The Need for Speed

Commute, file downloads, Valentino Rossi, mantis shrimp.

What does this eclectic list of subjects have in common? If you read the title you probably already know. That’s right, if you are part of western culture you probably want all these things to be FAST. Not standard fast, I mean super-ultra-extra fast!

Mobile operators are no different in their quest for speed, investing more and more in frequencies and equipment in hopes of becoming the fastest mobile data network. One of the primary reasons operators invest billions of dollars in their LTE network is speed. Speed is the number 1 benefit operators use to publicize their new network, only to find out that their competitors are using the same trick. Because it’s not only about being fast – you have to be the fastest.

This is a given in our speed-obsessed world. Mobile Internet was in its infancy just a decade ago, and now we roll our eyes if it takes more than a couple of seconds for “Gangnam Style” to load on our iPhone. Therefore, it is no wonder that we see so much interest in network acceleration solutions. Once LTE networks are in place, to accelerate performance further requires additional investments in frequencies, antennas, and network equipment. Think of how much it would cost to accelerate an existing network by 50%.

Network acceleration solutions promise to accelerate downloads and browsing for a fraction of the cost of radio investments. At Flash Networks, we live up to this promise by delivering 50% acceleration with zero investment in network infrastructure.  By using our patented technology to adjust the TCP send rate to the wireless link, we utilize the available bandwidth, even as it fluctuates with network conditions, increasing the effective bandwidth and boosting download speed.

Network speed may not yet be as fast as “Beam me up Scotty”, but it’s getting there.

-- Tal Dagan, Director of Product Management

P.S. The mantis shrimp? Unexpected, but apparently this animal exercises the world’s fastest punch.

Beauty Speed Tests Regulated

The US FCC regulator decided to conduct an official mobile broadband performance test program, following the success of the wireline program. This step comes not a minute too soon since mobile broadband speeds were not regulated and one could set up and perform their own testing criteria.

Being the fastest is one of the main interests of any mobile network marketing executive, and recently it has become even more important. Revenue share from voice and text is dropping, content revenues are diminishing, and since everyone sells iPhones - devices are no longer a factor for competition. The only competitive factor left is: Who has the fastest network? 

Since there is no regulation on download speed and there is a BIG difference between advertised and effective throughput for mobile networks, we need to ask: How are network speed tests defined?  Are the tests run with the help of applications like Speedtest or BenchBee,  which simply test uplink and downlink download speed,  or are the tests more comprehensive, and the network tested for fast web page download, fast application response time, and smooth video? 

Unfortunately, the simple speed tests are the ones mostly conducted. The most common mobile device used for speed testing is the iPhone, since it can’t be customized by the operator unlike other smartphones or even PC dongles, and the comparison is purely on the network service performance.

Who performs speed tests? In many cases this is the domain of technology magazines. They invest a great deal of resources creating methodologies that provide full nationwide coverage, and test the network with various devices in different locations. A good example is PC Magazine in the US that occasionally publishes speed tests (latest review of LTE networks in the US). Another example is Connect Magazine in Germany.

Recently governments and independent organizations have also started conducting network tests. The British Ofcom organization provides UK market speed tests, and the ARCEP in France. It is only natural that the FCC joins this area as well. 

How can operators succeed in the speed test? In order to do well in the test many operators deploy optimization systems, and since most of the tests are repeated, mobile optimization systems provide a better chance for operators to succeed.

Download speed is back as the top factor of competition for mobile operators, whether if it’s important to customers or because it’s the only issue of competition left – the race is on.

--Amir Lapid, Director of Product Marketing

Making traffic growth work for you

A recent report issued by Latitude Group caught my attention:  in Q2 2012, one in five website visits came from a mobile device – a 26% growth over Q1. At first it sounded like another standard item which shows the growth of the mobile Internet, but there was something bigger in between the lines.

Growth in mobile web visitors driven primarily by iOS

So, why did it catch my attention?

What’s surprising is how low this figure still is (20%) in comparison to the amazingly high growth of mobile traffic we constantly experience. With growth of 26% quarter over quarter, we will soon see 2 of every 5 website visits, or even more, coming from mobile devices. This means that while we haven’t yet reached a plateau in traffic growth, it won’t be long before mobile traffic overtakes fixed traffic with respect to page visits.

So what does this mean for mobile operators? On the one hand, their window of opportunity to take action in managing traffic is rapidly closing; but at the same time, it is rapidly materializing with respect to monetizing this OTT data. It is time to manage the data growth while monetizing the incremental data.

The good news for mobile operators is that there are advanced technologies out there that can help them with both challenges simultaneously. By adopting solutions from companies, like Flash Networks, that understand these opportunities and combine cost saving solutions with revenue-generating solutions in a single system, operators don’t have to choose only one direction to pursue. Investing in only one may be too little too late. The smart investment is a solution that can grow in both directions.

-- Gil Mildworth, Director of Business Development

Mobile Traffic Surges During UEFA EURO 2012

As football (soccer) fans already know, last week was the final of UEFA's EURO 2012. And although the game was disappointing for Italy fans (probably an understatement), it showed us interesting trends in mobile data traffic.

During the games, Digital Spy published research showing that 8.3% of British fans were watching the EURO 2012 games on the web via a desktop, notebook computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Using Harmony Analytics, we found the same thing, and not just in Europe.

We observed a 156% increase of traffic to sports sites in Asia-Pacific and a 215% increase in Europe during the final match day. In addition, in Europe, there was a 210% increase in HTTP streaming of live sports broadcasts during the EURO 2012 final match day, while in Asia-Pacific the increase was only 20%. These statistics were reversed for P2P streaming, with a 123% average increase in Asia-Pacific and a 42% average increase in Europe in June, the month of the competition, compared to the same timeframe during the previous month. These findings reflect the differences in the way Europeans and Asians view football over mobile networks.

Unsurprisingly, in North America there was only a minor increase in sport-related traffic during EURO 2012, with an 8% increase in mobile internet traffic for sports sites and a 24% increase in the P2P streaming peak during the games. This demonstrates the popularity of European football in Asia-Pacific and Europe versus North America where, despite David Beckham's best efforts, "soccer" hasn't yet caught on at the same rate as the rest of the world.

With the summer Olympics rapidly approaching, it will be interesting to see how mobile traffic trends are affected. Four years ago, at the Bejing Olympics, iPhones were only a year into the market and iPads were only a pipe dream. With mobile devices of all types penetrating the market in increasing numbers, we look forward to seeing how operators plan for the anticipated surges in traffic. Stay tuned for more Olympic insights ...

-- Naomi Rabbie, Director of Corporate Marketing

Will CDNs conquer the mobile data market?

As we all know, mobile operators today are looking for new and creative ways to generate revenues. Costly infrastructure and an increasing number of over-the-top players have minimized their profitability and potential for future growth. To address these challenges, operators are seeking additional ways to monetize their assets, in a “Telco 2.0” style, by adapting their infrastructure to new vertical markets. As a result, more and more operators are prioritizing and optimizing premium content delivery, similar to content delivery networks (CDNs).


Traditionally, CDN companies like Akamai, Limelight, and Level3 owned this business by creating a worldwide overlay network that enabled them to offer content providers better quality of experience by delivering web content from locations closer to the edge. This strategy was planned mainly for the fixed network, where the major bottleneck and costs were in the Internet transit, and CDNs successfully minimized this bottleneck and provided value for their content providers. However, fixed operators themselves never really yielded much value from this structure, and were left out of the value chain.


For mobile operators, it’s a different story. Today’s mobile users demand fixed-line like speeds while using HSPA+ and LTE networks. They use their smartphones to watch HQ and HD video, perform financial transactions, and get up-to-date news and music. However, the user experience is still rather disappointing, especially during busy hours.


Mobile operators have a clear opportunity here. Instead of allowing traditional CDNs to dominate this market and take over this potential business, operators can take an active role by becoming mobile CDNs themselves and charging content providers to deliver better QoE, while saving infrastructure costs. In fact, at the CTIA show in May, Verizon Communication’s CTO, Tony Melone, said that Verizon is considering mechanisms that would allow content suppliers to pay for users' access fees.


Is this a realistic option? Maybe. But first operators need to address 3 major obstacles:

1. Net-neutrality limitations currently do not enable operators to discriminate between different content sources.
2. Operators can’t realistically build business relations with all content providers, which lack the global nature of traditional CDNs.
3. Can real quality of experience improvements be achieved over the mobile network? Can QoS be guaranteed over 3G and 4G networks end-to-end? How can operators really improve QoE measurements such as page load and app response time, and reduced number of stalls in video clips?

The third challenge is the most solvable for operators. To address it, operators must first have the ability to measure network quality and performance in real-time. This will give operators what CDNs do not have today – visibility into where data traffic is really congested within the RAN.


In addition, operators must have the ability to apply smart traffic optimization according to their network quality findings. With this dynamic traffic optimization, operators will be able to do more than caching, by both improving QoE and reducing their costs. Therefore, mobile CDNs (operators) that can offer traffic optimization will be able to strengthen their B2B proposition to content providers by providing pre-optimized, cached content that dramatically improves the user experience. 


Better user experience in mobile web content consumption means: more visited pages, higher ads and search conversion rates, more m-commerce transactions, and higher overall user satisfaction.

-- Ilanit Zehut, Director of Business Development