Big Data firm Guavus apparently has some big plans involving the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Liberty Global and Time Warner Cable.

Guavus said it has joined a large group of companies to license to RDK, noting that it will use that to bring its data analytics apps and capabilities to the platform, which, for example, is already a key component of Comcast’s X1 platform as well as devices that run the “new” Contour, a platform being rolled out by Cox Communications that is underpinned by X1.

Guavus said its analytics products can help partners improve operations, service assurance and customer care, and believes its involvement in RDK can play a role in accelerating the product cycle.

“One of the key benefits of RDK is the volume of CPE performance data that can be gathered from the field,” Steve Heeb, president and GM of RDK Management, said in a statement. “By collecting and analyzing this data, operators can quicken the pace for targeted product releases. We are very pleased to welcome Guavus to the RDK Community.”

“Customer experience is fast becoming the most important end product for operators,” added Gabriele Di Piazza, SVP products and marketing for Guavus. “The role of collaborative and cross functional decision making enabled by real-time analytics aligns with the fundamental goal in the RDK community, which is to deliver an agile infrastructure for delivering next-gen products at web speed.”  

Guavus joins a group of more than 250 companies that have licensed the RDK, spanning set-top makers, chipmakers, software developers, system integrators and network operators. 

As multichannel video programming distributors strive to boost subscriber loyalty in the face of increased competition, improving both customer care and network reliability is tantamount to their success.

Collecting and managing the Terabytes of data that providers receive from their customers and networks each day is a major part of delivering on those objectives.

Collection is easy — operators have been doing that for years. The trick is to analyze that information, then act and react to it in a timely fashion that improves subscribers’ perceptions of the customer experience.

To use big data effectively, distributors should look at their business decisions through a customer-experience lens, rather than just from an operations and technology standpoint, said Chris Menier, vice president of cable and media for Guavus, a data analytics company.

PARSING THE NOISE

Case in point: Operators receive tens of thousands of network alerts and alarms every day, Menier said. They can range from signal noise on a specific node to major blowouts. Big data analytics helps a network operator figure out how those alerts affect a customer’s experience, and helps parse how subscriber issues can be resolved with minimal impact to network operations or the bottom line.

Operators don’t need more information, Menier maintained. They need timely, contextualized information.

Breaking down the customer-care, operations and marketing silos and using all of that data simultaneously to solve problems and enhance service can help providers to improve the customer experience. That, in turn, leads to higher network promoter scores, lower churn and lower operational costs.

Sifting through operational data at a granular level doesn’t mean gathering more information, Menier said. It means using information that operators are already collecting more effectively.

For instance, rather than rebooting every modem overnight after an alarm is tripped, Guavus’s analytics can detect which modems are being affected and automatically send those customers a message explaining the problem and the solution. This approach both pinpoints where the operational problems reside and reduces calls into call centers and truck rolls, he said.

“We can turn detractors into promoters,” he said.

Over-the-top providers are delivering this kind of service now. Amazon Video, for instance, constantly monitors its quality of service and network operations. When something is amiss, Amazon subscribers recieve messages informing them of the problem and are issued credits commensurate with any interruption, said Kerry Sims, vice president, global solutions and smart infrastructure at Hitachi Consulting.

“This is the kind of proactive response consumers are increasingly demanding,” Sims said.

Because OTT providers are fully IP-configured, it’s easier to implement big data, Sims said. And it takes more than just network monitoring to meet customer-satistfaction goals.

INSIDE, OUTSIDE INFO

Information must be collated from both inside and outside a provider’s walled garden, including data on customer interaction via phone call, email or chat; social-media chatter; and even factors such as weather.

Effective use of big data “is like opening the aperture of a camera lens to better understand the whole scene,” Sims said.

AT&T analyzes more than 100 factors known to affect customer satisfaction, according to Nicole Rafferty, AT&T Entertainment Group’s vice president of customer experience and operations support . They include everything from call completion rates to terrain to posts on social media.

AT&T makes about 30 billion (yes, billion) overall service-assurance measurements across its wireless and wired networks in a typical hour, Rafferty said. It’s all aggregated and analyzed in real time to derive insights that help AT&T manage its network.

Customer-service agents use big-data analytics to parse the best way to remove those pain points, reducing time spent on the phone and improving the customer experience. For example, a virtual assistance speech-recognition tool makes it easier for AT&T subscribers to reach the right agent to solve their problems quickly and without a lot of number pushing or rerouting. The company worked with Interactions LLC to develop the tool, which understands when customers speak in complete, conversational sentences.

Since launching the product last year, AT&T has seen a 53% reduction in the number of callers who dial “0” to speak with an agent; most were able to resolve their issue without talking to an agent at all. Misdirected calls were down 36%, and the time customers spent with the automated system fell 28%. The tool should be in place company-wide by 2017, Rafferty said.

Comcast is using information from customer interactions to improve and personalize the call-center experience. For example, agents can access real-time, relevant context about a customer’s account to smooth customer interactions, said Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer.

Agents can make recommendations based on prior interactions, the reasons the customer is calling at that moment, past service issues, etc.

“We can use this information to provide updates in our IVR system that gets customers to the right type of agent or information based on why they’re calling,” Moyer said. “We are also piloting technology to get the caller back to the same agent they talked to earlier.”

AT&T has created what it calls the Big Data Center for Excellence to gather and analyze the Terabytes of data it receives every day. The center works with AT&T’s business units to understand and eliminate pain points for customers, and makes the company more proactive.

“If you know you can be proactive, it takes the burden off the customer,” Rafferty said.

Predictive and proactive care may be the Holy Grail of improving the customer experience, but it’s really only one piece of the whole big-data picture, Matt Roberts, director of BDSI marketing at Amdocs, said.

“Some situations and parts of a company’s operations are better off when analyzed in real time,” he said. “But not everything has to be analyzed in real time.”

Using real-time big data analytics, a service provider can more quickly resolve network issues following customer calls and, perhaps more important, identify a customer’s issues before they he or she is even aware there is a problem. A service provider can either fi x the problem or reach out to let a subscriber know of a pending issue in advance and offer customers a salvo to ease the pain, Roberts said.

SETTING OTHER OBJECTIVES

Big data can also help operators also make strategic and long-term plans and that doesn’t necessarily require real-time analytics. For instance, by taking network data and overlaying it with customer data, an operator can determine when and where to upgrade plant first, Roberts said.

Big data can also be used to predict when components are likely to fail and be replaced before failures happen. It can pinpoint where new product launches will have the most impact, or determine which products are going to give a boost to customer satisfaction, Menier said.

Everything needs to be filtered through the customer lens, and big data analytics can help operators do that more efficiently and effectively.

“Big data has become a tangible entity,” Roberts said. “It’s gone from solving problems to helping make strategic long-term decisions.”  

Big Data firm Guavus has hired former Hewlett Packard exec Roger Brooks to the post of chief scientist.

Brooks most recently was chief architect for HP software, and previously served as distinguished technologist and chief scientist in HP’s marketing optimization business. Before HP, he co-founded and led start-ups in the information analytics and mobile data services sector, and spent the first of his career in academia as a theoretical particle physicist at Stanford University and M.I.T., where he last served as an associate professor of Physics.

Brooks received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from M.I.T.

"We are delighted to add Roger to our team,” said Anukool Lakhina, CEO and founder of Guavus, in a statement. “His real-world experience in using analytics for actionable insights will bring value to our customers who are looking to drive costs out of their business, generate new revenue streams and transform into data-driven businesses.” 

“Guavus is pioneering the use of analytics to provide extremely precise, contextual insights that translate directly into action. This results in better customer experiences, more personalized care,and more efficient network operations,” added Brooks. “I look forward to working with the Guavus team to help our customers exploit their data by leveraging our unique multidisciplinary science to become more efficient, profitable and competitive.”

CableLabs is holding court this week at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, where it's holding its annual Winter Conference.

Here’s a snapshot of what participating vendors are demonstrating to CableLabs and its contingent of MSO members:

-Casa Systems said it’s demoing upstream speeds of 400 Mbps-plus via its C40G, a more compact DOCSIS 3.1-capable converged cable access platform, that’s also outfitted with a 16x8 upstream module. That demo, it said, comes on the heels of a D3.1-powered demo of its C100G pumping out downstream speeds of more than 4.5 Gbps at the SCTE Cable Tec-Expo in New Orleans last fall.

-MaxLinear and Celeno Communications have teamed on a MoCA/WiFi extender reference design aimed at enabling whole-home gigabit WiFi. At the event, they’re demoing the design, which features Celeno’s Quicksilver CL2440 802.11ac Wave 2 4x4 Multi User MIMO Wi-Fi chip and MaxLinear’s low power EN2810 MoCA 2.0 SoC.

-AirTies Wireless Networks is showing its in-home WiFi solution that coordinates and optimizes performance across access points and addresses “bad apple’ WiFi performance issues that can degrade active devices on the home network.

-Video streaming company MediaMelon is showcasing MediaMelon QBR, a platform, it claims, can reduce bandwidth requirements by 35% using existing adaptive bitrate techniques without disrupting the underlying workflow. That will come in handy, it said, as operators deliver 4K fare and look to reduce storage costs. MediaMelon said its platforms are compatible with major streaming formats, including HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), MPEG-DASH, HTTP Smooth Streaming (HSS) and HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS).

-Big data specialist Guavus is demoing Service Reflex 3, an analytics application that enables service providers to improve service quality and enhance customer experience by ingesting, fusing and contextualizing network impacting events with subscriber data in real time.

-SMK Electronics is using the event to introduce two next-gen remote control product families – Evolution and Voice Navigator. Evolution, available in both 47-key and 9-16-key models, can use the service provider’s choice of IR, RF, Bluetooth, ZigBee, RF4CE or WiFi Direct wireless technologies, while the sleeker Voice Navigator, which supports up to 20 keys, utilizes Bluetooth Low Energy to bring voice command apps to pay TV applications.

-Greenlee Communications is showcasing AirScout, a WiFi test and measurement device that relies on multi-client hardware that communicates with a master client that gives an accurate reading of the WiFi environment. The tool, the company said, can reduce truck rolls and repeat service calls while also helping technicians better manage their workflow. 

Liberty Global has made a strategic investment in Guavus, a San Mateo-based Big Data specialist, but did not disclose the amount.

Liberty Global’s backing (it’s also a Guavus customer) comes almost three months after Guavus announced it had raised $30 million of fresh funds from new and existing investors.  Guavus, founded in 2006, has raised about $129 million, according to CrunchBase.

Guavus, which has been getting more aggressive in cable, said its Reflex platform lets cable operators to gain a holistic, cohesive view of network state and business context in real-time.

"Guavus offers one of the industry's most innovative operational intelligence platforms and their suite of big data analytics applications are well deployed across service providers worldwide,” Ankur Prakash, vice president, Liberty Global Ventures, said in a statement. “We are pleased to be backing this exciting business as it embarks on the next stage of its development and couldn't be more positive about the company's prospects and its ability to execute."

"We are thrilled to have Liberty Global not just as a customer, but also as an investor and strategic partner,” added Anukool Lakhina, founder and CEO of Guavus. “With this partnership we will be able to accelerate our innovation and thought leadership in real time streaming analytics and continue to create industry firsts for enterprises and service providers globally."

Mike LaJoie, the former executive vice president and chief technology officer of Time Warner Cable, was appointed chairman of Guavus in January.

Mike LaJoie, the former EVP and CTO of Time Warner Cable, sure is staying busy for a retired guy.

LaJoie, who retired from TWC at the end of 2014, has been appointed to the board of directors of multiscreen video tech company Envivio. That announcement came just more than a month after LaJoie was named chairman of Guavus, the San Mateo-based Big Data analytics company.

Envivio also announced that Kevin Dillon, a general partner with Atlantic Bridge, has resigned from the board. 

Envivio makes video processing and transcoding products for multiscreen applications, including emerging 4K video services, and recently expanded its horizons with the launch of a virtual, cloud-based software-as-a-service video platform called “Nuage.” TWC is one of Envivio’s known U.S. MSO customers.

"Digitizing entertainment-quality video is a challenge that I have pursued for many years, LaJoie said in a statement. “This opportunity with Envivio will allow me to stay highly involved in that space. As the demand for quality improvements and enhanced functionality continues to expand, Envivio is well positioned to lead with innovative solutions and enhanced value creation. I am looking forward to working with the team."

"The board, management team and I wholeheartedly welcome Mike to the Board of Directors. We expect Mike to help accelerate our vision, contribute to our strategy, and deepen our relationships with cable operators and content owners, as we move aggressively into 2015," added Envivio chairman Terry D. Kramer.

Mike LaJoie retired as executive vice president and chief technology officer of Time Warner Cable at the end of 2014, but it's already clear in the early part of 2015 that he intends to stay in the cable technology picture. 

Guavus, a big data analytics company based in San Mateo, Calif., is expected to announce today (January 21) that LaJoie has joined the company’s board and will serve as chairman.

LaJoie is joining Guavus as the company continues to expand into new markets and looks to expand its presence in the cable industry, which is increasingly eager to use its data in ways that could open up new revenue streams while also reducing operating costs.

While Guavus has not identified its current crop of MSO customers, the vendor has been active in the cable industry for years. For example, Marwan Fawaz, an exec late of Charter Communications and the former head of Motorola Home and now a partner at Sarepta Partners, is a member of Guavus's panel of industry advisors.  According to Guavus’s website, David Nicholas, an exec late of cable-focused companies such as Alticast, BigBand Networks (now part of Arris), Vyyo, and Concurrent Computer Corp., is on board as senior vice president sales – cable and media. In 2013, Guavus acquired Pipeline, a product originally developed by Applied Broadband that collects and analyzes IPDR (Internet Protocol Detailed Records) from cable modem terminations systems (CMTSs). At the time, Guavus said Pipeline’s platform had been licensed by seven of the top 10 cable operators in North America.

“Guavus has become a trusted partner to the world’s largest communications companies that are looking to transition to being data-driven enterprises,” LaJoie said, in a statement. “Guavus has demonstrated great innovation and I look forward to contributing to its continued success as a member of the Guavus board.”

“We are extremely honored that Mike will be contributing to the vision and direction of Guavus at a time when data is becoming increasingly strategic to the future growth and operating success for our customers,” added Anukool Lakhina, the CEO and founder of Guavus. “Mike’s extensive management experience and proven operational expertise makes him a valuable addition to our board as we continue to grow and deliver a range of big data solutions that provide significant value to customers globally.”

Last June, LaJoie announced plans to retire from TWC on Dec. 31, 2014, following a 21-year career with the company, noting then that his main focus for the balance of 2014 would be on the Comcast integration.  

Guavus claims that its Reflex platform currently processes over 2.5 petabytes of data per day, equivalent to 250 billion records per day and 2.5 million transactions per second. Guavus feedds that data into applications that, for example, can be used to help ISPs line up pricing plans based on customer device usage, create targeted ad campaigns based on customer interests, and keep close tabs on network data traffic trends.

Founded in 2006, Guavus announced last August that it had raised a $20 million round, extending its total investment to more than $107 million. Investors in the most recent round included Artiman Ventures, Sofinnova Ventures, Intel Capital, SingTel Innov8, Investor Growth Capital, QuestMark Partners, TransLink Capital and Goldman Sachs.