Video optimization

Video optimization refers to a set of technologies used by mobile service providers to improve consumer viewing experience by reducing video start times or re-buffering events. The process also aims to reduce the amount of network bandwidth consumed by video sessions. Video optimization refers to a set of technologies used by mobile service providers to improve consumer viewing experience by reducing video start times or re-buffering events. The process also aims to reduce the amount of network bandwidth consumed by video sessions. While optimization technology can be applied to videos played on a variety of media-consuming devices, the costliness of mobile streaming and increase in mobile video viewers has created a very high demand for optimization solutions among mobile service providers. When streaming over-the-top (OTT) content and video on demand, systems do not typically recognize the specific size, type, and viewing rate of the video being streamed. Video sessions, regardless of the rate of views, are each granted the same amount of bandwidth. This bottlenecking of content results in longer buffering time and poor viewing quality. Some solutions, such as upLynk and Skyfire’s Rocket Optimizer, attempt to resolve this issue by using cloud-based solutions to adapt and optimize over-the-top content. The spike in mobile video streaming has come about as a result of the development of the smartphone. Smartphones registered a 5% to 40% market penetration between 2007 and 2010 in the United States. In the third quarter of 2011, smartphone sales increased by 42% from 2010. Mobile operators are facing an explosion in wireless data use, which is projected to grow 18-fold from 2011 to 2016 per the latest Cisco VNI forecast. With the use of mobile devices increasing so rapidly, and almost half of the traffic on mobile internet networks being accounted for by video sessions, mobile service providers have begun to recognize the need to provide higher quality video access while using the lowest possible bandwidth. With the release of the iPhone 5 in September 2012, it has been predicted that LTE networks might experience decreased data speeds as streaming multimedia begins to tax the 4G network. Cloud-based content optimizers that reduce the strain of over-the-top multimedia streaming could provide potential relief to mobile providers. Since 2009, multiple solutions have been applied to the issue of video optimization. A variety of techniques used for reducing traffic over a mobile network infrastructure is called pacing. Pacing is a special form of rate limiting, where traffic delivery to a device is slowed down to a point, that 'just in time' delivery takes place. The idea behind pacing is to avoid traffic bursts and even the data flow. If an object is delivered in its entirety, pacing provides no benefit. Where pacing can offer savings is when the object is 'abandoned' part way through. When abandonment occurs, the portion of the object left in the receiving device buffer is effectively wasted.