Allot launches mobile trends report

HOD HASHARON, ISRAEL: Allot Communications Ltd, a leading supplier of service optimization and revenue generation solutions for fixed and mobile broadband operators, announced the availability of its February 2014 Allot MobileTrends Report, "Measuring the Mobile Video Experience," which explores the factors that impact video delivery quality over mobile data networks.

The report examines how download bandwidth, duration, resolution, mobile operating system (iOS, Android) and video container (3GP, MP4) affect stalling, as well as how they interact to influence the overall video viewing experience.

Mobile subscribers tend to evaluate the overall quality of their mobile network based on their video viewing experience, and industry studies have concluded that video stalling has significant impact on user engagement and quality of experience. As demand for video content grows, video delivery quality continues to be an important challenge for operators. The report illustrates how video analytics can be used to address these challenges.

The statistical information presented in the report includes a randomly selected sample of 300,000 representative video detail records (VDRs) from hundreds of millions of unmanaged mobile video transactions during a given week. The source data was extracted anonymously from a mobile service provider in a developed country during December 2013.

Mobile video delivery - key findings:

* Actual bandwidth allocation by the network has no correlation to the video stream requirements.

* Laptops with dongles experience more video stalls than smartphones, however laptop users will continue to watch the video for longer durations, regardless of stalls.

* The video delivery container directly affects the mobile viewing experience.

* Insufficient allocated bandwidth for the video session will result in video stalls.

* Videos watched for longer durations are likely to have more stalls.

"Since customers tend to judge the quality of their mobile network based on the quality of their video viewing experience, it is crucial for mobile operators to be able to accurately measure the experience and better understand the factors that affect it," said Andrei Elefant, VP Marketing and Product Management at Allot Communications.

"This report clearly demonstrates that video analytics together with video management and optimization tools can help mobile operators improve the video experience, thus making them more competitive."