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Introduction and pressure on networks
Two-thirds of all internet traffic is video, and the number of smart, mobile devices in the world will double to two billion by 2017. Since IP networks are already creaking under the pressure, something's got to give.
"Video content creation has gone ballistic," says Priya Shah, CMO of Antix. "Social networks are putting more and more emphasis on video, and our dependence on our mobile phones means we can capture a video at any moment."
According to GoPro, in the first quarter of 2014, an average of 6,000 daily YouTube uploads and more than one billion views represented more than 50 million watched hours of videos with 'GoPro' in the title, file name, tags or description.
"Everyone has the opportunity to be a video producer now, and it's become a key form of communication for everyone from sports stars to major brands," says Shah. Trouble is, most of it's a complete waste of space – from skiers using a GoPro to film every dreary descent to the hordes who watch live gigs from behind their smartphone, the web is full of poor quality video.
What pressures does video put on networks?
The sheer volume causes a bottleneck. "The explosion in the variety and volume of apps we use consumes a lot of bandwidth – video apps such as Skype messaging, YouTube and Netflix are major culprits," says Brent Lees, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Riverbed Technology. Social media broadcasting apps like Periscope can't be helping.
Because they need greater bandwidth, such 'heavy' apps get priority, which can cause delays on other less 'time sensitive' applications.
"Networks are more critical to the user experience than ever before," says Mervyn Kelly, Marketing Director EMEA, Ciena. "With the consumer shift from viewing TV over multichannel subscription video services to watching internet video via a broadband or Wi-Fi connection, we are seeing today's households' bandwidth requirements skyrocketing."
A Ciena-sponsored study conducted by ACG Research found that average household bandwidth requirements are poised to increase by 31% annually over the next five years, from a peak hour average usage per household of 2.9Mbps in 2014 to 7.3Mbps in 2018. It gets worse. "Mobile bandwidth consumption is expected to increase fivefold per user over the next three years – and this is all driven by video," says Kelly.
What parts of the network are most affected?
The volume of video touches all parts of the IT infrastructure and the network. "The wide area network will experience the greater challenges due to cost and bandwidth constraints," says Lees, who thinks that techniques like bandwidth optimisation, Quality of Service (QoS), and path selection allow some respite for the 'under pressure' network manager.
How can networks cope?
The answer to video overload is simple; reduce the traffic or add more bandwidth. Both are unlikely, which brings two more options. "Providing an element of control-path selection can prioritise differing traffic types depending on importance," says Lees, who also suggests using WAN optimisation tools that can work into the cloud and application layer. "This is likely to provide the more cost effective and longer-term solution," he says.
"By improving network agility and removing technology hurdles imposed by legacy network architectures, operators will have a solution which provides tremendous flexibility to efficiently support the evolving demands of users," says Kelly. "Advances in software, enabled by network functions virtualisation (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN), will play an important role to automatically reallocate resources."
Why are such advanced network architectures needed? Because, far from hitting a ceiling, video consumption figures are predicted to massively increase.
5G and 4K video
Are 5G mobile networks imperative?
Yes and no. "4G makes streaming and watching videos on social networks far easier," says Shah. "Streaming video at an ultra-high speed is great, but video should also be able to be consumed and enjoyed on slower networks." She thinks that mobile networks and tech companies need to start working together to generate ways of making video creation and consumption more efficient, so less bandwidth-hungry.
Video compression or just shorter videos?
Video doesn't compress very well, but there are ways around bottlenecks. "A locally stored cache will help for business broadcasts – such as the CEO address to an organisation – as this will reduce the amount of traffic over the WAN," says Lees.
However, could smarter, perhaps even automatic, editing of amateur videos be the answer? Shah thinks everyone should have software to create short, compelling videos. "We're currently developing big data to unlock the best parts of video footage, as well as making video more searchable," she says. "This, in itself, is a huge advancement in compression technology."
Video's impact on smartphones
Smartphones are also affected – nobody wants a 'buffer-face'. With growing screen sizes and increased pixel density, most handsets are now purchased primarily to view video, from short clips on YouTube, through to longer episodes on iPlayer, or entire films on Netflix. According to Ofcom's 'Adults Media use and Attitudes Report 2014', 22% of mobile phone users have watched a TV programme on a mobile phone.
"Video's impact on hardware can be just as great, even if those effects are usually concealed within the tight confines of our handsets," says Abby Francis, Mobile Tech Expert at Mobiles.co.uk, who thinks that video has had other, less obvious effects on smartphone technology. "With video being quite processor-intensive, it's not surprising to hear consumers complain about battery life," she says. "Although this hasn't resulted in longer battery life, it has helped to emphasise the importance of wireless charging and fast charging."
Could video kill off the written word online?
Video reviews, hasty pieces to camera and vod-casts could be dressed up as 'the future of the web', but the current resurgence of long-form articles kills that claim dead. However, video does offer a tempting 'out' for a crowded internet. "Attention spans are decreasing and with so much information bombarding us at all times, video is the medium that enables the transmission of large amounts of information quickly and succinctly," says Shah, who thinks that video content needs to be indexed and searchable for it to expand.
What about 4K video?
For those worried about how networks will cope with the current surge in video consumption, you ain't seen nothing yet. According to ACG Research, 4K streaming video services – which consume three to four times more bandwidth than HDTV – will grow from 2% in 2014 to 12% in 2018.
"It's surprising to think that YouTube had support for 4K way back in 2010, but it will be interesting to see how video consumption trends change when 4K becomes more widespread throughout 2015," says Francis. Few smartphones have 4K displays, but that's not a deal-breaker; they're increasingly being used to stream HD content to larger screens.
"It's not going to be the phone screen that's going to be the promoting factor in 4K," says Francis. "It's going to be what you want to do with videos captured on your phone in 4K, and how you distribute that media."
The coming era of 4K means some agile thinking is in order. "Our networks need to be ready to evolve and support this surge in streaming if we are to successfully meet the requirements of users in this new age of the on-demand experience," says Kelly. "Agility is key to support high-bandwidth content on multiple devices via a multitude of means for different audiences."
Shah thinks that the bottleneck presently exists between capturing and sharing content, and that all video needs is to be better indexed and searchable, but she's under no illusion about what happens next to the popularity of video, saying: "The real explosion is yet to come."
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