important for cable operators to start thinking of the network a little bit differently.

In many ways, DOCSIS or data services are seen as just another channel in the lineup. We think that kind of thinking needs to shift. DOCSIS is the lineup; everything is going to ride over IP. In terms of how operators approach the design of the network, operating the network, how they build the network, IP is going to come to the front. That is a little bit of a change for some cable operators.

If we take this approach of data-first, DOCSIS-first, that manifests a number of other changes in how the network is built. We want to get away from building the networks in fixed units. We can see a clear path in the work we’re doing in the virtualized space.

That’s been a goal for cable for a long time: an access layer where everything that is delivered to that home is IP, not distinct downstream channels for distinct services. That’s key, because it brings with it enormous benefits in terms of efficiency, multiplexing, the cost per bit would drop considerably.

If the perception, or the positioning, of the network in the cable industry is IP-first, then I think we get a tremendous amount of efficiency and gain in how these future OTT services are delivered.

We’re not advocating that cable totally rip out everything that is deployed today. That’s not needed and it wouldn’t be feasible. We want to make sure the investments from now going forward are compatible with the all-IP last mile.

MCN: Going all last-mile IP would improve quality of service for video, correct?

AS: That’s certainly one angle of it. The quality of service is one of the things that is going to matter most. If we really go towards this all-packet, lastmile [approach], we should end up with a statistical surplus for the first time.

When you packet-switch data, just by virtue of statistical multiplexing, you can actually get more users or more experiences across a set amount of bandwidth. Because the last mile of cable has always been a bit artificially constrained in its capacity, we’ve never really been able to take advantage. As we grow the packet capability of the last mile that should really improve the quality of service of over-the-top.

The other angle, on the other end of the network, Internet peering points and data-center peering points, we’re finding in many ways interfaces that run at capacity are becoming the new normal. On the other end of the network we see a lot of congestion.

We think there may be an opportunity for cable to construct a new bundle model that is a more file-driven broadband service.

We’d like to see a bundle for broadband, such that maybe the cable company offers me a service where my home firewall is virtually in the cloud, or my file scanner or storage or any other services are done on the MSO side of the wire that goes into my house. There is a certain amount of portability with that.

MCN: What are the implications for generating new revenue from the broadband pipe?

AS: We think that the new cable bundle may include services on broadband that aren’t just a simple default path. Forever, Internet services delivered over cable have been about following a packet as quickly as possible.

One of the big benefits coming out of the cloud initiatives is something called NFV, or network functions virtualization, the use of cloud technology to build packet services that are much more versatile or revenue-building.

Broadband from a cable operator may include a number of add-ons [based in the network] that add value to the packets that customers are consuming or producing. That may be a factor in constructing a new type of cable bundle. That can not only help the revenue side, but also help deliver the OTT stuff better.

For example, if you have a router in your home today, that can get eliminated. That function can be routed to the cloud. You can have some degree of cache or Net Nanny or virus-scanning security. There are a number of services that can be built with NFV.

Global Capacity Forges New Cable Link

Jeff Baumgartner — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Following earlier work with some of the nation’s tier-1 operators, Global Capacity has set its sights on the independent and rural market for a broadband connectivity platform that can help operators deliver services beyond their traditional franchise areas.

In what amounts to a hunting license for members of the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), Global Capacity has cut a new master service agreement that enables NCTC’s 950-plus members to expand their network service coverage throughout North America using an automated pricing process.

The deal also hooks Global Capacity’s One Marketplace platform, including its ordering and provisioning systems, to the NCTC’s Bandwidth Broker Desk Program, an initiative designed to help members secure broadband access and connectivity and competitive quotes “in a matter of seconds” across multiple networks and geographies.

That approach eliminates typically manual processes, and can help operators provide more support to commercial enterprise customers that need connectivity beyond the operator’s network service area, Ben Edmond, Global Capacity’s chief revenue officer, said.

Global Capacity already works with several top five U.S. cable operators, but is now starting to gain traction with midsized operators, he said, noting that Armstrong Cable is among those already on its customer list.