Digital Lifescapes

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 co...

The UK government's stated ambition to offer the best superfast broadband services in Europe have been negatively impacted over the past six months, according to the latest market study by Point Topic . The deployment of IP next-generation (IP-NGN) broadband technology by BT and alternative network service providers has lagged a long way behind the original plans. Furthermore, the adoption of these services -- where they are available -- has apparently been disappointing. Research by Point Topic shows that its overall measure of broadband coverage has actually declined -- falling from 55 percent to 53 percent in the reporting period. Meanwhile, the number of customers subscribing to superfast broadband services has been below target in many areas. Market Development Challenges Point Topic believes that BT will catch up on its plans, over the next year or two, and they forecast that superfast broadband will be available to two-thirds of all the homes and businesses in the UK...

Today's active user of mobile computing devices is in search of constant connectivity -- in order to access the Internet, engage in social networking, and share multimedia content with friends, family or business associates. The quest for a consistent high-quality on-the-go "connected life" experience is a source of new market development activity for consumer electronics (CE) product manufacturers and their internet service provider (ISP) channel partners. In-Stat 's latest market study suggests that this trend represents an opportunity for traditional mobile phone operators to move beyond the maturing handset market and into the emerging wireless device markets, such as e-readers and tablets. By 2015 for example, multimedia tablets will have the highest 3G or 4G attach rate among all cellular-enabled portable and computing devices -- with 78 percent of tablets shipping with a 3G/4G modem, according to In-Stat's assessment. "The emerging tablet mark...