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The Top 3 Ways to Manage OTT Video Consumption

Throttling over the top (OTT) video may be legal in the U.S. market, now that Verizon has convinced the courts to strike down net neutrality rules. However, there are alternative ways to address the growing video consumption challenges that would not alienate a broadband service providers customers to the same degree.

As smartphones and tablets achieve greater market penetration, the data usage they bring shows no sign of slowing as subscribers expect good service whenever and wherever they want.

With this growing demand, mobile broadband operators in particular need traffic optimization solutions for their networks now as they already struggle with network congestion, and it will likely get worse over time.

According to the latest market study by ABI Research, they now forecast that Web and Video Optimization and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) investment will increase to over $5 Billion by 2019.

"The optimization solutions market continues to challenge those vendors, and continued consolidation is likely to achieve a healthy and sustainable ecosystem," said Sabir Rafiq, research analyst at ABI Research.

ABI believes that mobile network operators should be concerned with the amount of data consumed by their subscribers, and how this affects the overall Quality of Experience (QoE). With this in mind, solutions are available for the operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to enhance their network and services.

Video and Web optimization solutions from vendors such as ByteMobile, Openwave Mobility and Vantrix are available to improve user experience and network performance.

Deep Packet Inspection and monitoring vendors, Sandvine, Astellia, and others, deliver the data packet intelligence and helps operators ensure QoS or QoE at peak times.

Network operators can also find help with Content Delivery Networks (CDN) as leading infrastructure vendors, including Ericsson, Nokia Solutions & Networks, Cisco, and Huawei offer differentiated solutions. 

A focus on content delivery allows broadband service providers to optimize content to control the delivery and enhance QoS or QoE.

The solutions that have been mentioned are a few of many available from an alliance of vendors who are offering similar solutions that will enable network operators and ISPs to continually provide services that meet their subscriber needs, without risking a continuing public outcry.

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